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Spector 'victimised' women, court told
26/04/2007

An actress shot dead at Phil Spector’s mansion was the last of several women victimised by the legendary music producer in a decades-long series of alcohol-fuelled confrontations, a prosecutor told jurors today as the murder trial began.

Prosecutor Alan Jackson’s opening statement made it clear the case against Spector will rely heavily on the testimony of other women dating to the 1970s.

Jackson outlined what he called a pattern of behaviour in which Spector would become exceedingly drunk, take a woman to one of his homes, refuse to let her leave and then threaten her with a gun when she refused to stay.

“The evidence is going to paint a picture of a man who on February 3, 2003, put a loaded pistol in Lana Clarkson’s mouth – inside her mouth – and shot her to death,” Jackson told the nine-man, three-woman jury.

The prosecutor showed a photograph of Clarkson slumped in a chair, her face covered with blood.

Spector appeared tense during the televised proceeding. His attorneys were to present their opening remarks later.

Spector, 67, whose “Wall of Sound” transformed rock ’n’ roll in the 1960s, lives in a castle-like mansion. It was there that he took Clarkson, who wound up dead in the foyer with a gunshot through her mouth.

Clarkson, 40, best known for her role in the Roger Corman 1980s cult classic “Barbarian Queen,” had gone home with Spector from her job as a nightclub hostess. He met her only hours before she died.

A chauffeur who drove the pair to Spector’s mansion has told of hearing a gunshot and seeing Spector emerge from the house holding a gun and saying, “I think I killed somebody.” Spector later said he believed the shooting was an “accidental suicide” by Clarkson.

“Lana Clarkson was the last of a long line of women victimised by Phillip Spector over the years,” the prosecutor said.

Jackson said the jury will hear from four women, including a personal manager for Joan Rivers, a professional photographer of rock stars, a personal assistant who worked for Spector and a woman Spector dated.

The issue of whether those women would be allowed to testify was a contentious one during pre-trial proceedings. The judge agreed to it but said it was “a slippery slope.”

Before opening statements began, a lawyer representing some of the women asked that their identities be kept secret and that they not be televised or photographed.

Media lawyer Kelli Sager argued that the women’s identities were already revealed in many forums and there was no precedent for giving certain witnesses special treatment. Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler agreed.

“I’ve considered the nature of the testimony of the victims,” the judge said. “These are not victims of sexual crimes. You have failed to state sufficient reasons why these victims should not come to court and testify like everyone else.”

It took about eight months for authorities to charge Spector with murder. They are proceeding on a theory of “implied malice,” alleging he did not intend to kill Clarkson but caused her death by reckless behaviour and taking an extreme risk.

If convicted of second-degree murder, he could face 15 years to life in prison. breakingnews

'Spector said he killed woman' Sun

Pop legend Spector 'confessed to the murder', court told dailymail

Nothing to do with his innocence or guilt but he doesn't look right

If the hair is too big, you must aquit.

Calrissian: justice is universal

Spector had no motive for murder, jury told


· Defence claims actor shot herself in producer's home
· Prosecution witnesses to tell of gun threats

Dan Glaister in Los Angeles
Friday April 27, 2007

Hours before her death from a single gunshot wound to the mouth, the actor Lana Clarkson watched a recording of Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye, a James Cagney film, with music legend Phil Spector, who is on trial for her murder.

On the second day of the trial at a downtown Los Angeles court, Mr Spector's lawyer Bruce Cutler completed his opening statement by stressing that the music producer had no motive to kill Ms Clarkson. He accused police of approaching the case with "murder on their mind".


Describing their choice of movie on the drive to Spector's house as "prophetic", Mr Cutler said: "Phillip never knew this woman ... he had no motive to hurt this woman." The evidence was going to show conclusively, he said, "that the gun was held by [the deceased] when it was fired".

Mr Cutler returned to the contention that Ms Clarkson was unstable, and suggested that the defence might argue that the .38 calibre revolver that killed Ms Clarkson was mistaken for a starting pistol also found in Mr Spector's home. "Keep in mind," he urged the jury, "alcohol, painkillers, a starting pistol that doesn't work, a deadly gun that could kill."

He added: "Whatever she was doing, however she felt, she took her life. Unfortunately. Much too young." He concluded: "This was a unique incident, an accident, not at the hands of Phil Spector."

Jurors were set to hear testimony yesterday from the opening prosecution witnesses, two women who have alleged that Spector threatened them with guns in the mid-90s. They are expected to play a key role in the prosecution's attempts to portray the death of Lana Clarkson as part of a pattern of behaviour by the music producer, now 67.

