LOS ANGELES (LALATE) – A Michael Jackson death photo shocked jurors today in the Conrad Murray trial. The Michael Jackson death picture was shown today, years after publication of another picture of Michael created international controversy. Michael Jackson was showed dead on a gurney today during the opening statement of the Conrad Murray trial. The photo was used by prosecutors in their opening statement.

In the photo, Jackson’s eyes are closed, his mouth is protracted open. Prosecutors showed the grainy image with a caption added as “homicide”. While the jury is not under sequestration, the image was powerful, not just for jurors, but for the public outside the courtroom and spectators inside.

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Murray’s lawyer, Ed Chernoff, on defense said that Jackson gave himself propofol. But jurors undoubtedly left the courtroom today remembering the above image.

Attorney David Walgren put up the picture in his opening statement. “What happened between that time and approximately 12 hours later when Michael Jackson is dead on June 25, 2009?” Walgren told the jury. “What you will learn through the evidence is that what happened during that time frame is that the acts and omissions of Michael Jackson’s personal doctor, Conrad Murray, directly led to his premature death at the age of 50.”

“Conrad Murray, with his eyes on an anticipated $150,000 (per month) lucrative contract, instead agreed to provide Michael massive amounts of propofol on a regular basis in complete disregard of all acceptable standards of medical care,” Walgren added.

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In summer of 2009, OK Magazine was under fire for putting a Michael Jackson death photo on its cover. The person who made the decision was Richard Desmond, owner of the magazine, who paid a reported $500,000 for the photo.

Months later, news reports claimed another Jackson death photo had been stolen as was being shopped to news sites. The report claimed that Jackson autopsy death photo was leaked by a “high ranking police friend” to a Los Angeles leading restaurant owner who kept it stored in his BlackBerry.

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LOS ANGELES (LALATE EXCLUSIVE) – Michael Jackson’s rented home at 100 North Carlwood (photos below) dominated Conrad Murray opening statements today. Michael Jackson fans flooded 100 North Carlwood Drive in Bel Air after his death, prompting street closures near the Beverly Hills border. Today, the attention in a Los Angeles courtroom was back on the place where Conrad Murray was treating Jackson.

Six months before Jackson’s passing, LALATE first broke news that Jackson was renting the home located in a section of Holmby Hills. The home was minutes east of UCLA Medical Center where Jackson was rushed to in his final moments.

Jackson began renting the home around December 2008, LALATE first reported. It was believed at the time that the rental was between Jackson’s camp and Roxanne Guez. Guez was the wife of an Ed Hardy head.

Throughout 2008, Jackson was very close with Ed Hardy’s Christian Audigier; the two announced several anticipated business deals that year. But Jackson made news during a very rare public appearance for Christian Audigier’s birthday with Britney Spears that year.

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After months of isolation in 2008, Jackson finally made his first major appearance at Christian Audiger’s birthday. Then, in the weeks that followed, reports confirmed that Jackson was staying at 100 North Carolwood. Ironically, only in October 2008, Guez had reportedly joined Ed Hardy as its new Chief Executive.

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In June 2008, Audigier told news that he was launching a fashion label with Jackson. “It’s the merging of the King of Pop with the king of fashion. Something explosive is going to happen,” Christian told PEOPLE at the time. The Jackson label was set to debut at Kitson reportedly.

“Michael Jackson is an international pop icon who has had a huge following throughout his career. I think people will think it’s hip to wear his line. Through all his ups and downs people still love him. He still has a huge fan base,” said Kitson owner Fraser Ross to PEOPLE.

After Jackson’s passing, reports claimed that Christian Audigier wanted to buy Neverland Ranch. It remains unclear what eventually happened with the deal. “I can have the house in one month now,” Audigier told news at the time. “I get the keys two weeks from today.”

Then during a September 3, 2009 news interview, Audigier  told news that the Holmby Hills home was owned by the boss of his company, Hubert Guez, when Jackson died.

With HLN and other tv news channels now devoting around the clock coverage of Jackson’s final moments before his death, attention is expected to be back on the mansion and what transpired between Jackson and Murray. Moreover, news reports have confirmed that both the prosecution and defense will focus on Murray’s interaction with LAFD when Jackson was taken from Holmby Hills to Westwood’s UCLA Medical Center.

