Good evening. It's been a long two years for Michael Jackson's family, but now with the conviction of Dr. Conrad Murray on involuntary manslaughter charges, they're speaking out and they're angry about a documentary about Michael's doctor.
Jermaine Jackson is of course Michael's older brother and the author of "You Are Not Alone."
Jermaine, the family understandably pretty incensed by the revelation that Conrad Murray has been cooperating with this documentary for several years, apparently. Tell me how you all feel.
JERMAINE JACKSON, AUTHOR, "YOU ARE NOT ALONE": We're very angry. We're angry because Dr. Murray is a liar and he had his chance in court, he was tried by 12 jurors and they found him guilty. So anything he says is really irrelevant. He had his chance to stand up. He is a coward. He's a liar. He didn't stand up in court. And plus, this had to be for money, because that's -- he must have been paid big to do this.
MORGAN: There are lots of different reports. Apparently, officially, he got paid $1 to do this. But the -- apparently the networks have been asked to put up as much as $1 million for the footage. So clearly the truth hasn't quite emerged yet about who's paid what.
JACKSON: See, stuff like this, this is why I wrote the book. I wrote the book because I want people to remember Michael, the human being, and not all the negative things about his death. But for Conrad Murray to -- I can't believe -- we're going to court, waiting for a verdict, he was doing a documentary. That is ridiculous.
MORGAN: Cynics will say, you know, who maybe are not massive fans of Michael Jackson, will say, come on, Jermaine, you're doing a book about your brother. He's entitled to have his say.
JACKSON: Wait, wait, wait.
MORGAN: What would you say to that?
JACKSON: I can't believe that they gave me stick for writing a book that's the truth and I stopped before the verdict. I stopped before the trial. I'm telling the truth about my brother. I'm defending my brother.
What's coming out of Conrad Murray's mouth is lies. He had his chance in court. He should have stood up. He's a coward. He's a liar. And the fans shouldn't even worry about this because 12 jurors unanimously found him guilty. So whatever he says is irrelevant. We don't care. We want to move on and focus on the person, the beautiful person that Michael was.
And that's why this book was written.
MORGAN: The family has written to NBC, I believe, today demanding clarification of exactly how much money they paid for the documentary. If it turns out that Conrad Murray has made large sums of money or is intending to, what will the family do about this?
JACKSON: Who cares about the money? The money is not important. What's going to come out of his mouth is lies. The money is not important. What's going to come out of his mouth is lies. He had his chance. He had his chance in court, and he did not stand up. He is a coward, Piers. He's a coward. He's a liar. We don't care.
MORGAN: Is it part of you, Jermaine, not -- I mean, obviously, we had this very emotional interview before about six weeks ago when you didn't know how the trial was going to go. You feared the worst. You feared your brother's reputation would be smeared.
I'm not sure that the worst fears were realized, but certainly your conviction then that Conrad Murray had effectively caused the death of your brother has been borne out by the verdict.
JACKSON: I think Conrad Murray got what he deserved. I don't like the charge. If you ask me the question how do I feel after the verdict, I feel the same way before the verdict. I just -- because I feel that Conrad Murray is the finger to a bigger hand. And the fact that he did not care for my brother.
He got what he deserved. But the charges should have been much greater. The charges were weak. I mean, you can go into a hospital and steal propofol and probably get more time than he got.
MORGAN: Should a network, NBC, or anybody else, be airing this documentary, do you think?
JACKSON: No. No, because here's a guy who's a liar. The jury, the system has found him guilty. Why would they want to -- says a lot about the networks. This is MSNBC. I'm sorry. This is trash. This is bull crap. He should not -- listen, I really don't want to give that much light to it because it's not important what he says. It's irrelevant. It's irrelevant. He's found guilty. These 12 jurors unanimously found him guilty.
MORGAN: Is there a part of you, Jermaine or your family, curious to hear what he has to say?
JACKSON: No.
MORGAN: Even though he didn't say it in court.
JACKSON: Not at all. Not at all.
