A former attorney for Michael Jackson testified in the singer's child molestation trial today that he ordered a private investigator to follow the family of the young accuser, fearing they would seek out a lawyer or sell their story to the tabloids.
Celebrity lawyer Mark Geragos, who represented Jackson for more than a year until the entertainer's indictment in April of 2004, was allowed to resume his testimony after it had been abruptly halted last week by Judge Rodney Melville.
Jackson had waived Mr Geragos' attorney client privilege so that he could testify last week as a defence witness, but when prosecutors began cross examining him, defense lawyers told the judge they had neglected to mention that the waiver was limited to events before Jackson's November 2003 arrest.
The effect of that disclosure was to sharply limit cross examination by the prosecution. The judge reluctantly agreed today to allow Mr Geragos to continue testifying under limited waiver, saying: "It puts us in a difficult situation. There doesn't appear to be a really good remedy at this time."
He also said he might sanction lead defence attorney Tom Mesereau for not disclosing immediately that the waiver was limited.
"I feel deceived by Mr Mesereau ... and I am considering some sort of sanction against Mr Mesereau," he said.
The judge said a condition of Mr Geragos' resumed testimony was that whenever he was asked by prosecutors about events after November 2003, he was to tell the jury, "I refuse to answer that question based on attorney client privilege."
The jury was not present when Judge Melville made his order.
Jackson has been charged with molesting his accuser, then 13, at his Neverland Valley Ranch in central California in early 2003, plying the boy with alcohol and conspiring to commit child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion.
The 46-year-old entertainer, who has pleaded innocent, faces over 20 years in prison if convicted on all counts.
Asked by prosecutors if he ordered his private investigator to follow the accuser and his younger brother to their junior high school and other places, Mr Geragos said, "I assumed the children would be in the company of adults." He said he did not specify any particular surveillance methods, merely instructing the private investigator that he wanted to know what the family was doing and who they were meeting with.
"The concern was they were either going to meet with a lawyer or sell their story to the tabloids," said Mr Geragos, a high-profile litigator also represented actress Winona Ryder in a shop-lifting case and defended convicted wife killer Scott Peterson.