Katherine Jackson VS AEG Live 07/09/2013 As court begins today, the judge admonishes the defense about their exhibits and numbering them. Stebbins Bina argues a little with the judge, denying what the judge is saying they have done. Rebbie Jackson was in attendance today along with her mother and Mrs. Jackson’s nephew-in law. Court begins and Michael’s musical director Kenneth Ortega is still under oath and takes the stand. Mr. Panish asks, as usual if he met with his lawyers and the witness says no, that his attorney just drove him home from court yesterday. We did come to know that AEG is paying for Ortega’s attorneys in the case. So, as the day gets started Ortega is asked about the press conference for the This Is It tour that never took place in 2009. Ortega says that if he had known about MJ’s condition he would have not wanted to be involved in the tour out of concern for Michael’s wellbeing. We were only in court for about three hours, but Ortega was mostly questioned about emails between he and Paul Gongaware and a few phone calls between he and Conrad Murray. Ortega was shown an exhibit of Michael Jackson doing multiple 360 spins at the close of “Man In The Mirror” during the Bucharest concert and asked if Michael had done that same move in the This Is It documentary, Ortega says yes, but he can’t remember where in the documentary he does that. Maybe it’s because he never does that exact same move in the documentary. Seconds later, it seems like he remembers and he says that he spins and falls in the documentary, but not like that. The famous musical director is asked about his contract with AEG and Travis Payne’s contract with AEG and he explains negotiations and an email from Paul Gongaware that ended the negotiations or so it seemed. Ortega said the negotiations had not ended they just needed to run it by MJ and he would work in good faith until then. Panish reminded him that no one mentioned running it by MJ in the email. Ortega did a ton of work for the tour, auditioning dancers, musicians and more all without a contract. There was a certificate of employment – Loan Out, but this agreement did not set forth the terms and agreements, instead, his terms were listed in an email, money, time, etc., etc.,. Ortega would also receive a bonus if the tour traveled to places besides London, that would mean more shows, more shows than MJ agreed to do. Ortega was questioned about an email in which he said that he was unhappy with a press release that said the tour would have to be pushed back, among other things. He said he was fine with that, that he gladly took the heat for that, but an email from Ortega to Paul Gongaware showed otherwise. This email showed that Ortega was not happy with the press release and felt that the PR was exaggerated. Ortega clarified and explained that the way the concert was being described in the release was a little over the top. Later on in the direct examination, Ortega is asked about emails that put Dr. Murray and Randy Phillips, CEO of AEG in charge of Michael getting to rehearsal. Ortega says no, when asked if he had ever seen a CEO of a promoting company and an artists’ Dr. in charge of an artist getting to rehearsal. There are questions about phone calls between Ortega and Murray and Ortega says that Murray was in charge of getting MJ to rehearsal so that is probably what the calls were about, especially the one that lasted for 30 minutes, being that MJ had recently missed a few rehearsals. Ortega says that he was concerned about Michael. Although Ortega seemed genuinely concerned for Michael in his 2009 emails, this witness was originally a witness for the defense, so people who have followed faithfully were not surprised today when plaintiff’s attorney while questioning Ortega says in a somewhat frustrated tone “your honor” and she says “not yet”. I can only assume that Panish was ready to label the witness hostile or adverse, but I can only guess we are not ready for that play yet. Ortega’s memory is refreshed with transcripts a few times about his preliminary testimony. The witness says he knows nothing about an intervention, but a meeting. Ortega says he may have heard about in court or while giving his deposition and Panish says he hasn’t said in anything about that until now. Ortega is asked about his concerns for Michael and associate producer of the This Is It documentary, Alif Sankey’s concerns. Ortega says he was concerned that Michael was cool, shivering, losing weight and slow at grasping the work the night of the 19th of June, 2009. The witness is questioned about an email from Alif Sankey that is more than alarming and an email from dancer/choreographer Travis Payne, whose email he says he didn’t read. Ortega was to report to Paul Gongaware during this time, but doesn’t know if he reported his concern for MJ to Mr. Gongaware, whose title with AEG he doesn’t know. That is pretty much it for the day. After they dismissed the jurors they discussed Ortega’s schedule and we are back in court tomorrow at 9:45 A.M...
Posted on: Wed, 10 Jul 2013 03:35:05 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015