In Day Two of the Conrad Murray trial, Michael Jackson’s family reacts to the stunning images of Michael’s corpse and a tape recording of him sounding barely coherent. INSIDE EDITION reports from the courthouse.
Michael Jackson's family arrived for the second dramatic day at the manslaughter trial of Dr. Conrad Murray.
Now the Jacksons are speaking out about the chilling photo of Michael lying dead on a hospital gurney that has shocked the world.
La Toya Jackson tweeted: "It sickens me to see what they did to my brother!! Seeing his lifeless body laying there on the gurney is heart wrenching!"
HLN's Jane Velez-Mitchell told INSIDE EDITION, "The impact of the photo was huge. I actually talked to fans who were crying, saying it just hit them in a gut level to see their icon lying there on a gurney, dead."
The Jackson family is also distressed by that alarming tape recording of a barely coherent Michael made six weeks before his death.
In the recording, Michael said, "When people leave this show, when people leave my show, I want them to say, 'I've never seen nothing like this in my life.' "
Criminal defense attorney Robin Sax told INSIDE EDITION, "That was the one piece of evidence that was actually Michael Jackson talking from the grave, and puts us all into the room, into his bedroom."
But Jermaine Jackson denies the recording shows Michael was addicted to drugs. Jermaine is also outraged by the defense claim that Michael, not Dr. Murray, caused his own death by self-administering the powerful anesthetic Propofol.
Jermaine tweeted: "The voice recording of michael does not show/prove he was 'an addict.' Bottom line: Michael did not kill Michael."
What a worldwide TV audience doesn't see is inside the courtroom Michael Jackson's family sat in the second row. His mother Katherine sat next to her husband Joe. Janet Jackson was at the end of the aisle. In total, there are more than half a dozen Jackson family members, all riveted by the testimony while the jurors are furiously taking notes.
In testimony Wednesday, Michael's personal assistant, Michael Amir Williams, took the stand.
"It was real frantic. I got there when the gurney was coming down. I remember seeing Dr. Murray coming down," said Williams.
"When you say the gurney coming down, first of all, this is a gurney with Michael Jackson's body on it?" asked an attorney.
"Yes, sir," replied Williams.
"Being carried by the paramedics?" asked the attorney.
"Yes, sir," replied Williams.
This follows gut-wrenching testimony from director Kenny Ortega that Jackson was a complete mental and physical wreck just days before he died, and couldn't even rehearse for the This Is It tour.
But Ortega says Dr. Murray rebuked him, telling him not to play amateur doctor when it came to Michael Jackson.
On the stand, Ortega said, "My friend wasn't right. He wasn't well. There was something going on that was deeply troubling me."
