Will Prince or Paris Testify in the Michael Jackson Manslaughter Case?

Michael Jackson's children watched as Dr. Conrad Murray tried to revive the fallen pop star. But don't bet on seeing them on the witness stand.

By Leslie Gornstein Jan 11, 2011 8:30 PMTags
Blanket Jackson, Paris Jackson, Prince JacksonKevin Mazur/WireImage

The Conrad Murray court case has me completely obsessed. Will Michael Jackson's kids be making an appearance on the stand?
—Ice24, via the inbox

It's a reasonable question, given that Prince and Paris did, apparently, witness Murray as he tried to revive their unresponsive father—a nasty thing for any child to have to see.

But if you're hoping to see these poor kids testify...

...don't hold your breath.

"We do not intend to call any of the children at the preliminary hearing," a spokeswoman for the L.A. County District Attorney tells me.

Ditto for the defense.

"We don't have a defense strategy or a witness list yet," says a spokeswoman for Ed Chernoff, the attorney representing Murray. "That is premature for the preliminary hearing stage.

"As for calling Michael Jackson's children to testify I can say this: Dr. Murray loves and respects Prince, Paris and Blanket and would be hard pressed to request anything of them that would cause them any stress."

That stance would also, likely, hold true for the trial, which would be the next stage in this showy course of events.

Children are notoriously unreliable on the stand—especially ones who have been through such a traumatic event as the death of their father.

"From an ethical standpoint, why would the D.A. do that?" muses Ellyn Garofalo, the Liner Grode attorney who recently won acquittal for a physician charged with overprescribing drugs to Anna Nicole Smith. "These are young children who have been through hell. What could they really have to say?"

Of course the D.A. could always opt to put them on the stand anyway—for publicity, or emotional impact, if nothing else.