Prince Michael Jackson told jurors in the court while
testifying that, his father had had several tense phone
conversations with the promoters of his This Is It shows
and wanted more time to rehearse. Those conversations
sometimes ended with his father in tears, he said.
"After he got off the phone, he would cry," Prince
testified.
"He would say 'They're going to kill me, they're going to
kill me'."
The teenager, his sister Paris and brother Blanket are
plaintiffs in a case that seeks to hold AEG financially
responsible for their father's death.
The lawsuit claims AEG negligently hired Dr Conrad
Murray, who was later convicted of involuntary
manslaughter for giving Jackson an overdose of the
anaesthetic propofol.
AEG denies any wrongdoing.
Prince, who is 16, is the first member of the family to
have testified.He wore a black suit with a dark grey tie,
with his long brown hair tucked behind his ears.
The teenager showed jurors 15 minutes of private family
photos and home videos as he described growing up on
his father's Neverland Ranch and elsewhere.
He told the jury he had no idea his father was a global
superstar.
"We always listened to his music, but we never knew
how famous he was," Prince said.He said he and his
sister watched a video of one of their father's
performances and got a sense of his fame when
overwhelmed fans were carried from his shows on
stretchers.
One image shown to jurors showed Michael Jackson
playing a piano with Prince while he was still an infant.
The teenager said rather than following in his father's
footsteps, he wants to study film or business when he
goes to college.
"I can never play an instrument and I definitely cannot
sing," Prince said to laughter from the jury.Michael
Jackson sheltered his children from the public eye, often
obscuring their faces while out in public. The children
have been more public since his death in 2009.
Paris, 15, had also been expected to testify during the
case, but last month she was taken to hospital after an
apparent suicide attempt and her status as a witness
remained unclear.
Blanket, 11, is not expected to testify at the trial, which
will last several more weeks.
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