These are summaries taken from the Official Court Transcripts
FAHEEM MUHAMMAD
(Head of Security)
DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. WALGREN:
Faheem Muhammad was employed in June 09 by Mr. Jackson as head of security, and had been employed there for approximately 10 months. His job was overall security, house, traffic security and to make sure everything is maintained properly—overall security detail. He did interact with Michael Amir Williams as liaison for Michael Jackson. He does know Dr. Murray and is able to identify him in court. He first met Dr. Murray approximately in March of 2009. He doesn’t remember exactly how he met him. He did regularly observe Dr. Murray at the house at night and recalls he did stay overnight at the house. It was not often until the last month, in May and June. Asked how often, he states in the last two weeks, every night, at the house. People’s exhibit 4 is shown and he is asked if that is Dr. Murray’s car and he replies yes, at Carolwood.
He is asked if he was involved with getting Michael to the Staple Center on the 24th of June 2009, and he says yes, it was approximately 7pm, and he drove. He is asked where Michael Amir Williams was seated and he states the front seat, and Mr. Jackson was in the back. He is asked if Alberto Alvarez was a part of the team and he replies yes. Alberto would arrive to the Staple Center ahead of them waiting for them. Then Michael would be taken to his room via the golf cart. Faheem states he stayed at the Staples Center throughout rehearsal, and did watch them rehearse. He states that the general mood of the rehearsal that night was positive; Michael had high energy, looked good, energetic as he had seen him throughout the entire rehearsals process. He is asked if the drive home was set up the same way, and he states yes. They left after midnight, 12:30-1:00. He is asked if he made plans to make sure Dr. Murray would be there before Michael arrived and he said, Not directly, Michael asked Mr. Williams to make sure Dr. Murray was at the house, and he was there.
He is asked what usually happens when they get there, he says Fans were usually at the gate, we stopped, Mr Jackson would receive gifts, we would drive in and take the gifts in. Alberto, William and me put them on the bottom stair, then he would say good night, I love you, then we would go back and debrief in the security trailer at the side of the house. He would then leave for the day, which he did that night.
He is then asked if he had to work the 25th, and he states yes. He did leave to go to the bank however, but received a call from Michael Amir telling him to rush back to the house, Mr. Jackson had some type of reaction, he asked me to go upstairs thinking I was at the property first, I told him I will rush back. I turned around to go back to the house, I was not far, four minutes away. I got back on the property, and I called Mike when I got back just to insure what he was saying, make sure that he wanted me to go because it was real strict about going upstairs. I called back to double check. And I asked, should I just go upstairs? He said yeah, just go ahead and go up, see what’s going on, just check on everything. He says normally the policy is that no one was allowed upstairs and he had only been up once or twice, only when asked. He went upstairs, to the left is the bedroom and he went inside. People’s 6 is shown and asked if he recognized the entry, with the stairs to the left and he states yes, the top is a railing and a landing.
People’s 9 is then shown, a diagram of the stairs proceeding to the 2nd floor, this is the whole wing of the house, 2nd floor, bedroom 2 is this where you went, and he states yes. Peoples 10 is shown. He states there is the landing, and then the room he entered after coming up. He identifies the doorway of the room he went in to that is also shown on People’s 9.
Mr. Walgren then wants to admit a series of photos.. Labeled as follows:
11. Entry from doorway to bedroom 2
12. Having entered bedroom 2
13. Far side of the bedroom if you enter from foyer
Faheem is able to identify each area on the photos.. and where they are and is asked what he saw when he went upstairs. He states he see’s Alberto, pacing obviously under stress. He could see something was wrong. He says he spoke to Alverez before looking around and repeated How is everything going, and Alberto replied, “it’s not looking good”. He asked if 911 had been called and was told yes by Alberto.
He then remembers Mr. Jackson’s feet, coming right off the bed, his legs and feet, and he walked around to the far side of the bed and saw Dr. Murray on his knee’s trying to compress, or try to, panicking state, with Mr. Jackson’s eyes wide open, mouth open, just laying there. He doesn’t remember exactly what Dr. Murray was doing but he remembered him being panicked, and then he asked if anyone knew how to do CPR. He didn’t see him at first as he was lower than the bed. He states nobody else was there with them.
He is then asked if at some point he saw the children, and he said Prince was right by the doorway, maybe two steps in. He couldn’t see his father, Paris was further in, on her hands and knees crying. He says he just remembers there was a point he noticed that shortly after, maybe within 10 min, we just needed to get them out of there.
He is asked what state Dr. Murray was in, he states, sweating. And when Dr. Murray asked if anyone could do CPR, he looked at Alberto shocked, he knew Dr. Murray was a heart surgeon, he remembered Alberto said he knew.. (objection by defense, sustained) He states Alberto then went and tried to help Dr. Murray with CPR.
He is asked if at some point he left to see the kids, and he says Yes, at first I went and got the nanny and had her get the children and bring them into an area where they were away from all the commotion that was going on and then next because I knew 911 had already been called and they weren’t there yet, I had the security line up the cars just in case we had to take him to the hospital ourselves because we were under the impression that he was still alive and that there was a chance to save him so we positioned the cars by the front door to prepare to take him to the hospital. If 911 wasn’t there within probably the next five to 10 minutes we probably would have just taken him ourselves.
