Katherine Jackson Responds to AEG Live Victory
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Ethan Miller/Getty Images for Cirque du Soleil(LOS ANGELES) — Although a jury ruled in favor of AEG Live in Michael Jackson’s family’s wrongful death lawsuit against the concert promoter, the singer’s mother, Katherine Jackson, 83, still has reason to feel good about the outcome.
“AEG has denied for years, and continues to deny, that they hired Dr. Conrad Murray. The jury found unanimously that AEG hired Dr. Murray,” Jackson said in a statement.
“We have said from the beginning that this case was a search for the truth. We found the truth. AEG hired Dr. Conrad Murray, the man who is in jail for killing Michael Jackson.”
When determining a verdict, jurors were asked to consider whether AEG Live was liable for hiring Dr. Conrad Murray, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2011 for administering a fatal dose of propofol to Jackson, and whether Murray was an appropriate hire. Ultimately, after the five-month trial, they determined that while the concert promoter was responsible for the hire, Murray was a competent doctor. Murray is in jail in Los Angeles and is scheduled to be released at the end of this month.
“The jury’s decision completely vindicates AEG Live, confirming what we have known from the start — that although Michael Jackson’s death was a terrible tragedy, it was not a tragedy of AEG Live’s making,” said Marvin Putnam of AEG Live’s legal team.
Jury foreman Gregg Barden, however, made it clear that there was no winner in the situation.
“We don’t walk away thinking it was a victory on one side or the other,” Barden said. “It was a tragic situation.”
It is still unclear whether the Jacksons will appeal. “We will evaluate everything and decide,” Brian Panish, the family’s lawyer, said.
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