Judge Fiedler's New Jury Instructions

NANCY GRACE

Still No Charges in Lana Clarkson Gunshot Death

Aired December 19, 2006 - 20:00:00 ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


NANCY GRACE, HOST: Tonight: Just how much justice can money buy? Will justice delayed be justice denied? Multi-millionaire music genius Phil Spector facing murder charges in the brutal shooting death of a beautiful actress, Lana Clarkson. It all occurred inside his California mansion over three years ago -- repeat, three years ago -- and still tonight, no trial.
And tonight: Did a well-respected California preacher who manned the pulpit to thousands hatch a murder plot and stage it to look like a car accident, all to get his own holy mitts on the guy`s multi-million dollar trust fund?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHIL SPECTOR, MUSIC MOGUL: The actions of the Hitler-like district attorney and his storm-trooping henchmen to seek an indictment against me and censor all means of me getting my evidence and the truth out are reprehensible, unconscionable and despicable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Good evening, everybody. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us tonight. And yes, apparently, that Spector`s real hair, no Photoshop going on. Ouch! Way to make a first impression in the courtroom! I would laugh if it weren`t for the little matter of Lana Clarkson, a beautiful young actress that he says suddenly decided to commit suicide in his house on their first date. Yes!

Out to Mark Ribowsky, author of "He`s a Rebel." It`s a Spector biography. Mark, what does he claim happened the night Lana Clarkson was killed in his mansion?

MARK RIBOWSKY, AUTHOR OF BOOK ON PHIL SPECTOR, "HE`S A REBEL": Well, first of all, I want to point out that that was, indeed, a wig. He does not have hair and hasn`t had hair for many years.

GRACE: Well, now that we`ve got that cleared up...

RIBOWSKY: Yes. Well, his case rests on, I think, four points. And actually, he`s -- they`re not weak points, when compared with O.J.`s case, for example. The first being that Lana Clarkson was drunk in his house...

GRACE: Well, OK.

RIBOWSKY: ... and far drunker tan...

GRACE: Case closed.

RIBOWSKY: And far drunker...

GRACE: She was drunk. She deserved the death penalty.

RIBOWSKY: That`s just the beginning. The fact that the autopsy report showed that there was blood on the inside of the gun and on outside of the gun barrel, meaning that it had to be in her mouth, which makes the murder rap seem a little less strong because, logically, if a gun is inside somebody`s mouth, well, the odds are they put it there. At least, that`s what he`s going to say.

The third is that there was gunshot residue on her hands, both hands, more than on his hands, which defeats the state`s point, which was that it was a three-foot cloud of gunshot residue that wound up on both of them. And the fourth is that she somehow waylaid him at the House of Blues and convinced him to take her home. So all of these crazy little things are going to be knit into a tapestry of his defense.

GRACE: I see where they`re coming from.

Out to Michelle Caruso. She is the L.A. correspondent with "The New York Daily News." Welcome, Michelle.

MICHELLE CARUSO, "NEW YORK DAILY NEWS": Hi, Nancy.

GRACE: Thank you for being with us. I`ve heard so many different facts reported from police reporters regarding the shooting that night, but it was also my understanding that he allegedly came out of the mansion and stated to a limo driver that he`d just shot her.

CARUSO: Absolutely, Nancy. I think it`s all in how you look at the facts and who`s doing the talking at the time. His chauffeur says that he heard a shot, and as he approached the house to investigate, he saw Phil Spector coming out of the house with the gun in his hand, a blood smear on his hand, and that he was somehow either looking at or -- I`ve heard another account that said that Phil was actually standing over the body. But his chauffeur has testified that Phil said, I think I shot her, or, I think I killed her. And later to police, in his initial questioning after his arrest, he told them he believed he accidentally shot her.

GRACE: OK. Out to Art Harris, investigative reporter. He has certainly covered the goings-on in L.A. many a time. Art Harris, why is this guy so famous? Apparently, a music genius.

ART HARRIS, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Nancy, he has been in the music scene and created the wall of sound, has helped produce everybody from the Beatles to Ike and Tina Turner, has written, you know, amazing songs over the years, and you know, is compared to a modern-day Beethoven.

Here you have someone, though, who is deeply troubled, deeply disturbed, who by his own account is bipolar, taking medicine for schizophrenia. All the while, this great music is being created, and he`s rocketing to the top.

