Travis Payne Called As A Witness In AEG Trial.

Los Angeles (CNN) — A choreographer who worked closely with Michael Jackson on his comeback concerts testified Tuesday the pop icon in his final days was “not at show standards but he was rehearsing, he was processing.”

Travis Payne was called as a witness by AEG LIve to counter Jackson witnesses who testified in the ongoing wrongful death trial that Michael Jackson was emaciated, paranoid and so ill they feared for his life as rehearsals continued until shortly before his death on June 25, 2009.

The trial, in which Jackson’s mother and three children contend AEG LIve is liable in his death, is in its third week in a Los Angeles courtroom. The lawsuit accuses the concert promoter of negligent hiring of Dr. Conrad Murray, the physician who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Jackson’s death.

“I don’t have a dog in this race, so I don’t want to be painted as a guy whose trying to mask anything,” Payne said when Jackson lawyer Brian Panish suggested he was downplaying concerns about Jackson’s health in the days before he died.

“Mr. Jackson just explained to me that he had trouble sleeping, that he was tired, and that satisfied me,” Payne testified.

He told Jackson, “You’re looking thin,” and Jackson responded, “Well, I’m getting down to my fighting weight,” according to Payne, who added, “I didn’t have a reason to doubt him.”

The Jacksons contend AEG Live executives ignored warning signs, including Jackson’s weight loss, because they did not want to delay the premiere of the “This Is It” concerts set for July 2009.

“Sometimes in rehearsal Michael would appear a little loopy, under the influence of something, but mostly when he would come to the rehearsals from the dermatologist,” Payne testified. That happened two to four times in the weeks before his death, he said.

“Michael was undergoing personal cosmetic procedures, so he could feel great and do a good job,” Payne said.

Medical records showed Jackson visited his Beverly Hills dermatologist nearly two dozen times in the two months before his death, receiving injections of the powerful painkiller Demerol.

“Sometimes he was tired and lethargic and had to be, not convinced, but supported throughout rehearsals,” Payne said.

READ MORE: http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/14/showbiz/jackson-death-trial/

Source: CNN / MJ-Upbeat.com