Michael Jackson’s son Prince to take stand in AEG trial

In an appearance sure to bring out the paparazzi, the groupies and the just plain curious, Michael Jackson’s eldest child, Prince, will testify Wednesday in a wrongful death suit, just a day after the fourth anniversary of the singer’s fatal overdose.

Prince, 16, an occasional correspondent for “Entertainment Tonight,” is expected to provide emotional testimony about what he saw on June 25, 2009, the day his father died in the family’s rented Holmby Hills mansion.

Kai Chase, who was the family’s chef, testified earlier that Jackson’s personal physician, Conrad Murray, yelled at her to get help, and she sent Prince upstairs, thinking it was something minor, like a sprained ankle.

She said she told Prince, then 12, “Dr. Murray needs you. There may be something wrong with your father.”

Then she heard Prince shout, “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy,” following by a “blood curdling scream” from Paris, Jackson’s younger daughter.

Michael Jackson’s three children and his mother, who is their guardian, are suing AEG Live, promoter of his 50-concert comeback tour that was scheduled for London, and two of its executives, saying they negligently hired and controlled Murray, who administered the anesthetic. AEG says it was Jackson who hired Murray and that any money the company was supposed to pay the doctor was an advance to the singer.

Murray is serving time in jail after being convicted of involuntary manslaughter.

Brian Panish, one of the Jacksons’ attorneys, said Prince will also testify about life with his father. Other witnesses have testified about what a good father Jackson was.

Prince will be the first of the Jacksons to testify in the trial, which just completed its 36th day. Nearly 20 family members are on witness lists.

Paris, 15, is recovering from an apparent suicide attempt earlier this month. Panish said it has not been decided whether she will testify. The third of Jackson’s children, known as Blanket, is 11.

Until he died, Michael usually kept his children out of the public eye, and they often wore masks in public. In many ways, their first major public exposure was at their father’s memorial at Staples Center.

Prince will be taking a break from summer school to testify, his attorneys said.

In court Tuesday, the director of Stanford University’s sports medicine program continued his testimony about what he said was Murray’s and AEG’s conflict of interest regarding Jackson’s medical care. Testifying for the second day, Dr. Gordon Matheson said the conflict was the worst he had heard of.

Asked by AEG attorney Jessica Stebbins Bina, about the propofol use, Matheson answered, “I think AEG Live enabled it, yes.”

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jeff.gottlieb@latimes.com