Jury in Jackson death damages trial still deliberating

The jury mulling whether tour promoters AEG Live should pay huge damages to Michael Jackson's family over his 2009 death resumed deliberations Tuesday, a court spokeswoman said.

The six-man, six-woman panel - which has been meeting since Thursday afternoon after a five-month trial in Los Angeles - did not deliberate on Monday.

Observers note that the longer the jurors deliberate, the more likely it is they could find in favor of the Jackson family, which claims AEG Live negligently hired Conrad Murray, the physician convicted over the star's death.

Jackson died on June 25, 2009 from an overdose of the anesthetic propofol at his rented mansion in Los Angeles, where he was rehearsing for the shows at London's O2 Arena.

Murray, a cardiologist, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in a criminal trial in 2011 for giving the drug to the star - who suffered from chronic insomnia - to help him sleep. Murray was jailed for four years.

In the civil trial, the singer's mother Katherine Jackson, 83, alleges that AEG Live negligently hired an inappropriate and incompetent doctor and missed a series of red flags about the star's failing health in the run-up to his death.

The Jacksons want AEG Live to pay $85 million to each of the star's three children for emotional loss, and an unspecified amount for economic losses, estimated at up to $1.6 billion. AEG's lawyers call the figures "absurd."

The length of time the jury deliberates could be an indicator of how jurors are leaning.

This is because the juror verdict form starts with five key yes-no questions.

If they vote "no" to any question, with at least nine jurors in agreement, they do not need to go to the next question, and they would find that Jackson's lawyers had failed to prove their case.

The first question asks whether they agree that AEG Live hired Murray - a key issue in dispute. The next asks if Murray was unfit or incompetent for the job.

The third asks if AEG Live knew or should have known that Murray was unfit for the job, followed by a query on whether Murray's incompetence harmed the Jackson family.

If they get this far, jurors will be asked if Jackson's lawyers have proven the need for damages.

- AFP