'Daddy' scream of Jackson's daughter

One of Michael Jackson’s bodyguards told jurors he had barely stepped into the singer’s bedroom when he heard the King of Pop’s daughter scream “Daddy!”.

Nearby, Jackson, 50, lay motionless in his bed, his eyes slightly open. His personal doctor, Conrad Murray, was trying to revive him when he saw that Jackson’s eldest children were watching, the Los Angeles court heard.

“Don’t let them see their dad like this,” Murray said, the first of many orders that bodyguard Alberto Alvarez told the court he heeded in the moments before paramedics arrived at Jackson’s home in June 2009.

What happened next – after Mr Alvarez said he ushered Jackson’s eldest son and daughter from the room – is one of the key pieces of prosecutors’ involuntary manslaughter case against Murray, 58.

According to Mr Alvarez, Murray scooped up vials of medicine from Jackson’s nightstand and told the bodyguard to put them away. “He said, ’Here, put these in a bag’,” Mr Alvarez said.

Mr Alvarez did so, placed an IV bag into another bag, and then said Murray told him to call for an ambulance.

On the third day of Murray’s trial, prosecutors tried to show that Murray, who has pleaded not guilty, delayed calling authorities and that he was intent on concealing signs that he had been giving the singer doses of the anaesthetic propofol.

Mr Alvarez said he thought Murray might be preparing to take the items to the hospital, but did not question him.

The bags never made it to the hospital, and prosecutors claim Murray repeatedly lied to emergency staff and did not tell them he had been giving Jackson doses of the drug as a sleep aid.

If convicted, Murray could face up to four years in prison and lose his medical licence.

Defence lawyer Ed Chernoff questioned whether there was enough time for Mr Alvarez to shield Jackson’s children, survey the room and stow away the drugs in the brief period that phone records show he was in the home before calling emergency responders.

The bodyguard insisted there was, telling the lawyer: “I’m very efficient, sir.”

Mr Chernoff was not convinced, asking whether 30 seconds was enough time for the dramatic sequence to play out. Mr Alvarez assured him it was.

The lawyer also challenged Mr Alvarez’s recollection, asking whether the collection of the vials happened after paramedics had come and whisked Jackson to a nearby hospital. Mr Alvarez denied it happened after he called emergency services.

Mr Chernoff questioned why Mr Alvarez did not tell authorities about Murray’s commands to bag up the medication immediately after Jackson died, but instead waited until two months after the singer’s death.

The bodyguard said he did not realise its significance until seeing a news report in late June in which he recognised one of the bags detectives were carrying out of Jackson’s mansion.

Burly Mr Alvarez became emotional as the emergency call was played for jurors. Jackson’s mother Katherine appeared distraught and her son Randy huddled next to her and put his arm around her. She did not attend the afternoon proceedings,

“Was that difficult to hear?” prosecutor David Walgren asked.

“It is,” Mr Alvarez replied.

After hanging up with dispatchers, Mr Alvarez said he performed chest compressions on Jackson while Murray gave the singer mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. The doctor remarked it was his first time performing the procedure.

“I have to,” Mr Alvarez recalled Murray telling him, “because he’s my friend.”

Mr Alvarez recalled seeing Murray at the hospital where Jackson was taken and sitting next to the emergency room.

“I wanted him to make it,” Mr Alvarez quoted Murray as saying. “I wanted him to make it.”

Mr Alvarez’s evidence allowed Mr Walgren to present the jury directly with a bottle of propofol.

Jurors looked intently at the bottle, which appeared to still contain some liquid.

When he entered the bedroom, Mr Alvarez said he saw Jackson’s eyes were open and was surprised to see the singer was wearing a condom catheter, a medical device that allows one to urinate without having to get up.

Mr Alvarez said Murray told him only Jackson had a “bad reaction”, as did Jackson’s personal assistant, who testified on Wednesday.

Mr Alvarez said it was a stunning scene, a far cry from the night before when the bodyguard stood backstage at Staples Centre, sneaking peeks of Jackson performing during what would be his final rehearsal.

“He was very happy,” Mr Alvarez said. “I do recall he was in very good spirits.”

Jackson’s personal chef, Kai Chase, told the court about seeing a panicked Murray come into the kitchen on the day of Jackson’s death and telling her to summon security and send up Jackson’s eldest son Prince. The chef said she sent the boy upstairs, but did not call security.

Five to 10 minutes after Ms Chase said she saw Murray in the kitchen, the doctor called Jackson’s personal assistant Michael Williams, who dispatched security to Jackson’s bedroom.

Today jurors are expected to hear from a pair of paramedics who were dispatched to Jackson’s mansion and tried resuscitation efforts.