Mr Cutler denied the suggestion, calling the alleged incidents "isolated spats over the course of 20 years". He said that the women sought out Spector, whom Mr Cutler described as a "true romantic", and dismissed the allegations as "tall tales".

One of the women, Dorothy Melvin, worked as an assistant to Joan Rivers, a friend of Spector. She has told prosecutor's that Spector threatened her with a gun when she tried to leave his house one day in 1993. The other witness, Stephanie Jennings, a freelance photographer, has alleged that Spector threatened her with a gun at the Carlyle Hotel in New York after she refused to join him in his suite.

The second day of the trial confirmed that despite involving a key figure in popular music, a producer renowned for his groundbreaking work in the 1960s, the case is not reaching the levels of interest generated by previous celebrity defendants. Only two public seats in court were taken on the second day, there was no media scrum and passersby at the courthouse seemed to take little interest.

If found guilty Mr Spector faces a sentence that effectively would condemn him to life in prison. He has been on $1m bail since 2003.


guardian

Spector defense will rely on DNA, forensics
‘We have one unimpeachable witness,’ says defense attorney: ‘science’



LOS ANGELES - Phil Spector’s attorneys told jurors Thursday that scientific evidence would prove the music producer did not fatally shoot an actress in his home, while his former girlfriend testified he terrorized her with a gun when they were dating.

“We have one unimpeachable witness who has no motive to lie, no memory problems, no language problems, and that witness is science,” said Linda Kenney-Baden, an attorney whose specialty is forensic evidence.

She suggested DNA would prove that Lana Clarkson loaded the weapon and shot herself, that Spector was not standing close enough to shoot her, that his DNA was not on the gun and that his clothing bore no trace evidence to prove guilt, the defense told jurors.


Spector, 67, whose “Wall of Sound” transformed rock ’n’ roll in the 1960s, lives in a castlelike mansion in suburban Alhambra. Clarkson and Spector met at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip, where she was a hostess.

Prosecutors focus on ‘implied malice’
The sometime actress agreed to accompany him on a chauffeur-driven ride to his home, where her body, with a gunshot wound through the mouth, was found seated in the foyer early Feb. 3, 2003.

Prosecutors are proceeding on a theory of “implied malice,” alleging Spector did not intend to kill Clarkson but caused her death by reckless behavior and taking an extreme risk.

The prosecution’s outline of its case largely previewed testimony that will be given by four women who claim that in past years Spector threatened them with guns in scenarios similar to the Clarkson case.

The first witness, Joan Rivers’ former manager, testified Thursday that while dating Spector in the 1990s, the usually charming producer suddenly terrorized her with a gun, hit her on the head twice, ordered her to undress and accused her of stealing.

Witness wanted to avoid ‘National Enquirer cover’
Dorothy Melvin said that after several years of occasional dating she went to Spector’s Pasadena home in 1993 and spent a pleasant evening in which he played the piano, danced with her and showed memorabilia including a John Lennon guitar. But she said he drank heavily and at some point disappeared.

She said she woke up on a couch early the next morning and found Spector outside pointing a handgun at her car and then at her. Melvin described an expletive-laced confrontation, trying to flee in her car, Spector pumping a shotgun, hitting her on the side of the head and finally being let out of the estate.

She said she didn’t press charges because “I didn’t want it to become a National Enquirer cover.”

Despairing e-mails from Clarkson
During cross-examination, defense attorney Roger Rosen showed that Melvin and Spector continued to communicate by e-mail, mail and fax and even saw each other a few times in subsequent years until his arrest.

“Phil is a very brilliant and charming man,” she said as Spector sat across the room at the counsel table. “... Only when drinking he snaps and becomes a lunatic.”

Kenney-Baden said the defense will call renowned scientists including Henry Lee, Werner Spitz and Vincent DeMaio to testify.

“Science will show you her death was caused by a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” Kenney-Baden said. “Science cannot tell you what was in her mind.”

For that, she cited despairing e-mails Clarkson sent in which she said she was going to tidy her affairs and “chuck it all because it’s too much for a girl to bear.”



Earlier Thursday, co-counsel Bruce Cutler’s asserted that police immediately had “murder on their mind” and disregarded anything inconsistent with that conclusion.

“As a result of ‘murder on their mind’ they interviewed and acted in such a way that anything that was consistent ... with their preconceived notions and theories they embraced,” he said. “And anything that was not consistent or inconsistent with that ‘murder on their mind’ they ignored.” msnbc

Spector trial halted by illness

The Los Angeles murder trial of music producer Phil Spector has been halted for the rest of the week after the lead defence lawyer was taken ill.

