Phil Spector found guilty of murder

[The Scotsman]

Legendary music producer Phil Spector was found guilty on Monday of second degree murder in the death of a Hollywood actress at his home in 2003.

A Los Angeles jury returned the verdict against Spector, 69, after a five-month retrial. Spector, 69, could spend the rest of his life behind bars after he is sentenced on May 29. The first trial ended in a jury deadlock in September 2007.

Lana Clarkson, 40, a B-movie actress, died from a shot through the mouth fired from Spector's gun in the foyer of the his fake castle home on Feb 3, 2003 in the Alhambra community of Los Angeles. The two had met only hours earlier at a Hollywood nightclub.

In the second trial, the jury was given the option of finding Spector guilty of the lesser offence of manslaughter. Under California law, a decision to convict or acquit must be unanimous.

Spector, who pioneered the 1960s "Wall of Sound" technique and worked with The Ronettes, The Beatles, Cher and Leonard Cohen at the height of his fame, denied murdering Clarkson.

He did not testify at either trial and has been free on $1 million bail since his arrest in 2003, but he was taken into custody immediately after the verdict was read on Monday.

Prosecutors argued that the shooting of Clarkson was part of a pattern of gun play and violence towards women displayed by Spector in the past.

Spector's lawyers argued during the trial that Clarkson committed suicide while suffering from depression over her failing career.

She was working as a hostess at the House of Blues in Hollywood when she met Spector the night before she died. She was best known as the star of 1980s B-movies "Barbarian Queen" and "Amazon Women on the Moon."

The two long trials, with testimony from five women and a jury visit to the bizarre mock castle where the reclusive Spector lives, all but obliterated his status as the production genius behind Tina Turner's "River Deep, Mountain High" and the Righteous Brothers hit "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'".

During the trial, Spector appeared emotionless and frail, his hands often trembling. None of his old pop music friends testified in his defence.

Spector had a troubled early life. His father committed suicide, his sister spent time in mental institutions and Spector suffered bouts of severe depression.

Shortly before Clarkson was shot, Spector told British journalist Mick Brown in a rare interview that he had a bipolar personality and had "devils that fight inside me."

In 2006, he quietly wed for the fourth time, marrying model/actress Rachelle Short who is about 30 years his junior.

(Additional reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis, Editing by Bob Tourtellotte and Doina Chiacu)

found guilty??.....how strange....should've had OJs' attornies or didn't he have as much money..........

 

[Pandora]

OJ's attorney died

plus OJ's case was more about race than about facts

I did not follow this case or the evidence, I dont know if he is really guilty or not. I have not trusted a jury since the OJ trial.

 

[ASPCA4EVER]

I did follow the first trial {home bound recovering from surgery & court TV was relatively new to the TV viewing world} and this was a pretty fascinating case study. Between the bizarre clown like appearance of the perpetrator {he dressed himself in the most bizarre wig every other day, he would mumble, make rather obscene noises, chuckle out loud} his defense team seems at odds with what they could do for him and then it appeared that he was sleeping through much of the testimony so I just figured that they started spiking his drink of choice to get him to STFU.

But the jury's being deadlocked was rather odd...IMO. AND now justice was finally served. Being 'bug nuts & wealthy' shouldn't be an allowance for tramautizing women on a regular bases, he had pulled a gun on numerous women in the past...this time he really, really went to far!

Bye-Bye Spector enjoy your incarceration...which will probably last all of 9 months and he'll be discharged to a mental health facility for his remaining days where with his millions he'll be pampered and treated like royalty!!!

 

[pocketfullofshells]

well when you have cops planting evidence and pleading the 5th...that makes for a better case for the Deffense...He did not have that...and yes it was about race...racist cops setting up a black guy...( who still was guilty but they still also set him up to make sure it worked in court...idiots)