BREAKING NEWS: Michael Jackson's Brother Will Not Testify In Hearing After All
Aug. 21 2009, Published 4:33 a.m. ET
Michael Jackson's younger brother Randy will not testify after all Friday in Los Angeles County Superior Court against a proposal by concert promoter AEG Live for a 3-city memorabilia tour that would begin this October.
Howard Weitzman, an attorney for the Jackson estate, made that announcement Friday.
Randy Jackson was on the witness list and the Associated Press earlier reported that he was expected to take the stand.
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Katherine Jackson's lawyers have also decided not to call Leonard Rowe, a convicted felon and a former business associate of Michael's as an expert witness.
Originally, Katherine's lawyers had told Judge Mitchell Beckloff on Thursday that they intended to call Rowe to testify but had a change of heart--perhaps after RadarOnline.com revealed that shady Rowe would be their star witness.
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Rowe spent time in federal prison after he was convicted of wire fraud in his role in cashing of a fraudulent insurance check. Rowe's legal woes also include being successfully sued by R. Kelly and Ne-Yo. Kelly was awarded over three million dollars, and Ne-Yo sued him for over $700k.
Lawyers for Katherine Jackson are in court Friday because she disapproves of the proposal by AEG, which would give half of the profits from the exhibition to the Jackson estate and the other half to AEG Live. Katherine herself did not show up to court Friday.
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The deal was ironed out by John Branca and John McClain, who are serving, for now, as special administrators of Jackson's estate.
Lawyers for the Jackson family argued during a hearing last Monday that the 50-50 split of profits for the exhibition was too generous to AEG Live, but estate lawyers said they negotiated the best terms possible.
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Katherine wants the deal renegotiated.
Several industry experts will take the stand during Friday's hearing.
Upon completion of the proceeding, Judge Mitchell Beckloff is expected to make a ruling on Katherine's objection to the agreement.
AEG Live lawyer Kathy Jorrie has previously said any further delay in approval would cause the company to abandon the deal and the company would not renegotiate.
RadarOnline.com is in court for the hearing, and will keep bringing you the latest developments as they happen.
