London:
Late singer Michael Jackson's eldest son Prince Michael might be asked to testify in court in his father's death case.
The 13-year-old is likely to be called by defence lawyers for Conrad Murray, Jackson's personal physician, at a pre-trial hearing due to start in Los Angeles Tuesday.
Murray could be jailed for up to four years for involuntary manslaughter. He has pleaded not guilty.
Murray's lawyers claim that he gave Jackson only 25 milligrams of the anesthetic propofol on June 25, 2009, the day he died, not the massive overdose that killed him and that the singer added more of the drug to his intravenous drip while Murray was in the bathroom.
The lawyers claim they will try to prove that Jackson had a history of "self-medicating".
"What Jackson's children may have seen in the past could be crucial to the defence. If they ever, even once, saw their father administer his own drugs, it will give veracity to Murray's claim," express.co.uk quoted a source close to the case as saying.
There's also a possibility that Jackson's other two kids Paris, 12, and Prince Michael II, 8, could be called to the witness stand.
The source said: "No one wants to put any youngster through the mill like that but what those kids may have seen could be key to whether there were precedents of Jackson self-medicating.
"The likelihood is that the eldest boy alone will be questioned under oath, with his siblings spared the ordeal of having to relive the most painful memories of their lives."
The 13-year-old is likely to be called by defence lawyers for Conrad Murray, Jackson's personal physician, at a pre-trial hearing due to start in Los Angeles Tuesday.
Murray could be jailed for up to four years for involuntary manslaughter. He has pleaded not guilty.
Murray's lawyers claim that he gave Jackson only 25 milligrams of the anesthetic propofol on June 25, 2009, the day he died, not the massive overdose that killed him and that the singer added more of the drug to his intravenous drip while Murray was in the bathroom.
The lawyers claim they will try to prove that Jackson had a history of "self-medicating".
"What Jackson's children may have seen in the past could be crucial to the defence. If they ever, even once, saw their father administer his own drugs, it will give veracity to Murray's claim," express.co.uk quoted a source close to the case as saying.
There's also a possibility that Jackson's other two kids Paris, 12, and Prince Michael II, 8, could be called to the witness stand.
The source said: "No one wants to put any youngster through the mill like that but what those kids may have seen could be key to whether there were precedents of Jackson self-medicating.
"The likelihood is that the eldest boy alone will be questioned under oath, with his siblings spared the ordeal of having to relive the most painful memories of their lives."