And the crazier he gets, Nancy, the more guns come into play between him and especially women. The question is going to be -- and a good defense lawyer will try to portray this as Hollywood Babylon and maybe some terrible thing instead of guns and roses, guns and foreplay.

GRACE: You know, long story short, Mike Brooks, we`re playing some of his music, music that he engineered. He is the pioneer of the wall of sound. He engineered the careers of the Ronettes, the Beatles, Lennon, incredibly talented, incredibly rich. Mike Brooks, justice delayed, justice denied over this, his songs?

MIKE BROOKS, FORMER D.C. POLICE, SERVED ON FBI TERRORISM TASK FORCE: I tell you what, Nancy, there`s been so much evidence in this case, though, I`m going to be anxious to also hear what the evidence technicians say. And I`d like to see the pictures of the blood splatter that took place when the shooting happened. I`ve heard of cases before where there has been some sexual play with guns, and it looked like...

GRACE: Wait, wait, wait, wait! Why are all the guys on the show talking about sex play with guns?

BROOKS: Because I`ve had the experience of seeing it, Nancy.

GRACE: Wasn`t she fully clothed?

BROOKS: I don`t know. That`s what I`d like to see.

GRACE: Wa-wa-wa! Ellie, was she fully clothed?

BROOKS: You know what...

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: So where are we going with the whole sexual gunplay? That has nothing to do with this!

BROOKS: Yes, it does. You know, I don`t want to be too explicit on your air, but I have seen instances where there has been gunplay like this, where there had been some things that were simulated using a handgun. You can figure that one out, what I`m saying, Nancy. So can our viewers. But you know, are we dealing with a suicide? Are we dealing with a murder?

GRACE: Hold on, Mike.

BROOKS: Hold on. Hold on. Hold one. Mike...

BROOKS: I`m just telling you from my experience what I`ve seen, Nancy, that`s all.

GRACE: Right. Right. Yes. OK. This was their very first meeting.

BROOKS: OK.

GRACE: They were both fully clothed. She had just gotten to his place. And what I hear from you is going to be some fantastic defense that they`re going to come up with that she was part of some weird sex game and ended up, she`s dead, he`s not.

BROOKS: I`m not talking about a defense. I`m just talking about, if he did -- he may have shot her., but I`d like to see all the reports on the blood splatter, all the DNA, what kind of DNA was also -- was there any of his DNA on the gun? A lot of different things could come into play here, Nancy, and that`s why I`d like to see the reports, all of the crime scene reports, to see exactly what the blood splatter looked like, where it was, was, the position of her body, all these kind of things...

GRACE: What do you think about the blood being inside the gun barrel?

BROOKS: It could be some blowback, that kind of thing, but...

GRACE: Why does that necessarily mean the gun was in her mouth?

BROOKS: It doesn`t necessarily mean it was in her mouth.

GRACE: I agree. I agree.

BROOKS: It doesn`t necessarily mean, but...

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: Let`s get this straight. Mark Ribowsky, the author of "He`s a Rebel," was stating that that will be part of the defense. He`s not saying that it`s necessarily true. It`s just a defense theory, right, Mark?

RIBOWSKY: I just wanted to add one thing to what was just said. There`s a lot of ignorance about this case because it takes a careful reading of the grand jury and the police reports. She was not fully clothed when she was found. And again, I`m not making the defense for him, I`m just saying he`s very smart. He has smart lawyers. People like him always seem to win these cases in L.A., for some reason.

GRACE: They sure do.

Jew masturbated on body?

RIBOWSKY: They`re smarter than the DA. Her skirt had been removed, and it was found in her handbag. And as far as the DNA is concerned, the only DNA of Spector that was found on her was semen on one of her breasts. So there obviously had been some sexual play going on in the house. Again, I don`t know if this is the defense for him or not, this is just the -- he has more to work with than O.J. ever did, although...

GRACE: So you`re saying she was...

RIBOWSKY: ... I personally think he`s guilty.

GRACE: ... not totally clothed?

RIBOWSKY: No.

GRACE: Unlike other reports, you`re saying she was not totally clothed.

RIBOWSKY: No, her -- her -- she was in a slip on the chair, obviously placed in an awkward attempt to make it look like she shot herself with the gun, placed under her left hand, even though she`s right-handed. So it really was a sloppy job. But her skirt...

GRACE: She -- you know, I`m looking at...

