More lawyers questioning lawyers in the ongoing Michael Jackson trial on Friday. In the witness stand was Mark Geragos, Jackson's former lawyer, there to tell the court that he had long suspected the Arvizo family planned to blackmail the singer for financial gain. Working for Jacko at the time of the alleged child abuse and hostage tacking incidents, Geragos said he had "grave concerns" about the Arvizo family's intentions, and that he had hired a private investigator to monitor their movements. Geragos: "I was trying to prevent a crime against my client. I thought they were going to try to shake him down."
On Jacko's relationships with teenage boys, Geragos said that his former client had a "child-like love" for young people, but that he "didn't see anyone doing anything nefarious or criminal. I saw someone who was ripe as a target."
It was good of Geragos to speak in Jackson's defence, given that the singer sacked him early on in the Arvizo child abuse case. His presence in court also caused some excitement as prosecutor Ron Zonen tried to cut short the witness's answers, much to the annoyance of defence lawyer Thomas Mesereau. Such a row ensued that good old Judge Rodney Melville had to call for a break in the proceedings.
Melville also took time to admonish Mesereau over the issue of what topics Geragos could or couldn't talk about. Under Californian law, lawyers can only give evidence relating to former clients if said client has given a formal waiver to that effect. The consensus was that Jacko had provided such a waiver to allow Geragos to take to the witness stand, but it turned out the former lawyer was not allowed to discuss events that followed the singer's arrest in Nov 2003. Melville, and presumably the prosecution would have appreciated knowing that earlier.
The case continues.