He then went back upstairs. He went up and down the stairs probably four or five times until he knew paramedics arrived, he escorted them up to the room when they arrived.
He is asked prior to this day had he ever seen Mr. Jackson hooked up to heart monitors or med equipment. He says no, he does state he saw the IV stand. He is asked what happened when paramedics arrived, he says, he escorted them to the room and provided any assistance needed. Prior to this, he had shown them where to park. He stayed in the room, and sat down. He thinks someone else sat down with him, one of the other guys, just watching and hoping for something good to happen.
When the paramedics were about to take Michael out, he had gone downstairs to try to block paparazzi and the areas that they could possibly get a shot as they did not want photographs circulating. He states he was there when Michael had left for the hospital and then started a caravan to UCLA, Prince, Paris and Blanket were in a car already.
When they got to UCLA, the paparazzi were going crazy by this time, so they took off four jackets and escorted, firstly blocking the body, covering Michaels body to get it in.
(Please note the watch on Murray’s left wrist, he tells Dr. Nguyen he had no concept of time, and no watch)
Then they covered his children with their jackets to get them in the hospital and then he spoke with the head of security at the UCLA Hospital, and they helped out. UCLA gave them some of their guys to set up a perimeter around the hospital. They put people with the children and prepared for Michael’s family to arrive.
He was aware at some time that Michael was pronounced dead, while still at the hospital. He is asked if he remembers Michael Amir approaching him about a request from Dr. Murray and he says yes. He is asked what Amir and he talked about, he was not able to state what Amir said, but that he told Amir no, they could not go back to the house as the Police had the keys. He then states Dr. Murray also approached him, but only to tell him that he was hungry, wanted to get food, and he told him there is a café’ (objected to after the part of wanting to get food). He came up to him about 30 to 45 minutes after Michael was pronounced dead. He is asked what if anything he stated to Dr. Murray and he told him it will be easier to use the café’ in the hospital. Dr. Murray did not reply. He then states about 20 minutes later Dr. Murray said he was tired and had to leave. He told Dr Murray I cannot leave then he saw Dr. Murray leave through the big glass doors of UCLA and that was the last time he saw him.
He is asked if he was interviewed on June 25th, and he says, yes, by the police at Carolwood, it was a quick interview and not everything that had happened. 10 minutes or less. He is asked if he was later interviewed August 31st, by Det. Smith and Myers and he says yes, and gave more detailed truthful accurate statement. He is asked which phone he used that day and gives his #.
Nothing further.
CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR CHERNOFF:
Mr. Chernoff asks how it came about that he/they made another statement on August 31st to the police. He replies they contacted me a day after Michael died. Asked if they were directly contacted prior to August 31st and he says no, the detective contacted our lawyers. Mr Chernoff asks if he knows what he was doing that day, the day after Michael died, he says yes, and then asked if he got a call to make another statement and he does not remember. He is asked if he hired a lawyer (objection, sustained). Is your lawyer here today? Yes, and he made the formal statement on August 31st at his lawyers office. He is asked if he has spoken with Mr. Walgren, Miss Brazil, The police or any other prosecution since then, and he replies yes-with his lawyer present.
He is then asked, you claim Dr Murray spoke to you about 30 to 40 minutes after Michael’s death at the hospital , Did you speak to him before that? No, not directly he was in an operating room . He is asked what time it was when Dr. Murray wanted to get something to eat, and he does not know exactly, but that it was not too long after Michael was pronounced dead. But just from being there that day and the chain of events, he was pronounced dead, when he came out to the hallway, shortly after that, the detectives came. And they spoke with Alberto. In the same hallway or that same lobby area Doctor Murray approached me.” Reiterates he does not know the exact time. He states he did see him (Dr. Murray) walk out of the hospital. Did Dr. Murray talk to family? No. Did you see him work on a statement with Jermaine Jackson? No. Did you see him talk to police? No. What time did you see him walk out of the hospital. I don’t know, and have no idea.
You said you got a phone call from Michael Amir, yes. Have you looked at any document to refresh you of that day? Yes, I looked at the statements I made to police. I did not look at phone records. I made 2 statements, and I do not recall talking to police at the hospital. I spoke to them at Carolwood and at my lawyers office. Again states he did not look at phone records and also states he was not informed as to what the records show. Michael Amir called him at approx. 12:05 – give or take 5 to 10 minutes. He was away from Carolwood at the time.
He is badgered a bit here about time frames. And sticks with the above statements as to when he arrived back at Carolwood, but cannot be absolutely be certain as he said everything was approximately. He is asked how long it took for paramedics to arrive—it seemed like it was going very slow.. Could have been 2 minutes not sure. He is asked again about how many times he went up and down the stairs. He states 4 or 5, but recalls three for sure as one time was to get the nanny and gather the children, and one was to line cars up outside, and a third the ambulance had arrived and he escorted them upstairs. He is asked about when he noticed the children for sure, and states it was sometime while CPR was going on, that it came to his attention that the children were standing outside the room watching their father possibly die or in a bad state and he needed to take care of this.
