ALBERTO ALVAREZ
(Security)
Mr Douglas is present – Attorney for Alberto Alvarez.
DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR WALGREN
Mr Alverez is asked what position he held in June. He states he was Director of Logistics’ for Michael Jackson. He performed advance route surveys. He scopes out the venue and readies it for the arrival of Michael Jackson, carrying out route logistics. He checks traffic report congestions to avoid those routes. He has been employed by Michael on and off since 2004, 2005, and was employed at the Carolwood address in Los Angeles.
He has met Conrad Murray, and identifies him in court by pointing in his direction. He first met him sometime in January 2009 at the 100 Carolwood address. Between April/May to June 25th 09 he saw him regularly. Sometimes 5 to 6 times a week. He states he typically arrives in the afternoon, and states he does stay over night.
On June 24th 09 did Michael have rehearsal at the Staple Center?- Yes were you a part of the team on June 24th? – Yes. He states they left for the Staple Center around 6pm. They being him and Isaac Muhammad. What did you do when you got there? We usually did a walk through at the whole venue, like a quick scan, make sure there were no types of photographers, paparazzi’s of any kind, nobody that was suppose to be in, that had no rights to be in there, and to escort them out, get a briefing from Staples Security, insure that everything that Mr. Jackson wanted in his dressing room was there. And if he had requested any foods, that those foods were brought in to him
On June 24th he did do the above, and then escorted Michael to his room when he arrived. He would wait with a golf cart, once Michael exited his vehicle he would drive him to his room. On this evening Michael’s demeanor was very happy, and cheerful.
He was assigned at the Staples Center close to a ramp, where visibility was not that good for seeing rehearsals. When rehearsal was done, he didn’t interact with Michael in the golf cart ride back to his Escalade. But Michael still seemed like he was in a good mood. Once back to the Escalade, it was my job (Alberto Alverez) to start the advance route back home. He arrived home before Michael did and Dr. Murray’s car was already there. It was after midnight. He did not see Dr. Murray, just the car. He waited by the door for Michael to arrive to greet him, park the car, make sure front door is open etc. He tells Michael Goodnight, debriefs with everyone and then leaves the property.
Forward to June 25th. He arrives between 10 and 10:30. He checks into the security office, which is in a white trailer at the side of the home. Around 12:17 he receives a call from Michael Amir, however he did not catch it in time and it went to voice mail. He calls Amir back who asks him if he is at Carolwood, he says yes, Amir says don’t be abrupt, but go to the front of the house but don’t run.
Peoples exhibit 1 is shown, and aerial of Carolwood, and Alberto is asked if he recognizes the aerial view, and he does. He also see’s the trailer, and the front door. He is asked to show a path he took to the front door. He came from the door of the trailer, down this path, there is a driveway, and continued to the front door. He was on the phone when he was walking. When he arrived at the door, the doors were locked.
People’s 2 is shown. Do you recognize this door? Yes, they are glass doors and you can see through them. He says he saw Rosa (Rosalind Muhammad), and Paris, further back Kai Chase, and finally Conrad Murray at the top of the stairs.
PEOPLES EXHIBIT 6 (not actual exhibit), Alberto explains this is the entrance to Mr. Jackson’s home, staircase to the left, walkway to the kitchen right.
He is asked to point out on people’s exhibits where everyone was standing with laser pointers and does so.
He explains Rosalind saw him trying to get in and came over and unlocked the door-he was still on the phone at this time with Amir, and told him he was in, and he ran up the stairs. He again shows on exhibits where people were. He recalls seeing Prince as well, coming down the stairs as he was going up.
He states Murray said Alberto Come, Come Quick, and this is when he hung up the phone with Amir. He states he then walked into the bedroom, and that Murray entered first. He states there is a small foyer prior to the bedroom. So it’s upper hallway, foyer and then into the bedroom. He said Dr. Murray started doing chest compressions on the right hand side of the bed.