RIBOWSKY: ... was in her bag.

GRACE: I`m looking at photos of her right now, Lana Clarkson, absolutely just a beautiful lady. So -- wait a minute. Wait a minute. You know, you just reminded me of a case I had where a woman allegedly committed suicide, but there were blood spatter, there was blood spatter, which is from the impact of the gun, under her pillow. And as soon as we saw that at the crime lab, we realized the scene had been posed. The pillow had been placed on top of the gun spatter after the shooting. You`re telling me the gun was under her left hand?

RIBOWSKY: The gun that Spector was seen with by the limo driver, Mr. DeSouza (ph), was later found by the cops under the chair, where she was in a death pose in the foyer, under her left hand, which was dangling down from the chair, even though she`s right-handed. So it was obviously an attempt by him, I would assume, since there was nobody else in the house, to stage a suicide scene.

He had also -- there was also a cloth, actually a sanitary napkin, found in an upstairs sink with the blood which apparently had been wiped off the gun in a very quick attempt to wipe it off. He didn`t wipe off all of it. As I said, there were still traces on the inside and the outside. There was blood on him. And there was blood all over the kitchen, teeth strewn throughout the foyer. So there`s a lot of evidence, but...

GRACE: Her teeth? Her teeth?

RIBOWSKY: ... he has -- he has a lot to work with.

GRACE: Wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wait! Mark Ribowsky with us, author of "He`s a Rebel," Spector biography. You said her teeth were strewn around the foyer?

RIBOWSKY: Yes. And this is, again -- the Spector team will try to make the case that this only happens when a gun is put into a mouth and clenched and then a trigger pulled in an obvious suicide. Now, I don`t know if this is right. You`re the lawyer. I don`t know if this is true. This is what they`re going to say. They have a lot to work with. Even though I personally think he`s guilty, they have a lot to work with.

GRACE: Let`s go out to the lawyers. Joining us tonight from the California jurisdiction, defense attorney Michael Cardoza, from the Atlanta jurisdiction, veteran trial lawyer Renee Rockwell. Let me suggest to the two of you that the first thing you need to send to the defense team is one of these. It`s a replacement wig for that monstrosity he`s got on his scalp right now.

(LAUGHTER)

GRACE: I mean, No offense, but the jury will run shrieking into the jury room as if they had seen a monster. Help him out, Renee.

RENEE ROCKWELL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, Nancy, you know, those first impressions are really important. But you know what? Everybody knows him already.

GRACE: That`s your legal advice, make a good first impression?

ROCKWELL: Nancy, everybody knows this guy. He`s freaky like this. So...

(CROSSTALK)

ROCKWELL: ... they know what they`re getting into, Nancy. The bigger problem they`re going to have is dealing with that tiny little statement.

GRACE: The statement, I think I did it. What about it, Cardoza? What`s your best bet at getting that thrown out?

MICHAEL CARDOZA, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I`ll tell you what. Number one, I`d certainly get him to change, unless, Nancy, you`re trying to prove to the jury that he is a whack job and that somehow helps your defense, whatever their defense theory in this case is going to be. So maybe they can use that to their advantage. If it`s going to be a straight, I didn`t do it, I had nothing to do with it, yes, I agree, first impressions to a jury and the impression throughout the entire trial because, you know, people judge other people on looks. Like it or not, get him changed, if it`s going to be a straight defense, I didn`t do it.

GRACE: And remember, everybody, Michael Cardoza was helping along with the Scott Peterson defense. And I tell you, Michael, after the trial, of course, not during it, we discussed Peterson`s demeanor in court, the way he would walk into the courtroom. It just put people`s teeth on edge.

CARDOZA: Right. Well, remember what I did. I cross-examined him for the defense. They asked me to come in and cross-examine him. I had nothing else to do with the defense. I didn`t advise them what they should do. I simply, because of my prosecutorial background, cross-examined him.

But I`ll tell you what. I absolutely agree with you. When he walked into that courtroom, he had that smirk on his face, Geragos and Pat Harris should have wiped it off his face and made him change.

And you and I will argue about this to our death. There was enough evidence, according to the jury, to convict him of the crime. But I`ll be darned how they got to a death penalty in this case, other than they simply didn`t like him. In fact, they hated him enough, they gave him the death penalty because to this day, nobody knows how he did it. So how does a jury put a guy to death when you don`t know exactly how that homicide went down? That one...

