Kevin Mazur/Getty ImagesDoes Britney Spears want out from under her daddy's thumb? Or is it her source of protection?
Those were the dueling storylines that emerged in a Los Angeles courtroom today, when attorneys on both sides gave testimony on whether to extend the restraining orders barring former manager/sidekick Sam Lutfi and other hangers-on from having contact with the "Toxic" singer.
Attorney John Anderson took the stand this morning and told Superior Court Commissioner Aviva K. Bobb that he was asked to represent the pop star in a battle to free her from the conservatorship controlled by her father, Jamie Spears.
"A person who purported to be Lutfi told me that all of Britney Spears' phone rights were cut off," he said, adding that he was also told the mother of two was under tight control by her father and virtually "in prison."
But just hours later, longtime Spears attorney Blair Berk took the stand and said it was the singer who asked her father to help keep Lutfi away from her, repeatedly requesting he be taken into police custody.
"She repeatedly asked if I could get him arrested for what he'd done to her and to get the court to order him to stay away from her," Berk said, adding that Lutfi threatened to release embarrassing information about Spears and her father.
Berk further claimed that she found an overnight envelope sent to Spears from attorney Jon Eardley in a car leased by the singer for Lutfi. Eardley, who was brought into the mix last year by Lutfi, made a "blatant" solicitation to work as her counsel, Berk said. Berk told the court she was informed by Spears on several occasions that she neither knew Eardley nor wanted him to work for her.
As for those leaked voicemails in which Spears supposedly is heard trolling for new legal representation, Berk said she did not believe the voice was actually that of the Circus singer, as "the words, terms, phrases were not ones she had ever used before."
She did, however, admit the voice did bear a slight resemblance to the pop star.
"Moments it sounded like Spears and moments it didn't," she said, adding that the tape "sounded like it had been edited."
As for Anderson, he testified earlier in the day that he drew up papers to be retained as Britney's counsel last year and, in turn, received copies back allegedly signed by Spears herself.
He said he was made aware that another court-appointed attorney had already been assigned to Spears, but was told the singer was "not confident" in the other legal eagle's abilities and wanted to hire a new representative in the courtroom.
Eventually, Anderson told the court, he did contact the attorneys representing Spears' conservatorship, who dissuaded him from attempting to further pursue working for the star.
Anderson said he voluntarily ended his involvement in the Spears legal debacle on Jan. 28 of this year, after learning Jamie Spears and the conservatorship were getting temporary restraining orders against Lutfi, former Britney boyfriend Adnan Ghalib and Eardley.
The orders were obtained Jan. 30. During his testimony in February, Jamie Spears said he had evidence the trio was trying to undermine the conservatorship, and he labeled ostensible mastermind Lutfi a "predator."
This afternoon, Lutfi's sister, Christina, testified that she answered her brother's phone one time when Britney was calling to ask Sam to find her a new lawyer.
Britney said that "they" wouldn't let her talk on the phone, said Christina Lutfi, who testified that she was the one who slipped the singer a prepaid cell phone on behalf of her brother and Ghalib at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills on Jan. 16. The ladies arranged to meet in the sauna after Britney was done working out with her mom, Ms. Lutfi said.
And, Ms. Lutfi said, she—and not her brother, as the Spears camp has alleged in its keep-away petition—was the one who called Britney "numerous times to make sure she was OK."
For his part, Lutfi has filed suit against the Spearses—Britney, for unpaid management fees, and Jamie and Lynn, for slander as well as a host of other grievances.
Last month, Bobb extended the restraining order against Ghalib to three years, after the former paparazzo failed to show at any of his three previous hearings on the matter. Today's hearing will help the commissioner determine whether to do likewise for Lutfi and Eardley.
Eardley's attorney, Roger Diamond, tells E! he is surprised that his client's motion to dismiss was denied.
"I was virtually certain that the judge would grant the motion since there no basis to the statute that they are using to prosecute Mr. Eardley."
As to why the order against Lutfi should be tossed, attorney Bryan Freedman said, "I do not believe that [the conservatorship has] shown substantial emotional distress."
Closing statements are scheduled to take place April 21.
—Reporting by Ashley Fultz
(Originally published on April 1, 2009, at 12:35 p.m. PT)