Trial update: emails revealed

TRELL THE TRUTH: The focus turned to email exchanges yesterday in the wrongful-death trial pitting the Jackson family against AEG, as AEG SVP/General Counsel Shawn Trell returned to the witness stand for his second day of testimony, the L.A. Times reported. On June 19, 2009, six days before Michael Jackson’s death, a production manager for This Is It sent an email to AEG’s Randy Phillips and Paul Gongaware that read, “MJ was sent home without stepping foot on stage. He was a basket case and [director] Kenny [Ortega] was concerned he would embarrass himself on stage or worse yet—get hurt." The email, whose subject line read “Trouble at the Front,” was forwarded by Phillips to then-AEG President/CEO Tim Leiweke with the note, “We have a real problem here." Trell testified that he was unaware of issues with Jackson at rehearsals. “I knew of no problems with Michael Jackson at all,” he said. In January 2009, insurance broker Bob Taylor wrote an email to Trell that suggested Jackson be given a full medical exam with blood and urine tests and that Jackson’s medical history be reviewed. The two continued to exchange emails, and on June 23 Trell asked for an update on the availability of life insurance. (5/22a)