Just months ago, Hopespring Drive in Chickasaw Oaks, and Suburban Drive in east Orange County was the focus of a nation. HLN news reporters continued to visit the location of Caylee Anthony’s remains. They analyzed the path from the Anthony family house to the location of Caylee’s remains. While LAPD has yet to confirm to news if street closures will be in place during the Murray trial,  the Orange County Sheriff’s Office had to restrict traffic around the Anthony family home in the Chickasaw Oaks subdivision during the Casey Anthony trial.

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LOS ANGELES (LALATE) – The Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award was bestowed on Britney Spears last night (video below). But when Spears took to the stage, she stated she was honored for the award, especially being bestowed one day before what would have been Michael Jackson’s 53rd birthday. When MTV announced that Spears would achieve the acclaimed award, many questioned if, at age thirty, Spears was too young to receive the honor. But with her own charming, modest and delightfully surprised demeanor, Spears showed last night why she was so deserving of the honor.

Just a few years ago, Spears’ own life was on downward spiral. But within one year, she turned her life around, and picked up her first VMA award. In 2007, news coverage of Spears’ VMAs appearances was more of mockery than praise. One year later, after the “Gimme More” trouble, Spears turned it around. She had never won a VMA until 2008. That year she won four.

Last night, Spears won again, picking up the huge award for Pop Video. In fact, Spears beat out one of the strongest groups of contenders  – Adele, Bruno Mars, Katy Perry and Pitbull.

When the tribute kicked off for the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award, Spears was a delightful mix of shock, laughter, and applause as she saw a magnificent medley of her greatest dance moves. When Spears accepted the award, Lady Gaga as Jo Calderone attempted a Madonna-like kiss on stage. But it didn’t happen. “She taught us all how to be fearless, and the industry wouldn’t be the same without her.”

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LOS ANGELES (LALATE) – A Michael Jackson statute at Fulham FC’s soccer stadium has prompted controversy. But the Michael Jackson statute is being defended by the person who commissioned it in the first place: Mohammed Al Fayed.

Mohammed Al Fayed was a friend of Jackson. In 2009, he commissioned the statute to be placed outside his department store to greet shoppers at Harrods. But last year, Al Fayed sold Harrods, and kept the statute.

Now he’s moved the statute to his soccer stadium. As Fulham FC chairman, Mohammed Al Fayed believes the statute of the pop singer dancing and holding a microphone (photo here) belongs in a soccer stadium.

Fulham FC fan site Cottage Corner has been filled with furious remarks, calling the erection of a pop singer’s statue at a soccer stadium as “inappropriate and ridiculous”. Many comments by fans of Jackson thought the statute was inspiring, but “disrespectful” to Jackson and disrespectful to soccer athletes. One fan even questioned if it was a practical joke for April Fools day.

Al Fayed met with news reporters Sunday about the unlikely controversy. He told soccer fans that, if they don’t approve of Jackson in his soccer stadium, then he doesn’t want them as fans of his soccer team.

“Football fans love it. If some stupid fans don’t understand and appreciate such a gift they can go to h–ll. I don’t want them to be fans. If they don’t understand and don’t believe in things I believe in they can go to Chelsea, they can go to anywhere else.”

Local news reports that Jackson attended only one soccer game in his life, a Fulham vs Wigan game in 1999 as a guest of Mr Al Fayed.

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LOS ANGELES (LALATE) – Lisa Marie Presley tells Oprah today that Michael Jackson feared being murdered. Lisa Marie Presley says Michael Jackson thought certain persons would eventually kill him for his music catalog.

Lisa Marie Presley, who now lives in London with husband Michael Lockwood (pictured above), told Oprah several details about her marriage to Jackson during a Thursday interview. Many of Presley’s remarks were consistent with her blog post about Michael after her passing. But among her statements today, Lisa Marie Presley remembers what she calls her last “coherent” chat with Jackson in 2005.

“I was very distanced, and he was checking to get a read, you know? He was trying to throw a line out to see if I would bite emotionally, and I wouldn’t.” Jackson asked Presley if she still loved him. “I told him I was indifferent. He didn’t like that word. He cried.”

How did that conversation end? Presley said it ended with Jackson telling her that he was going to be murdered. “He felt that someone was going to try to kill him to get hold of his catalogue and his estate”. Who did Jackson suspect? Presley says specific names were mentioned by Jackson. Presley tells Oprah she has no intentions of revealing the names.

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