Geragos Says He Ordered Surveillance

On the witness stand Friday, Michael Jackson’s former attorney, Mark Geragos, said he ordered surveillance of the pop star’s young accuser and the boy’s family.

Prosecutors have pointed to the surveillance as evidence of an elaborate criminal conspiracy allegedly orchestrated by Jackson, who was later accused by the boy of molesting him.

Jackson and five uncharged co-conspirators have been accused of following the family, holding them captive at the singer’s Neverland ranch in Santa Barbara County, and taking other measures to coerce them into participating in a flattering video on Jackson.

But Geragos testified that he initiated the shadowing of the family, and that it was what any attorney would do to protect his client.

“I thought they were going to shake him down,” he said, describing Jackson’s relationship with the 13-year-old cancer survivor and his family as “a pending disaster.”

Repeating a theme of the defense, Geragos called his ex-client “a gentleman who was almost childlike in his love for kids.” He also said Jackson was an easy mark for anyone who wanted to profit by making claims of molestation.

A high-profile Los Angeles attorney with a number of celebrity clients, Geragos is best known for his unsuccessful defense of Scott Peterson in the murders of his wife and unborn son.

In February 2003, Geragos agreed to represent Jackson when the singer came under fire for telling a British TV documentary maker that he enjoyed nonsexual sleepovers with young boys.

Jackson fired him in April 2004, saying the lawyer was devoting too much of his time to the Peterson case.

Relaxed and affable, Geragos set a light tone at the start of his testimony.

Asked by defense attorney Thomas A. Mesereau Jr. about his educational background, Geragos answered: “I went to college. I went to law school. I passed the bar. It wasn’t a very distinguished academic career.”

But under aggressive cross-examination from prosecutor Ron Zonen, tension in the courtroom grew so thick that the judge called for a timeout, forcing Geragos and attorneys on both sides into a few moments of silence.

“I want you to drop down two degrees,” Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Rodney S. Melville told the lawyers. “I ride horses and we wait for the head to relax.”

Zonen repeatedly asked Geragos whether he thought his client was “well-served” by sleeping with young boys. But the attorney refused to criticize the practice, saying Jackson had assured him it was a nonsexual “act of unconditional love.”

Geragos said he pegged the accuser’s mother as a grifter after discovering that she had collected $150,000 from J.C. Penney to settle a suit alleging that she was sexually assaulted and falsely imprisoned by the store’s security guards.

The suit, which was filed after one of her two sons was accused of shoplifting, never went to trial.

Geragos said the lawsuit had him so “gravely concerned” that he asked a Beverly Hills private investigator to follow family members when they weren’t at Neverland ranch.

“Tell me where they are, what they’re doing, and who they’re meeting with,” Geragos recalled telling the investigator, Bradley Miller.

The lawyer also asked Miller to tape an interview with the family about Jackson so that “they would be locked into the truth,” Geragos testified.

During that interview, which jurors heard in court, family members gushed about Jackson’s role as a loving father figure.

Geragos said that he was concerned about reports from Neverland staff members that the woman had gotten her children to call Jackson “Daddy” and that the star “was uncomfortable with that.”

In response, Zonen had the lawyer read a note that Jackson sent to the boy who became his accuser.

“I’m your daddy,” it said. “I’m very happy to be your daddy. Blanket, Prince Michael Jr., and Paris are your brothers and sister. Love, your daddy.”

Geragos’ testimony hit a snag when he revealed that Jackson had waived his attorney-client confidentiality privilege only for the period before Jackson’s arrest in November 2003.

Outside the presence of the jury, Mesereau apologized for not letting the judge know about the waiver time limit.

Mesereau said he did not realize that events after the arrest might be relevant to the lawyer’s testimony.

The judge, however, called the lapse “a misrepresentation” and ordered the attorneys to submit ideas on how to deal with it.

Geragos is to return to court next Friday, during a break in an Orange County jury case he is trying.