March 19, 2007: Phil Spector arrives at Los Angeles Superior Court with his wife, Rachelle Spector
LOS ANGELES — Phil Spector's chauffeur testified Wednesday that after seeing the producer with a gun in his hand and the body of actress Lana Clarkson inside Spector's home he became afraid of getting shot and fled.

Adriano De Souza returned to the stand in Spector's murder trial a day after telling the jury how he heard a "pow" as he waited outside Spector's castle-like home in suburban Alhambra at 5 a.m. on Feb. 3, 2003, and that Spector emerged with a gun in hand and said, "I think I killed somebody."

Prosecutor Alan Jackson showed the jury photographs of Clarkson's body slumped in a chair in the foyer and close-up of her face with blood around her mouth. The defense claims she shot herself.

De Souza said he looked past Spector and saw Clarkson's body slumped in a chair with her legs near the floor and asked Spector what happened, to which Spector responded with a shrug.

"I didn't know what to do," De Souza testified.

"I tried to run," he added, indicating he didn't remember the car was there.

The prosecutor asked De Souza if he panicked.

Spector chauffer

"A little bit," De Souza said. "I tried to escape from that place. ... I was afraid he could shoot me."

He indicated he remembered the car after running about 10 feet, got into it and drove down the driveway and out the gate where he stopped. He said he used a cell phone to call the number of Spector's secretary, where he left a message, and then called 911 and talked to emergency operators.

"I think my boss killed somebody," he told one operator in a tape of the call played in court.

Asked why he thought that, he responded, "Because he has a lady on the floor and he has a gun in his hand."

De Souza explained that he called the secretary first because although he knew where Spector lived he didn't know the actual address. He said he stopped outside the estate because the address was on a sign there.

De Souza, an immigrant from Brazil whose native language is Portuguese, speaks in accented English and the defense has questioned how well he understood Spector. Initial cross-examination by the defense focused on his English education and immigration status.

Anticipating that attack, the prosecutor questioned De Souza extensively on that issue. The witness testified that Spector did not mumble and spoke clearly.

"Did you clearly understand Mr. Spector when he stepped out of the doorway with a gun in his hand?" Jackson asked.

"Yes," De Souza said.

On Tuesday, De Souza described driving Spector on a night on the town from Beverly Hills to the Sunset Strip. Other witnesses have told of Spector ordering a series of drinks through that night and meeting Clarkson, who was working as a hostess at a VIP room at the House of Blues.

He said Spector emerged from the club with Clarkson and "he invited her to go to the castle. ... At first it was no. She said, 'I have to work in the morning."'

Under further questioning, he added, "He kept saying, 'Let's go to the castle.' She said she could, like, lose the job if she got a ride from a customer."

"Did Mr. Spector continue to insist she join him?" asked the prosecutor.

"Yes," the driver said.

He described the scene when Clarkson agreed to go with Spector.

"I opened the door for her and she said she was going just for a drink," De Souza said.

"What did Mr. Spector say?" the prosecutor asked.

"Don't talk to the driver. ... He screamed it," De Souza said.

He said Clarkson had them drive to a parking structure where she had left her car. De Souza said Spector relieved himself behind a wall and they then moved her car out to a street and parked it before continuing to Spector's home.

Spector rose to fame in the 1960s and '70s, changing rock music with what became known as the "Wall of Sound" recording technique. Clarkson was best known for a role in the 1985 film "Barbarian Queen."


 
AP
Waitress: Spector propositioned me first




Cocktail waitress Sophia Holguin testified Tuesday that Phil Spector appeared to be under the influence when she took his order, Bacardi 151 rum served "up."

 
LOS ANGELES — A Sunset Strip cocktail waitress testified Tuesday that Phil Spector propositioned her before he started pursuing her co-worker, an actress later shot to death in the music producer's mansion.

"He asked if I wanted to go home with him," Sophia Holguin told jurors at Spector's murder trial.

The witness, a shapely young brunette, said such requests were "a common question asked" by her patrons in the VIP club of the House of Blues, and she quickly rebuffed him with a made-up story about an early meeting or work obligation.

Shortly thereafter, she said, Spector asked that Lana Clarkson, who was ending her shift as a hostess, to share a drink with him.

The 67-year-old music legend and Clarkson, 40, later left the venue together.

 

Spector faces a possible life sentence if convicted of murder. His chauffeur is expected to take the stand Tuesday afternoon and tell jurors that two hours after the pair entered the palatial residence, Spector emerged with a gun and said, "I think I killed somebody."

Holguin and two other witnesses who worked in the Foundation Room, the exclusive celebrity area of the House of Blues, set the scene for Spector and Clarkson's meeting.
transvestite

The cocktail waitress said Clarkson, who was posted at the door, did not recognize Spector as a celebrity — or even a man, for that matter — when he attempted to enter the Foundation Room near closing time.

"She called him, 'Miss Spector,' " Holguin recalled.

Holguin and another employee, a security trainer, testified that they quickly informed Clarkson of Spector's wealth and importance in the music world. The trainer, Euphrathes Lalondriz, told jurors he instructed her to treat Spector "golden" and "like Dan Ackroyd," referring to one of the founders of the club.

A Good Tipper
Holquin said she told Clarkson that Spector was "a multimillionaire" and asked that he be seated in her section.

"I had waited on him before and I knew him to be a good tipper," she testified, adding with a smile, "That's the reason I'm there; to make some money."

She was rewarded with a $450 tip, which Spector directed her to share with the security guards and Clarkson.

Holguin said Spector appeared to be under the influence of some substance when she took his order, Bacardi 151 rum served "up," meaning with no ice. She said he was "a little slurrish" and loud. When his companion, Kathy Sullivan, refused to order an alcoholic beverage, he barked, "Just order a f---ing drink," the waitress testified. Sullivan testified last week that he sent her home after she refused.

"He just seemed angry in general," Holguin said.

Prosecutors contend Spector was intoxicated and shot Clarkson after she expressed a desire to leave his home.

The House of Blue's general manager, Arich Berghammer, testified that the establishment routinely served drunk celebrities in the Foundation Room even though it is against the law to sell alcohol to obviously intoxicated people.

Asked to explain, he said, "Well, it is L.A."

Testimony resumes Tuesday afternoon.

The trial is being broadcast by Court TV.