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Jermaine Jackson questions probe of brother's death

By Alan Duke, CNN
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Jermaine Jackson on Michael and kids
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Jermaine Jackson reveals plan to save Michael Jackson from prison if convicted in 2005
  • His brother's search for sleep on tour led to drug use, Jermaine Jackson says
  • Jackson raises questions about his brother's death case
  • His new book details complicated Jackson family relationships
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Watch the full interview with Jermaine Jackson Thursday."Piers Morgan Tonight" airs weeknights on CNN/US at 9 p.m. ET and on CNN International at 0200 GMT (Live simulcast), 1200 GMT and 2000 GMT / HKT 1900.

Los Angeles (CNN) -- Jermaine Jackson arranged a plan to smuggle Michael Jackson out of the United States if the defense lawyer in his brother's 2005 molestation trial indicated he was destined to be found guilty, Jackson revealed in a book published Tuesday.

Michael Jackson, who was eventually acquitted of child molestation, did not know about the "Plan B," which involved sneaking the pop icon out of his Neverland estate under a blanket and using a chartered plane to fly him to the Middle East, his brother wrote in "You Are Not Alone: Michael, Through A Brother's Eyes."

Jermaine Jackson talks about his book in an hourlong interview with CNN's Piers Morgan that airs Thursday night.

Along with insight about the unusual Jackson family dynamics, complicated by fame and fortune, Jackson's book offers details about his brother's dependence on powerful drugs to help him sleep while touring.

"Just coming off the stage and there's like 180,000 people out there and your adrenaline is going so high and you're doing so much," Jackson told Morgan. "And it's hard to just put your head on the pillow and sleep, because it just goes on and on, even after you're off the stage."

But Michael Jackson's "behavior wasn't to the point that he was an addict," his brother told Morgan. "He was looking for this for sleep. And he trusted whoever administered these things to him, he trusted them."

The book was released Tuesday, two weeks before opening statements in the trial of the doctor charged with causing Jackson's death by administering an overdose of a surgical anesthetic to induce sleep.

Dr. Conrad Murray told investigators he was trying to wean Jackson off propofol after several weeks of using it on a nightly basis to help him sleep between rehearsals for his "This Is It" comeback concerts.

"For Michael to get sleep, he had to be knocked out," Jermaine Jackson said. "And this wasn't just this one night. This was administered in him on an ongoing basis, which was causing his body to deteriorate and him to act different and have different symptoms in his behavior."

Jermaine Jackson said the first time he met Dr. Murray was in the emergency room at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center on June 25, 2009, as his brother's lifeless body rested on a table in a nearby room.

"I didn't know who he was, but I said there's something strange about this guy," Jackson said. "He's acting strange. I had formed that opinion before I had found out who he was."

Jackson's book offers a timeline of what he believes happened in his brother's last weeks. He told Morgan that he is skeptical about what Los Angeles Police detectives concluded.

"So, you think there may be some kind of cover-up?" Morgan asked.

"I would think that, as a family member, yes," Jackson said.

The disappearance of surveillance video tapes that would show "the whereabouts of who came in and out of the house" where Michael Jackson died makes it "a strange case," he said. Police took the tapes from the house early in their investigation, he said.

"So, we really don't know," Jackson said. "There's a lot of questions."

A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office, which is prosecuting Murray, declined to comment on Jackson's statements.

Jermaine Jackson's plan to spirit his brother out of the United States in the midst of his criminal trial six years ago also reflects a lack of faith in the judicial system.

"I have negotiated with myself that the moment (Jackson defense lawyer) Tom Mesereau starts to suggest that the scales of justice are tilting against us, I will action the plan and move him to the airport in the San Fernando Valley, outside L.A.," Jackson wrote. "We'll sneak him out of Neverland under a blanket, during the night. Or something."

Michael Jackson did move to Bahrain for several months after a jury found him not guilty.

"When he boarded that plane, he was a shadow of his former self and he was immensely grateful to the Bahraini royal family for providing him with sanctuary," Jermaine Jackson wrote.

Jackson left Bahrain for London after he realize his business deal with Bahrain's Prince Abdullah was too restrictive, he wrote. A lawsuit by the prince eventually cost Jackson $5 million, his brother wrote.

"He viewed America as a great friend who had betrayed him and he wanted nothing to do with her for a while," he wrote.

Watch Piers Morgan Tonight weeknights 9 p.m. ET. For the latest from Piers Morgan click here.