Reports have linked Bruce Cutler's absence to problems with his medication for diabetes.

Meanwhile the prosecution have alleged vital forensic evidence about blood spray was not disclosed to them by the defence before the trial started.

Mr Spector denies shooting actress Lana Clarkson at his home in 2003.

It is alleged he killed Ms Clarkson after he took her to his mansion after they met in a club.

'Unusual claim'

The music legend, famous for his Wall of Sound technique, claims she killed herself.

The long-awaited trial began last week after repeated delays partly caused by Mr Spector replacing his lawyers on three occasions.

In a motion filed at Los Angeles Superior Court, prosecutor Alan Jackson questioned the appearance of a potential defence witness, Dr Henry Lee, on a US television show last week where he discussed the case.

Dr Lee told his interviewer that blood from Ms Clarkson had travelled six feet after the shot was fired. Defence lawyer Linda Kenney had also repeated the claim in opening statements.

However, Mr Jackson said Mr Spector's team had failed to make this evidence available to prosecutors.

"There is no conceivable scenario that could justify the defendant's intentional withholding of reports regarding this unusual claim, which was going to be highlighted by his counsel during opening statement," he wrote.

The trial is due to resume next week.

BBC

Jury hears Spector 'threat'


Jurors in the Phil Spector murder trial heard expletive-laced phone messages today from the music producer to a former girlfriend, telling her “be careful what you say to me because nothing you say is worth your life.”

The nearly 14-year-old recordings were left for Dorothy Melvin shortly after an incident at Spector’s home in which she told police he had pointed a handgun at her.

He also makes reference to lawyers in one of the messages, telling Melvin, “I’m going to get you for what you did.”

The context of that statement was not explained and it came at the end of an expletive-laced message left on Melvin’s answering machine. Preceding it were several messages in which Spector apologised for his behaviour.

Spector, whose Wall of Sound recording technique transformed rock ’n’ roll in the 1960s, has pleaded not guilty in the February 3, 2003, shooting of actress Lana Clarkson at his mansion.

Defence attorneys have argued she shot herself. Prosecutors have called Melvin and others to testify that Spector had a history of recklessness with guns.

In the first of six messages played today, Spector said he knew Melvin was in town and hoped she would call him because he wanted to see her.

“We’d like to see you and talk to you,” he said. “Don’t be so mysterious.”

He said he was calling on July 2, 1993, the day that Ms Melvin has said the trouble began between them.

Ms Melvin testified earlier in the trial that Spector threatened her with a gun and hit her in the head when she tried to leave his home.

In the second message played, Spector apparently referred to the confrontation that resulted in police being called to his house.

“I just want you to know what you did last night was the right thing,” he said. “It’s what you had to do. It’s OK.”

A third message said he understood if she was upset and added, “I miss you.”

His fourth message was even more apologetic:

“You never did anything wrong,” he said. “It was all me and my inexcusable behaviour. I apologise. ... I’ll stay out of your life. It was not your fault. ... I wish you luck, dear. You certainly deserve a lot better than that.”

But in the next message the tone changed. He began with a joking comment, then said, “Keep smiling, Dorothy. I expect a return call. But be careful what you say to me because nothing you say is worth your life. Goodbye, Dorothy.”

In the last message, the tape of which was quite muffled in the courtroom, Spector mentioned that Melvin was seeing lawyers and said, “You’re never going to get out of what you did. I’m going to get you for what you did and you’ll see papers Monday morning.”

The jurors were given transcripts from which to read along with the statements after the judge turned down a defense motion to edit out profanity.

The tapes were played after Pasadena policeman Chris Russ testified that Spector ranged from being cooperative to irate when police questioned him about the confrontation with Melvin.

“Initially he was cooperative and then he became upset and asked us to leave,” Mr Russ said.

The sergeant said he did not see Spector with a handgun but did see him wearing a shoulder holster and saw a shotgun on the premises of Spector’s home.

He said Melvin declined to press charges against Spector, saying she did not want publicity because of her position as entertainer Joan Rivers’ manager.

Under cross-examination by defense attorney Roger Rosen, Russ said Spector did not appear to be drunk and that he did not observe any bumps or lumps on Ms Melvin’s head.

His testimony was the first in more than a week after the trial was delayed by lead defence lawyer Bruce Cutler’s unspecified illness. breakingnews

PHIL GUN JAPE ON BLONDIE


BLONDIE legend Debbie Harry has claimed murder charge music producer Phil Spector pulled a gun on her.