He states he saw Michael, Laying flat on his bed, his head on the pillow, hands down his side, head to the left slightly, eyes were half open, I could see his eyeballs, mouth open. He states Dr. Murray was doing one handed CPR.
He states that Dr. Murray said Alberto, we need to get him to the hospital, we need to get ambulance. Alberto reached for his phone walking towards Michael, and then Paris and Prince Jackson walked in the room, Paris began to scream Daddy and then began crying. (WITNESS BEGINS SOBBING) Dr. Murray said Get them out, get them out, don’t let them see their father like this. (WITNESS BEGINS SOBBING AGAIN) he turns to the children and says Don’t worry, we will take care of it, please go outside, and he escorted them out – leaving the door semi-open.
He states he asked Dr. Murray what happened to Michael and was told he had a bad reaction and that’s all he was told.
He was asked if he noticed anything unusual and states that he noticed that Michael’s Penis was out of his underwear and it had a plastic thing on it. He is shown a condom catheter in the courtroom and states that is what he saw.
He is asked if he saw any type of emergency medical equipment such as heart monitor or any type of automated blood pressure equipment, or any type of medical equipment, and he states the only thing that stands out is that there was an IV stand, and points out with a laser again where this was located- by nightstands and chairs on the exhibits. He was asked if he noticed if it was attached to anything and if it was then attached to Michael, and he said he was told to grab something from that area and noticed the iv then.
He was asked then if he knew on June 25th that Conrad Murray was Michael’s personal doctor and he replies yes.
He then tells about what he is instructed by Murray to do. He says after he was told Michael had a bad reaction he froze up and was just looking at the situation, sort of glanced around to look at the whole scene. He was then told to grab bottles or vials and to put them in a bag. He states his reaction was to look towards his right, there was a chair, there was a plastic bag – I went for that bag, grabbed it, and brought it to him, and I had him put the medicine bottles in the bag.
He is asked to review where Conrad Murray grabbed these medicine bottles from. He says there was a nightstand/little table in this area here (points with laser on exhibit 13) next to the bed by the head. He grabbed the bottles with one hand, stretched them out to me, he was kneeling at this time, and I was standing at the foot of the bed, closer to the left side. The plastic bag was a clear type grocery bag. He was able to see they were bottles as Dr Murray had his hand open – palm up, full of bottles. He then states after he had them bagged Dr Murray told him to Put them in the brown bag, Dr Murray had pointed to. He looked in that direction, saw the brown bag and dropped the bag in there. The brown bag was like a brown canvas type reusable lunch bag. White lining. There was another bag next to it, a blue one. He then states Dr. Murray told him to remove the IV bag from the IV stand—and to put it in the blue bag – which he did. He states 911 had not been called yet while this was going on, Dr. Murray had not instructed him to do that yet. He is asked if he recalls anything about the IV bag that caught his attention and states Yes sir, the IV bag was hanging more of eye level, and so as I am reaching to disconnect it from the top I noticed inside there was like a bottle inside the bag. Then I noticed that at the bottom of the bag (at the tip or bottom of the bag) there was like a milk-like substance sir There was another IV hanging from the stand and he was not instructed to remove that one. It was then that 911 was called. (the tape is then played in court – exhibit 14, and a transcript to the tape/cd is marked exhibit 15)
He is asked if that is him on the 911 recording and states yes, and states Michael was still on the bed at this time while Murray was attempting some sort of compressions. Asked if he knows what happened to the bags of vials/iv after-he says no. He says after the 911 call was concluded he went to help get Michael to the floor, and went to grab his legs but didn’t know how to as an IV was stuck in his leg. Dr. Murray then took it off when he saw him hesitating, he then grabbed his legs, and Dr. Murray grabbed the upper part of his body. He states Murray then put an apparatus on Michael’s finger that had a wire going to a box (pulse oximeter) and describes what the apparatus looked like. This was previously laying on the bed. He states this is not the first time he saw this apparatus, he saw it a few days earlier when Dr. Murray came into the security room and he was asking for batteries, and Isaac Muhammad had given him some new batteries.
