AEG Live CEO Grilled For 8th Day In Michael Jackson Wrongful Death Trial

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — The CEO for concert promoter AEG Live took the witness stand Friday for the eighth day in the Michael Jackson wrongful death trial.

Katherine Jackson's attorneys are trying to convince the jury that Randy Phillips' company was negligent in its hiring and supervision of Dr. Conrad Murray, the cardiologist who was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the King of Pop's death.

AEG lawyers on Thursday showed the panel a six-minute clip from a June 5, 2009 rehearsal to challenge an assertion made by the show's production manager that Jackson's health had deteriorated to the point where he was unable to perform multiple 360-degree spins.

Jurors watched Jackson spin several times during the rehearsal.

On Friday, Katherine Jackson's lead attorney, Brian Panish, suggested the term "multiple spins" didn't mean one spin at a time, but rather continuous back-to-back spins.

Panish showed the jury a 2001 performance of Jackson doing continuous spins and compared it to the June 2009 show.

Panish then asked Phillips if he saw Jackson perform consecutive spins in 2009.

"Considering the movie is a rehearsal and that's a full-on performance at Madison Square Garden…no," he said.

Through his sometimes combative questioning, Panish asked Phillips to explain discrepancies in his testimony.

Phillips said his memory was better now because he had a chance to review emails and documents from 2009.

Asked what the jury should take away from Phillips' testimony, Panish told KCAL9's Randy Paige, "That the CEO of AEG Live is not credible or worthy of any belief, he told numerous stories. The truth doesn't need numerous stories. The truth fears no trial and Mr. Phillips had a hard time with the truth. He testified under oath five months ago that he didn't recall anything, yet after meeting 60 hours with his lawyers, he had a miraculous recovery of his memory."

"I think what you've seen over eight days is nothing that showed actual changes in testimony in any substantive or meaningful way. The truth of the matter is AEG Live did nothing here for which they can be negligent or liable. Juries are smart and juries can figure it out," said AEG attorney Marvin Putnam.

Although Phillips is done testifying for now, AEG lawyers plan to call him as a witness when they present their defense in the case.