The singer, 61, said Spector was "sniffing around her" when he pointed the firearm into her boot.

She added: "He did it - he pulled a gun, that notorious thing he does. He stuck it in my boot and went 'Bang'. I thought, 'Get me outta here. I just wanna go home."


Spector is currently on trial for shooting actress Lana Clarkson dead at his Los Angeles home in 2003.

Asked if she thought a firearm incident was bound to happen Debbie told website http://www.me-me-me.tv: "I guess I did."

Trial witness Dianne Ogden claims Spector, who denies murder, tried to rape her at gunpoint at a party. Mirror

Phil Spector Probably Regretting That ‘Murder Confession’ Now hecklerspray

Spector: 'I'm Too Short To Kill'


Phil Spector recorded a home video claiming he was too short to shoot actress Lana Clarkson in the mouth, it has emerged.

The music mogul, who is on trial for her murder, is said to have made the video in 2005 in a bid to clear his name.

In it the 5ft 5in tall record producer, wearing a Hawaiian shirt and shell necklace, argues he could not have reached up and shot the 5ft 11in tall actress.

Spector also taped a version wearing a suit and tie. The video has been aired on US networks.

He said: "The deceased, who was standing when she took her own life and she was 5ft 11in and she would have been 6ft 2in with heels on, which she was wearing at the time of her death, and that the gun was in a downward position.

"I am 5ft 5in. It would have been physically impossible for me to have administered the death wound to her in any shape, way or form.

"She (Lana) may have accidentally taken her own life," he said.

The video interview was filmed by his then-assistant Michelle Blaine, it is claimed.

Spector, 67, is accused of murdering Ms Clarkson after she went home with him from a nightclub where she worked as a hostess.

His murder trial has heard evidence from his Brazilian chauffeur Adriano De Souza, who was waiting outside the house.

He told the court he heard a "pow" sound and Spector emerged with a gun in hand and said: "I think I killed somebody."

De Souza said he looked into the house and saw Ms Clarkson's body slumped in a chair in the foyer, her legs stretched out.

The defence claims Ms Clarkson took her own life.

Spector is best known for his innovative 'Wall of Sound' recording technique and work in the 1960s with The Beatles.
Skynews

Spector trial coroner tells of actress injuries

The barrel of a gun may have been forced into actress Lana Clarkson’s mouth, bruising her tongue before the gunshot that killed her, a coroner said today in record producer Phil Spector’s murder trial.

Dr Louis Pena told the court it was the first time he testified about the bruise, which was not mentioned earlier in the case.

The testimony was offered to undermine the defence claim that Clarkson placed the gun in her own mouth and pulled the trigger in an act of suicide.

“The bruise is very unique and is consistent with blunt-force trauma. Something struck the tongue,” Dr Pena told the court.

Asked whether the bruise was made before the shot that killed Clarkson, Dr Pena said it was.

“If the barrel of the gun, a steel weapon, was placed in the mouth with some force, could that have caused the bruising on the tongue?” asked prosecuting lawyer Alan Jackson.

“Yes,” said Dr Pena.

Spector, 67, denies murdering Clarkson, 40, on February 3, 2003, after she agreed to accompany him to his suburban mansion from her job as a hostess at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip.

Jurors were shown graphic, sometimes shocking, photos of the damage done to Clarkson’s face and the inside of her mouth.

At least one juror looked away from the large display on a big screen, and for the first time Clarkson’s mother and sister were not present in the courtroom.

Dr Pena gave a powerful description of the moment that the actress died. He said the gun was in her mouth and the recoil from the shot shattered her top front teeth.

Dr Pena also testified that there were bruises on Clarkson’s right arm and wrist and described two of the bruises as “significant.”

Spector rose to fame in the 1960s with what became known as the “Wall of Sound” recording technique that changed pop music.

Clarkson was best known for her role in Roger Corman’s 1985 cult film Barbarian Queen. breakingnews

Spector's DNA 'was not on gun'
BBC

Spector judge declares mistrial after jury finds itself unable to reach verdict



After almost 43 hours of deliberation over 12 days, the 12 jurors in the Phil Spector murder trial told the judge yesterday that they were unable to reach a verdict. Faced with a 10-2 split in favour of conviction, the judge declared a mistrial.

The legendary 1960s pop producer sat motionless, eyes cast down, as Judge Larry Fidler said the trial was being abandoned. Had he been found guilty of second degree murder, Spector would have faced spending the rest of his life in prison.