After this Faheem Muhammad had entered the bedroom through the same entryway that they had used to get into the bedroom (from hallway, small foyer, into bedroom). He told Faheem It’s not look good and those were the only words exchanged at that moment. Then Murray asked Does anyone know CPR? He walked over towards Mr. Jackson and Dr. Conrad and the Dr. instructed him to give chest compressions. He used two hands. Dr. Murray started giving mouth to mouth. He recalls Dr. Murray then saying You know, this is the first time that I give mouth-to-mouth, but I have to do it, he’s my friend and he continued mouth to mouth.
After a few minutes paramedics came in and took over. Michael was moved to the foot of the bed on the floor where there was more room by paramedics. He remained in the room (was in and out) while paramedics tried to revive Michael. He is asked what he was doing when he went outside of the room. He let Michael Amir in at one time, and he also went down to check on the children. He is asked if at any time he thought Michael was alive. He states no, he did not appear to be breathing. He was not communicating in any way, and appeared Dead sir. He is asked if he was present when paramedics took Michael and he states it was at a time he had been out of the room, and he was coming up the stairs and they were coming down with him on the stretcher. He then looked over the children, making sure they did not see him being brought out on the stretcher.
He then took one of the Escalade’s and went to UCLA following the Ambulance where he remained. He was aware that Michael was pronounced dead at some time, and states that Dr. Murray came up to him several times at the hospital saying Thank you for all that you did, and We tried our best. Conrad then asked Alberto if he could go home or if he can be taken home, and he said I didn’t have the keys or authority at that time. He then asked Michael Amir who was also present the same thing. Alberto did not see Dr. Murray again after this.
Afterwards still at the hospital after they had secured the body, they discussed amongst some of the facility members how they were going to take Mr. Jackson out, and that was all arranged.
Alberto, Michael Amir, Faheem and Derrick Muhammad then left and drove towards Carolwood where they were greeted by a lot of police officers, who had the area blocked off. After identifying themselves they were allowed to go in towards the property. After a few minutes he was asked to take the family dog to the Hayvenhurst property which he did.
There were no further questions.
CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR CHERNOFF:
He states he was in the security trailer when he got the call from Michael Amir, and he had been there since 10:15 approximately. They usually work from 10:00 am on and would leave at whatever time rehearsals would be over for that day. If there were no rehearsals, they would leave around 5 or 6 pm. He had worked the night before there and finished on the 25th morning of 12:00 or 12:30 am.
Back to Dr. Murray, he tells Alberto to Come Quick and he is on the landing walking into the foyer, and this is when Alberto hangs up the phone. He follows Dr. Murray to the bedroom. He agrees it is fair to say Michael’s bedroom was dimly lit. He states he saw Dr. Murray performing CPR compressions with one hand, and when asked if he knew what Dr. Murray was doing with the other hand he says he was motioning with it but he does not know what he was doing with it all the time. Asked if he might have placed his hand under Michaels back or placed his hand on his knee, and Alberto states he does not know.
He is then directed to his state of awareness/mood from the call time to when he gets to Michael, and states he is at a level of 10 on a 1-10 scale of being shocked/concerned, that in security it is part of their job to make sure Michael is all right.
