In their ongoing effort to suggest Michael Jackson was a desperate man who accidentally took his own life, defense lawyers for his former physician were set Tuesday to call two members of the singer's inner circle to the stand.
Lawyers for Dr. Conrad Murray were expected to question the witnesses, Jackson's longtime hairdresser and the entertainment executive overseeing his comeback, about his final days, a period in which they have portrayed him as racked with anxiety and addled by drugs.
The hairdresser, Karen Faye, and the executive, Randy Phillips, were to take the stand on the second of what is anticipated to be a four-day defense case. Murray, 58, stands accused of involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's June 25, 2009, death.
FULL COVERAGE: The trial of Conrad Murray
His lawyers contend Jackson gave himself a lethal amount of the surgical anesthetic propofol in an effort to deal with chronic insomnia that was jeopardizing rehearsals crucial to the success of his "This Is It" comeback concerts.
Faye told police that in the last week of Jackson's life, he was weak, paranoid and under the influence of what seemed to be drugs, according to a defense filing. She told others she feared he would die.
Among those she confided in was Randy Phillips, the chief executive of AEG Live, the concert promoter bankrolling Jackson's planned London concerts. In court papers filed Monday, defense lawyers indicated they planned to question Phillips about the terms of the contract between AEG and Jackson.
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