When he walked into the room, Alberto was not yet helping with CPR. Dr. Murray was performing CPR by himself, he had to walk over to the side of the bed to see him. He does not know where Murray’s hands were, he does not recall Michael being hooked up to anything. Dr Murray was kneeling on the floor. He clearly remembers Michael’s eyes being open, he was fixated on this. He did not hear Dr. Murray tell anyone to put away any items. He did see an IV stand, but does not remember if there was anything on it. (iv bags) He is asked why he told police he did not see any bags, and now saying he doesn’t remember, shown testimony/statement. He is asked to show with a pointer where he was standing when Dr. Murray asked if anyone knew CPR (shown peoples 9) and points out the area where he and Alberto were standing. He is badgered a bit about not being able to see what Dr. Murray was doing, and sticks with previous testimony. He is asked if it seemed strange when Dr. Murray asked if anyone knew CPR and he says no, it didn’t seem, and that he is not familiar with CPR.
He is asked if more than one person with the paramedics was performing CPR on Michael and he says yes. As far as CPR, when the paramedics arrived from what I seen, they were giving him shots. And they were giving him – I don’t remember what the machine is called, but they were giving him the machine where you give him, where electric shock to help revive him. He does not recall any of them doing mouth to mouth cpr nor does he recall anyone doing compressions.
He is asked about how long he has known Michael again, and he says for 10 months, and that his job being head of security required him to be with Michael to make sure he was secure when he left the residence. He is asked if he called Murray to make sure he was at the residence for Michael, and he says no, and that he has never called any physician for Michael’s benefit.
He is directed back to the times he went up and down stairs while waiting for paramedics. States he thinks it was a couple of minutes before they arrived. And that he went downstairs to take the children to the nanny, and one time to tell staff to line up the cars in case they had to take Mr. Jackson to the hospital. He also went down once to tell staff to put the children in the car so when the paramedics bring their father out of the house, they don’t have to see him. He is asked if he ever saw Alberto Alvarez bring the children downstairs and he does not recall. He did not walk the children down himself. He most likely told someone in security to do it and it could have been Alberto.
He does not recall what time they left for the hospital. He does not recall what time he went back to Carolwood after Michael was pronounced dead. He does not remember exactly who drove back with him, either Alberto or Michael Amir. But whoever it was, a call came in to them and they stated that they needed to report back to Carolwood. He states that there was security still at the house when they arrived back but they may have changed shifts-he does not remember their names. He remembers the guards that were there were Larry and Lewis. He had given them instructions to keep the premises secure. He again does not recall what time they left to go to the hospital, nor does he recall what time he left the house after he came back to Carolwood after Michael was pronounced. It was late when he left, after 9pm. He was the last of people to leave as far as security, him and Amir. Family had already shown up. He does not believe any security was left, but that police were there, in front of the house in front of the gate and the house had security camera’s.
He is asked if he ever had security experience prior to working there and being head of security. He states he was hired initially as a driver, but states if Michael liked you, he liked you and he asked him to remain on staff and be head of security. He is asked where he works now and that is objected to and sustained. He is asked if he works with Alberto Alvarez right now and he says No. Also asked if he works with Michael Amir Williams and he says no. But he sees him frequently, they have known each-other for about 10 yrs. He does not see Alberto as often.
He is asked if he remembers calling Michael Amir when paramedics arrive and he says yes, but does not recall the time. He is asked if 12:42 sounds about right, and he does not know. He just remembers calling him to give him an update of the severity of the situation, and told him that it’s a very serious situation He does not recall telling him when the paramedics arrived. He may have if they had arrived already at that time when he updated him. He is not sure where he was when he made the call to update him. He is asked if he had the same phone that he has now, and this is objected to and sustained. He then answers he had an I phone, and it’s allowed. He’s asked if he phoned Michael Amir at any other time, objection – question is vague, sustained. He is asked if he called him more than once from the house, and he does not recall. Questions become a little badgering here again. He is asked if his phone has a Phoenix AZ area code, he says no. He is asked what the area code is, and he says Sacramento, and gives 916 as the area code. He never used another cell phone during that period of time and only had one phone. He is asked if he ever told the police his name was Larry and he says no, and they ask if he is sure, and did he give them his right name and he says Yes. And that he gave them his phone #. He is asked if he knows Larry Muhammad and he says yes, and is asked who it is. He says he knows two Larry Muhammad’s , the guard at the gate he believes is Larry Muhammad and his mother’s husband’s name is also Larry Muhammad.
He is asked if he remembers if he touched anything in Michael’s room and he says no, not that he recalls. Asked if he saw syringes or vials or IV bags or anything, and he states he sees the IV stand. He does not recall the other things. He wasn’t looking for anything so he didn’t see anything like that. He is asked if he has given his fingerprints to the police and that is objected to and sustained.
Mr Chernoff has no more questions.
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