He is then asked, the first or second thing Dr. Murray says to you is we need to get him to a hospital, we need to get an ambulance. Yes correct. He then reaches for his phone to call 911. Up to the point of walking into the bedroom he did not know yet whether or not an ambulance needed to be called. He recalls again hearing Paris screaming behind him Daddy! and that Dr. Murray instructed him to escort them out to the foyer, not to let them see their dad like this. But he would have done that anyways because the kids mattered to him. He did not see the Nanny, nor did he see if the children went downstairs. He had gone back into the bedroom where Dr. Murray was now kneeling doing chest compressions with one hand, he again does not know where Dr. Murray’s other hand was. He repeats that Murray told him he had a bad reaction. He confirms again that he was asked to put some things into a bag and to take the IV bag from the stand and put it into the blue bag, and that he did touch the bag. He states he brought the plastic bag over to Dr. Murray and he placed some of the bottles into that bag. This was all before 911 was called. After he sets everything down he calls 911 at approximately 12:21 or 12:22. He does state he did hear his phone call reported on TV and the time was also reported on tv. He also states that he and the prosecution did review his phone records this morning (today) and saw the time there as well. He is asked if he spoke to more than one person on the 911 call and he only recalls the Operator. He is asked how long he was on the phone prior to the 911 call with Michael Amir (a phone call that came in at 12:17) and he states for about a minute but does state he did review this prior to testifying that it was 88 seconds.
He is now asked when he first met Dr. Murray and it was sometime after January when he started working at Carolwood. He was not friends but was friendly with Dr. Murray and had a couple of conversations with him, like Hi Dr. Murray Have a good day Dr. Murray, things like that. He states he was an acquaintance and did not have any particular relationship with Dr. Murray that would cause him in any way criminally or otherwise to hide evidence.
He is asked if he remembers Faheem Muhammad being at the residence and he states yes, that he got there sometime around the same time he did at 10:15 am. He does not recall how long Faheem stayed at the residence.
He is asked if he is aware of the fact that Carolwood had surveillance cameras, and he states yes, and that it records times and things that are going on. He is asked if he knows that the police had downloaded the surveillance information on the 25th and he states no he did not. He is asked if he ever had the opportunity to review the surveillance and he states no. He is asked if he knows where the cameras and surveillances are pointing? He states not all of them and that he didn’t particularly deal with the security on the property so he would not have a count of the cameras. He knows there is one by the garage and some of them are pointing towards the back exterior of the property but does not know if one is pointing to the front door of the residence. He states the front door is always locked, and that the entrance by the kitchen is usually locked.
Going back to the call when Michael Amir first called him, he was told to go to the front door. He did not ask him why. He normally enters through the kitchen staff door area, and only goes in usually to use the restroom.
He states Faheem walked in to the bedroom sometime around when they were putting Michael onto the ground and that he was at Michael’s feet at this time. He was standing and Dr. Murray was performing mouth to mouth and doing compressions. He states it was around this time that Dr. Murray asked either of them if they knew how to perform CPR and he did not find that suspicious at all, nor does he now (I didn’t think too much of it).
He again testifies that Dr. Murray placed some vials into a clear plastic bag, and recalls discussing the entire scenario with the police on August 31, 2009, and that it was recorded on audiotape, and that it was in his own lawyers office (Mr. Douglas, who is present in the courtroom). He is asked why he never told the police the vials were taken off the side table, and he does not recall saying that. Cross (Mr. Chernoff) states but today your saying they were taken off the side table correct? And he says yes. That Dr. Murray held out his hand opened upward, cupped holding vials. He is asked with what hand, and he says his right hand. He is asked what color the vials were. He does not know, just recalls they were vials that you get syringes to pull medicine out of. He states he is not medically inclined so he does not really know. He is asked if he knows a color and he says, clear glass type surrounded by like silver lining or something in that regard. He states they looked clear from the top. He is asked how many – and he says a few, like 3 or 4 – more than 2. He states Dr. Murray dropped them into the bag and that nothing else was in the bag. The bag he picked up was not on Dr. Murray’s orders specifically, he had asked him to put the vials in a bag and he looked to the right and saw that there was a clear plastic bag on the chair and grabbed that one. (he points out in exhibits where the bags were and by which chair and where he was standing). He states he never touched the vials, did not see anything besides the IV bags and vials that were placed in the bags. He is asked if he saw any other vials anywhere or syringes and he states no he does not recall, and that he did not touch any syringe. He did however touch the IV bag and did see that at the bottom of the bag there was very little fluid and that it was a milky white substance. And that he saw a bottle literally inside of the bag, and that he did report these things to the police. He states the IV he removed was not connected to anything, but the other one was connected to Michael. He did report all of this to the police. That he was instructed in order – vials into bag, IV into another bag by Dr. Murray. He is asked if the IV stand is moved at all and he is not sure, does not recall.
