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Jurors began deliberating today whether a Rio Rancho man was acting as a protective father or a prison friend when he helped homicide suspect Michael Paul Astorga escape one of the most intensive manhunts in New Mexico history.

The prosecution rested its case just before 10 a.m. today in state District Court in Albuquerque against Nestor Vargas, who is charged with harboring or aiding a felon. If convicted, Vargas could be sentenced as a habitual criminal and receive up to seven years in prison.

The defense rested immediately afterward, calling no witnesses.

Jurors retired to deliberate just after 11 a.m.

The day before they heard testimony by two law enforcement agents who detailed their arduous efforts to get Vargas to admit his role in Astorga's escape hours after Bernalillo County sheriff's Deputy James McGrane Jr. was gunned down March 22, 2006, during a traffic stop in the East Mountains.

Vargas, 37, conceded that role seven days and four interviews after the shooting — too late to help authorities find Astorga, the agents testified.

But Vargas' attorney told jurors that his client wanted only to get Astorga away from the Rio Rancho house on Peach Street he shared with his girlfriend and their two small boys.

"Nestor Vargas acted to protect his kids and his family and nothing more," Daniel Salazar said in opening arguments Wednesday. "The law doesn't require him to be stupid."

FBI Special Agent Travis Witt, under Salazar's cross-examination Wednesday, admitted he was surprised sheriff's officials decided to charge Vargas with a crime because he said Vargas had ultimately done the right thing by cooperating.

Witt, however, also testified that Vargas told him Astorga did not have a gun, and Astorga had not threatened Vargas or his family.

While Vargas' concession did not ultimately lead to Astorga's capture, what he told authorities helped fill in the details of those missing hours — and implicate Astorga in McGrane's death.

According to a taped interview played in part for jurors, Vargas told detectives he was asleep that March morning when Astorga called to say he was coming over to collect money Vargas owed on a white Suburban Astorga had sold him.

Astorga later arrived with his pregnant wife, Marcella Poolaw Astorga, and a man later identified as Martin Saiz.

The three appeared calm and relaxed, Vargas said, and it wasn't until Astorga asked to watch television that Vargas said he realized what had happened hours before.

The TV news programs, he said, were airing reports of the deputy's shooting and Astorga's mugshot.

"I said, `What the (expletive) happened, man? What are you doing?' " Vargas recalled.

Astorga, he said, pointed at the TV and said "I was doing good, and they (expletive) it up again."

After a brief conversation with the others, Astorga's wife and Saiz left, telling Astorga they would meet later. That left Vargas to deal with Astorga, he said.

"I was just tripping. I don't know what the hell I was thinking. I wanted to get rid of him," Vargas said on the tape. "He just killed a cop."

Vargas said he gave Astorga about $120, let him clean up in the washroom and took Astorga along on his daily trip to a South Valley methadone clinic before it closed at noon.

"I was just trying to get him out of my house," Vargas said.

He said he let Astorga use his cell phone to make arrangements with someone else to leave. He then drove Astorga to a glass shop on Bridge Boulevard Southwest where a dark-colored SUV with tinted windows arrived about 10 minutes later.

"I told him, `Hey there, be careful. Have a good life,' " Vargas said.

Astorga, whose death penalty trial is still months away, was later arrested in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, 13 days after the shooting.

Also Wednesday, Witt and Bernalillo County sheriff's Capt. Darci Blaschke testified that Vargas and Astorga met while both were in prison — a detail Vargas' attorney had argued previously should be left out because of its prejudicial nature.

Both days' proceedings, before state District Judge Kenneth Sanchez, were attended by McGrane's parents and Astorga's mother, Theresa Romero.