Last week the jury had announced they were hung 7-5. The judge gave them fresh instructions on how to reach a verdict.

"The defence definitely dodged a bullet," said Stanley Goldman, a law professor who has followed the trial. "The reinstruction last week was definitely the judge nudging the jury towards finding Spector guilty." He remains on $1m (£500,000) bail, while the prosecution and defence will reconvene with the judge on October 3 to decide what happens next.

A spokesman for the Los Angeles district attorney, who brought the case, said they would seek a retrial. Alan Jackson, the lead prosecutor, has a record of seeking further trials in the case of a hung jury, and it is likely the case will be retried, possibly as early as next month.

The trial arose from the February 2003 death of Lana Clarkson, a 40-year-old actor and waiter, killed by a single gunshot to the mouth. Her body was found in the entrance hall of Spector's Los Angeles mansion in the early hours of February 3.

The alarm was raised when Spector's chauffeur, Adriano de Souza, heard a gunshot while sitting outside Spector's house. As he got out of the car he saw Spector emerge from the house carrying a gun to say: "I think I killed somebody."

His testimony became key to the trial, as Spector's expensive legal team attempted to discredit the driver's memory and his English. But he stood firm under cross-examination. The defence also emphasised forensic evidence in the trial, declaring at its April opening that science would prevail. But in a series of setbacks the integrity of its experts was attacked.

The lack of a verdict is a blow to the meticulous preparation by the district attorney's office. Led by Mr Jackson, the prosecution was criticised for taking so long to come to trial. But it was argued that the prosecution, mindful of high-profile cases such as the OJ Simpson trial when celebrities seemed to buy their way out of trouble, was preparing a cast iron case.

Throughout the trial Clarkson's family sat tense in the front row of the courtroom, within a few feet of Spector. Her mother and sister stared rigidly ahead throughout often gruelling testimony, averting their gaze from more explicit photos of her and only choosing to leave the courtroom for the detailed discussion of the autopsy.

The trial opened four years after Clarkson's death. On the night in 2003, Spector made one of his customary forays beyond the iron railings ringing his hilltop mansion. Driven by Mr de Souza, he visited four of his regular Hollywood haunts in the company of three different women.

Unlike on recent excursions, this time Spector was drinking: "navy grog" at one spot, tequila at another. With this taken on top of his medication - Prozac, Neurontin and tetracycline - Spector, the prosecution argued, was out of control.

His night ended at the House of Blues, where he met Clarkson, recently begun there as a hostess. The two got off to an unfortunate start, with her mistaking him for a woman. But by the time the club closed, Spector had persuaded her to accompany him home for a nightcap. Little more than two hours later she was dead. When police arrived, alerted by the chauffeur, they found her body slumped in a fake Louis XIV chair in the vestibule to the 30-room mansion, a gun under her left leg, her bag over her right shoulder.

Prosecutors suggested Spector, emboldened by alcohol, had done something he had threatened on other past occasions: he had shot a woman who tried to leave his company. The prosecution produced a succession of women to testify how the normally polite and charming Spector would become a monster, waving guns in their faces and threatening to blow their brains out. Clarkson's death, prosecutors suggested, was an accident waiting to happen.

Spector's defence countered with science leavened with gossip about Clarkson. The science centred on the contention that the blood spatter on his white jacket confirmed he could not have been standing close enough to her to have fired the fatal shot. A string of Clarkson's friends attested to her instability, as well as her penchant for guns and liquor.

But the defence assertion that the prosecutors were looking to get a celebrity conviction was undone by the absence of public interest in the plight of the man who once had carried the title of "tycoon of teen".

Struggles of a would-be starlet

Two images of Lana Clarkson endure after the trial. In photograph after photograph displayed on an overhead projector in the courtroom, the actor, children's entertainer and nightclub hostess was shown in a series of coquettish poses: smiling at awards ceremonies or with friends at parties, she was the embodiment of the blonde, leggy starlet she dreamed of being.

The other image, shown almost as frequently during the trial, was of her dead body slumped at an awkward angle in an ornate chair in the lobby of Spector's mansion, handbag hanging from her shoulder.

Despite the graphic images, the real Clarkson remained an obscure figure during the trial. She was depressed, she took pharmaceutical drugs, she liked to drink, she knew how to ride horses, she had handled firearms. She was also desperate for success, looking for ways to relaunch her career as she entered her 40s. Did all this make her likely to commit suicide as the defence insisted? Or was she the determined professional the prosecution sought to depict? Ultimately the jury could not decide.

Now a retrial looms, and a civil case brought by Clarkson's family.

guardian