He is asked if he saw a dark brown machine on the bed and he states yes. And that something was placed on Mr. Jackson’s finger before he was placed on the ground, and he recalls speaking to the police about this also. He is sort of badgered at this time stating he said this and that to police about the Pulse Oximeter and he stays focused on what was previously stated above about it.
He is asked if he saw any other vials left in the room after the other vials were placed in the bag, and he says no. He is asked if he only saw the IV stand then as far as medical equipment and he states he saw One of those things you put in your mouth, or like over the mouth and then you pump with air He states after paramedics removed Michael on June 25th he never went up to the bedroom again. He is asked where he saw the breathing apparatus, and he states he recalls it was on the floor. He asks if he remembers it only because he saw pictures and he states 100% he saw it laying on the floor.
He is asked about speaking briefly with the police at the hospital (both officers are present in court at this time – Orlando Martinez, and Scott Smith) Then after the hospital he went to the Carolwood address, and traveled with Faheem and Michael Amir and Derrick. He states there was no particular reason they went back to Carolwood. He does not recall Michael Amir saying Well, the police want us to go back and talk to us. He remembers arriving at the Carolwood address after 5pm and he stayed approx 10 to 15 minutes. He states it is fair to say that at the hospital he did not tell officers that Dr. Murray was putting vials into a bag, nor did he tell police at the Carolwood address this information. He did not find any of this suspicious so he did not mention it. He thought they were just packing up to go to the hospital, and that paramedics were coming to care for him.
He is asked when after June 25th he discussed the incident with Faheem Muhammad and Michael Amir, and he thinks it was a day or two afterwards when they started seeing the news was reporting it on CNN.
He is asked if he thought he was being honest with the police on August 31st and he states Yes sir. He is asked if he remembers when defenses investigator came out to talk with him—a female. And he says correct. He is asked if he told her Go call my lawyer and he says I referenced her to my attorney. He is asked if he is being honest and just telling the facts, that facts are facts and they don’t change right? And he says right. Then he is asked why he wouldn’t talk to defenses investigator, and he says he was instructed by his attorney.
He is asked if after June of 2010 he was asked to give his fingerprints. This is objected to and is sustained.
He is then asked how long he stayed at Hayvenhurst after dropping off the dog and he says not too long sir. He is then asked if after the death of Michael he was employed by the Jackson family, he states yes, by Mrs Jackson to be security for the children. He is asked if he sought out this job or did they come to him. He states he periodically called to check on the children and at some time it was discussed and he obtained the job. It was sometime around February or March of 2010 when he was hired by them. He is asked when he stopped working for them and it was around April or May.
He is then asked a series of questions that are all objected to, and sustained.
No further cross examination.
REDIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. WALGREN:
He is asked if he has been contacted multiple times by Media since the death of Michael Jackson on June 25th 2009. And he states yes and that he directed them to his attorney. He is asked if he had any way to differentiate between legitimate journalist, a defense investigator or any other person who wishes to speak to him about this case and he states No.
Redirect finished.
RECROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR CHERNOFF:
He is asked a series of questions that again are objected and sustained.
He is then asked if he told the police on the 31st of August that he wanted to help them first and that maybe at a later time I might, I might sell my story but not just yet. This is objected to as facts not in evidence. It’s overruled and he can answer. He states I could – yes sir. He is asked why his lawyer told him not to talk to the defense, it is objected to, and sustained.
No further questions.
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