MORGAN: I mean one line is --
JACKSON: How do you -- how do you order four gallons of propofol and say you're trying to wean my brother off of it? How do you say, well, maybe it was an accident? Why didn't you call 911? So what's going to come out of his mouth?
MORGAN: We asked NBC to comment. They declined to comment about this. I would imagine that they're considering, I guess, the reaction from the family.
JACKSON: Because it's wrong. It's wrong. And we shouldn't -- I really don't want to bring that much light to it because that's not what's important. What's important is that we celebrate Michael's life and we remember the good things, the good things that he's contributed to the world.
MORGAN: What sentence do you think he should get? Obviously the maximum is four years.
JACKSON: Put it like this, if they gave him all the time in the world, it's not going to bring my brother back. It's not.
MORGAN: I want to play you a clip from the moment that he was convicted, because you -- most the family were there. I want to see what you all were feeling in that moment. Let's just watch this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We, the jury in the above-entitled action, find the defendant, Conrad Robert Murray, guilty of the crime of involuntary manslaughter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: In that moment, what did you all feel?
JACKSON: What I was feeling, I felt the same, because this is just a process we're going through. There's a lot of questions that the family had before this trial started, and we were hoping to get answers. There's still a lot of answers -- questions that needs to be answered.
MORGAN: I mean the key thing, Jermaine, I think, if I can just throw something at you which I think is really, really fascinating that came out today, one of the jurors went public and said there were three reasons that they convicted him unanimously, as you said, all 12.
One was his failure to call 911 immediately. Second, his failure to have backup medical equipment. And thirdly for leaving the room. She said that the combination of these things almost certainly meant that Michael died when he could have been saved.
Now that's a pretty dramatic thing for the jury to say. I mean that's directly saying his actions killed Michael.
JACKSON: Yes. So why are they interested in hearing what he has to say in a documentary? I'm just livid because I can't believe that while we were going home during the trial he was filming a documentary and it had to be for money. But to -- I think the jurors are right. They made the right decision. His negligence, his inability to take care of my brother. At the same time, he's the finger to a bigger hand. And there are lot of questions that we need answers to.
MORGAN: There were two -- there were two things that happened in the trial, which I would imagine from the family's point of view, were deeply distressing. One was the issuing of the photograph of Michael after he died.
How did you -- how did you react to that when you knew that was happening?
JACKSON: I felt for my mother. I felt for my mother because to see your son dead on the bed, I thought it was crazy to even show these photos. What was he thinking to take Michael during the time when he was sedated and for people to think, well, he's an addict because of the way he's talking.
Michael was sedated. And still he's thinking about children, building a children's hospital, and for those who had questions whether he was this child molester, which is so ridiculous to think that, his intentions were to take care of children.
MORGAN: You mentioned that the recordings -- I just want to play a little bit of that recording because it was very shocking, I mean, to me, to his fans, to the family, to hear Michael like this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL JACKSON, POP ICON: My performances will be up there helping my children and always be my dream. I love them. I love them because I didn't have a childhood. I had no childhood. I feel their pain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JACKSON: Piers, that's someone who's sedated. To play this, I don't know whether it was the prosecution's decision to play this, but what came out of this is to show his feelings for children.
MORGAN: Had you ever heard Michael like that?
JACKSON: Never heard him like that.
MORGAN: Had any of the family ever heard?
JACKSON: Never, ever, ever.
MORGAN: Because I was so shocked when I heard this.
JACKSON: Never. What was his intention to tape this? What are they going to do?
MORGAN: Well, what did you think they were?
JACKSON: He was probably going to use it.
MORGAN: Why would anyone tape him like that?
JACKSON: Because he's a liar. He's a -- why? Look at what he's done.
MORGAN: Well, Jermaine, I wish you all the very best, you and your family. It's been an incredibly difficult few weeks for you. And I'm just glad that you got some kind of justice even if you feel probably not enough.
JACKSON: Yes. Thank you.
MORGAN: Thank you, Jermaine.
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