SANTA MARIA, Calif. — The judge in Michael Jackson's child-molestation trial reluctantly ruled for the defense Friday to limit questioning of Jackson's former attorney Mark Geragos, but not without first admonishing Jackson's current attorney, Thomas Mesereau.

"I feel deceived by Mr. Mesereau," Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville said in a hearing outside the presence of jurors. "I am considering — although I've reached no conclusion — but I'm considering sanctions of some sort against Mr. Mesereau."

The judge's remarks reflected the legal fiasco that developed on Geragos' first day on the stand a week ago, when cross-examination was abruptly cut off by the judge after Geragos refused to answer questions due to the attorney-client privilege waiver he received from Jackson, which was limited to a specific time period.

That the waiver was not "unqualified and unconditional," as the prosecution argued today, was news to the judge. Prosecutor Ronald Zonen suggested that the defense willfully deceived prosecutors, as they did not receive a written copy of the waiver from the defense until after Geragos made his announcement.

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The defense apologized for the omission, but argued that any questions beyond the date Geragos was retained by Jackson and the time at which Jackson was arrested — from February to November 2003 — were irrelevant.

The judge ruled against the prosecution's request to strike Geragos' testimony, which Melville deemed as having the effect of trying to unring a bell, but he required that Geragos claim the privilege in front of jurors to help them "understand what is happening in the courtroom."

Three times jurors heard Geragos refuse to answer questions Friday, questions that related to his knowledge of the activities of Jackson's alleged co-conspirators.

Michael Jackson is accused of molesting a 13-year-old cancer survivor and conspiring to falsely imprison the boy and his family at Neverland ranch in February and March 2003.

The King of Pop hired Geragos shortly after the airing of a damaging documentary, "Living with Michael Jackson," which showed the boy holding hands with Jackson as the singer said sharing his bed with children was an innocent, loving act.

At the end of court Friday, while attorneys discussed evidentiary matters with the judge, prosecutor Zonen mentioned for the first time on the record that the defense had indicated it may rest its case as early as next Tuesday.

Knowing what they were up to

Geragos told jurors that when he was retained by Jackson, his initial concern was to defend the singer and father of three against any allegations with regard to his own children. But after he discovered the accuser's family had been involved in a lawsuit with JCPenney, he said he began to worry that they might try to embroil Jackson in a "shakedown."

Michael Jackson with his lawyer, Thomas Mesereau, Friday

Geragos testified that he hired investigator Bradley Miller to follow the family, but he had little recall during cross-examination about the timing and substance of specific conversations with Miller, and he appeared to distance himself from some of the actions of his own hired guns.

For instance, he did not know how he came to possess the family's passports, which he found in an evidence locker in his office many months after the family's civil attorney sent letters asking that they be returned.

Instead of returning the passports to the family or to the attorneys involved in the case, he sent them to Melville's clerk, he said, as he believed they had evidentiary value.

Miller has not taken the stand during trial, and it is unknown whether he will be called, but Geragos seemed to be shifting blame at times onto his former investigator.

Geragos denied having any prior knowledge that one of Miller's associates would surreptitiously record an interview between social services and the accuser's mother in February 2003.

Jurors heard parts of that illegal recording during the prosecution case. They also played videotapes for jurors showing that Miller had the family secretly filmed and even followed the accuser's 16-year-old sister as she walked home alone from school.

"I assumed the children would be in the company of adults," Geragos said of the filming, adding that he did not tell Miller to film the family, but instead wanted reports about who they were meeting and what they were doing, fearing they would sell false stories about Jackson to the tabloids.

"I wanted to know what they were up to," Geragos said.

Geragos was also grilled about why Miller had paid for the final month's rent on the family's East Los Angeles studio apartment, moved their property out while they were staying at Neverland, and then placed their belongings into a storage space in Miller's name.

Prosecutors say Jackson and his aides were preparing to send the family on a one-way trip to Brazil, where they would be out of the public eye. The accuser's mother previously testified she never gave anyone permission to move her out.

But Geragos told jurors Friday that relocation was the mother's idea.

"She wanted that done," Geragos said.

The mother told Miller, according to Geragos, that she was moving into her boyfriend's apartment, and so Miller "was trying to assist her, trying to be on her good side."

Geragos said that he did not direct or condone the move, and he did not have any recollection whether Miller billed him for the rent and storage space or if Jackson's accountant was billed.

Prosecutor Zonen did not appear convinced that it was a charitable act.

"Would Mr. Miller be willing to pay my next month's mortgage?" Zonen asked.

"I'm not sure. How big is your house?" Geragos deadpanned.

Zonen also asked Geragos why, if he believed the family was going to shake down Jackson, he did not advise all parties to distance themselves from the accuser.

"You still had the opportunity to tell Brad Miller, 'What, are you nuts? Don't do anything for the [family].'"

"No. No, on the contrary, I wanted to know what she was up to. I didn't want him to lose track of her," Geragos testified, adding that he suspected the mother would do "exactly what happened."

"Because sooner or later," the attorney testified in a decisive tone, "she'd be in the hands of a lawyer, go to a psychiatrist, and all of a sudden we'd get a false accusation."