Celebrity Mound

Witnesses on day two of the Michael Jackson death trial told of a panic-stricken doctor and the pop star’s children crying in disbelief with their father lying unresponsive on his bedroom floor, mouth agape and eyes wide open.

Faheem Muhammad, the ex-chief of Jackson’s security team, testified on Wednesday that Jackson’s oldest children reacted in horror when they saw their father’s lifeless body.

Another witness said Dr. Conrad Murray, who is charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death, telephoned the singer’s assistant before calling an ambulance and may have sought to hide evidence of drug use.

Prosecutors claim Murray not only caused Jackson’s death by giving him the powerful anesthetic propofol as a sleep aid, along with other sedatives but that the physician also was negligent in his care of the “Thriller” singer and failed to get timely medical assistance.

Murray admitted giving Jackson propofol — the principal cause of his death — but his defense attorneys claim Jackson administered more propofol to himself, leading to an overdose. Murray faces up to four years in prison if convicted.

Wednesday’s most dramatic testimony came from Muhammad, who told of a panicked call from Murray that brought the security chief rushing to the singer’s bedroom. There he saw Murray and another guard already in the room and Jackson’s oldest children, Prince and Paris, taking in the frantic scene.

“Paris was on the ground balled-up crying and Prince, he was just standing there, he had a real shocked — just slowly crying — look on his face,” Muhammad said.

Muhammad said that, around the same time, Murray asked himself and the other guard, “Does anybody know CPR?” Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is the common procedure to restart a heart in a person who has suffered cardiac arrest.

TIMELINE FOR HELP

In other testimony, prosecutors sought to draw a timeline between when Murray found Jackson unresponsive at 11:56 a.m. (2:56 p.m. EDT/1856 GMT) on June 25, 2009, and when the doctor finally sought help.

Initially, Murray called the singer’s personal assistant, Michael Williams, at 12:13 p.m./1613 GMT with the message “Call me right away,” rather than calling for an ambulance.

Williams testified that he called Murray back at 12:15 p.m., and was told Jackson had suffered “a bad reaction.”

“When I hear a ‘bad reaction,’ I wouldn’t think anything fatal, personally, and I wasn’t asked to call 911,” Williams said. He said Murray told him to get to Jackson’s mansion immediately.

An ambulance was finally called at 12:20 p.m. and it was already there when Williams arrived at the Jackson mansion.

“It was real frantic. I got there when the gurney (carrying Jackson) was coming down” from the bedroom, Williams said.

The assistant said that at the hospital where Jackson was later pronounced dead, Murray made a request that seemed strange. “He said, ‘There’s some cream in Michael’s room that he wouldn’t want the world to know about,’ and he requested that I or someone would give him a ride back to the house, so that he could get the cream,” said Williams.

Prosecutors have suggested Murray probably wanted to return there to remove evidence of the drugs that he had given Jackson before he died.

Earlier on Wednesday, a lawyer who drafted Murray’s contract to provide medical services for Jackson said the doctor had assured her multiple times in the days before his death that the singer’s health was good.

“Dr. Murray told me repeatedly that Michael Jackson was perfectly healthy, in excellent condition,” Los Angeles attorney Kathy Jorrie said on the witness stand.

Music industry executive Frank Dileo, who managed Michael Jackson’s career in the 1980s and returned as his manager in the superstar’s final days, has died. He was 64.

Publicist Karen Sundell says Dileo died Wednesday morning. The cause of death was not immediately available, but he had recently experienced complications following heart surgery.

The short, portly Dileo was a colorful figure in the entertainment industry and had movie roles as an actor, notably portraying a gangster in Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas.”

A native of Pittsburgh, Dileo began his career in the music industry working as a promoter for CBS subsidiary Epic Records. He signed so many stars that he was credited with catapulting the small company to the No. 2 label in the country. Jackson was at CBS Records at the time and together they worked on the phenomenally successful “Thriller” album.

In his book “Moonwalk,” Jackson credited Dileo as one of the people “responsible for turning my dream for `Thriller’ into a reality.”

Jackson wrote that Dileo’s “brilliant understanding of the recording industry proved invaluable” and described how Dileo decided to release “Beat It” as a single while “Billie Jean” was still the No. 1 song in the country.

“CBS screamed `You’re crazy. This will kill Billie Jean,’” Jackson recalled. “But Frank told them not to worry, that both songs would be No. 1 and both would be in the Top 10 at the same time. They were.”

In 1984, with “Thriller” soaring, Jackson recruited Dileo to leave Epic and manage his career. Dileo accepted and presided over one of the most productive periods for Jackson.

He executive produced the full length Jackson movie, “Moonwalker.” He also wrote, produced and negotiated a series of lucrative Pepsi commercials for Jackson.

And he managed two of Jackson’s concert tours – the Victory Tour with other members of the Jackson family and the Bad World Tour, Jackson’s first solo excursion which became the largest grossing concert tour of all time.

After five years together, Dileo and Jackson abruptly ended their business relationship without explanation.

Dileo went on to manage the careers of other musicians, including Taylor Dayne, Jodeci, Laura Branigan and Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora. He also worked with Prince on several projects.

He founded Dileo Entertainment Group in Nashville, Tenn., a company focused on launching the careers of young artists.

In 2005, when Jackson stood trial on child molestation charges, Dileo returned to his side. He would tell later of their emotional reunion. After Jackson’s acquittal, they remained in touch and in the summer of 2009, as Jackson prepared to launch his “This is It” tour, the singer asked Dileo to manage him again. They were working together when Jackson died on June 25, 2009.

Dileo is survived by his wife, Linda, two children, Belinda and Dominic, and a grandson, Frank.

Sketches by Michael Jackson as well as a signed portrait of the entertainer will decorate the walls of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

Jackson’s three children – Prince, Paris and Blanket – were on hand Monday to unveil the donated artwork. They include a dozen sketches drawn and signed by Jackson and a photographed portrait of him.

The works depicting Mickey Mouse, furniture and other objects were donated by Brett Livingstone-Strong, an artist and friend of Jackson’s.

Former “Entertainment Tonight” host Mary Hart, a hospital trustee, arranged the donation. She says the sketches show a different side of Jackson.

The singer’s sister, La Toya Jackson, says she believes the art will bring joy to children at the hospital.

A famed red-and-black calfskin jacket Michael Jackson wore in the groundbreaking “Thriller” music video is going on tour.

The jacket’s new owner, Texas commodities broker Milton Verret, said Tuesday he plans to take the classic clothing item around the world to raise money for charities that help sick children.

Verret, who’s from Austin, says he intends to line up corporate sponsors to fund the tour.

He purchased the jacket for $1.8 million last month at a Beverly Hills, Calif., auction.

The jacket is one of two Jackson wore during the filming of the 1983 video. Jackson can be seen wearing the jacket in a scene with a troupe of zombies who rise from their graves and break into a dance routine.