The judge in the Michael Jackson trial has threatened to jail a former lawyer for the singer if he does not turn up in court to testify for the defence.
Judge Rodney Melville was told that Mark Geragos, Mr Jackson's former defence attorney, was too busy to attend the trial in order to give evidence and wanted to arrange a time that was convenient to him.
Melville replied: "Now you know how a citizen feels when lawyers subpoena them." The judge then said that he expected the witness to appear in court the following morning (today) as requested.
"That will give me time to get the warrant out (for his arrest) if he's not here. Then he'll be here for sure Monday morning," Melville said.
Geragos was acting as Mr Jackson's lawyer at the time of the broadcast of the Martin Bashir documentary, but was replaced over a year later, after the singer had the charge of child molestation brought against him.
Mr Jackson's current lawyers claim that if anyone was intimidating the family of his accuser they were working for his former lawyer Geragos, rather than for the singer.
David LeGrand, a former corporate lawyer for the singer, also testified that Mr Jackson was surrounded by people who were trying to exploit him.
"I became suspicious of everybody. Everybody wanted to benefit from Mr. Jackson in one way or another," he said.
LeGrand also said that he disagreed with the decisions being made by Mr Jackson's aide, Ronald Konitzer and told the court that he suspected that the aide was stealing from the star.
Under cross-examinations LeGrand conceded that Mr Jackson's team offered the mother of his accuser $25,000 to file a formal complaint in Britain against the journalist who made the documentary, which sparked the claims, but that she declined. The trial continues.