GRACE: Well, probably with the theory...

CARDOZA: ... I have a simple answer for. They hated Scott Peterson.

GRACE: ... that there was a dead mother and dead baby that washed up on the beach.

CARDOZA: There is...

GRACE: That probably had a little something to do with it!

CARDOZA: Of course, Nancy. But we still...

GRACE: Before we do the appeal...

CARDOZA: ... don`t know how he did it.

GRACE: ... of the Scott Peterson case...

CARDOZA: We don`t know!

GRACE: ... let me go to Edward Lozzi. This is Lana Clarkson`s former publicist and friend. Mr. Lozzi, thank you for being with us. Question regarding the way that she was found. Is Mr. Ribowsky correct that she was wearing her slip and -- what is your understanding of how she was found?

EDWARD LOZZI, LANA CLARKSON`S EX-BOYFRIEND: OK. I had access to the autopsy report, and it`s a lot different than what I just heard, OK? First of all, I don`t know if you read the same one, but I didn`t see anything about any semen on any breast, OK? That`s number one. Number two, it`s been proven that he moved the body. It`s also proven that he was walking, running around the room. He had to be tasered. He was running through the blood. He moved the body. There was blood on doorknobs upstairs. All of this going on after he had made his statement to Mr. DeSouza.

So the real hero here is "The Los Angeles Times," believe it or not, who had to sue the court to allow the grand jury minutes to be released to the public. And "The L.A. Times" ran that story every single day to get out to the fact that the judge is allowing other women who have had loaded guns put into their face, pressed up against their face, OK, and he`s allowing that -- he`s allowing them to testify.

So I know I answered a longer question. But this is a woman that was our Charlize Theron. She was very spiritual. She had a thousand people showed up at her funeral. In all the years that I`ve been doing legal PR, I`ve never seen anything like this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A female had been shot inside the location. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene. Mr. Philip Spector from Motown Records has been taken into custody and is being contained at (INAUDIBLE) police department.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... until I found myself being literally a prisoner in his home. There were barbed-wire fences. There were security towers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: That was Roni Bennett (ph) speaking. That is the former wife of Phil Spector. As you know by now, Phil Spector facing murder charges in the shooting death of a beautiful young actress, Lana Clarkson. Does money buy justice in this country? Because it has been three years and a jury has not been struck in the case of Lana Clarkson`s murder.

I want to go back to her former publicist and a dear friend of Lana Clarkson`s, Edward Lozzi. You know, earlier, when we were talking to Mark Ribowsky, he mentioned that she had semen on her body and was wearing a slip, that her skirt was folded up in her purse. All the stories and wires that I found in research, other than one, stated she was wearing a black slip dress. That is a dress, all right, not a slip. And I haven`t found any reports of semen.

LOZZI: Yes. The autopsy report that I read, and had I access to it, and Sandy Gibbons (ph), the spokesman for the L.A. County prosecutor, for Alan Jackson (ph) now, who`s taken over the case, as well as the incredible research from the L.A. County sheriff`s homicide division, who worked almost a year...

GRACE: Right.

LOZZI: ... so they would never ever have an O.J. Simpson situation -- they worked on it, and it is solid...

GRACE: Just give me the facts. Give me the facts.

LOZZI: The facts are, is that she was fully clothed, that they both had the same amount of residue on their bodies, OK?

GRACE: Where was the residue on her and him?

LOZZI: On her hair, on her hands, the chest. Sandy Gibbons even had a press conference to counter the phony press conference that Leslie Abramson ran when she put up the papers, held them up in her hand and said...

GRACE: Where was the residue on him?

LOZZI: All over his hair, whatever hair he had, and all over his face and hands. They both had the same amount of residue on their hands and on their faces.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was a great man in the studio. He did some work in there that I didn`t see how he could do it. He went beyond. That`s why it was a wall of sound. It was great.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Why has it been three years since music genius was first charged -- Phil Spector was first charged in the death of Lana Clarkson, a beautiful young actress there in L.A.? Still no jury struck in the case, the case lingering.

Out to Dr. Daniel Spitz, forensic pathologist. Dr. Spitz, you have studied the case. There`s a lot of suggestion that Clarkson`s body had been posed, placed in the chair after she was shot. What can you determine?

DR. DANIEL SPITZ, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Well, I`ll tell you what. Based on what I`ve looked at, I would not want to be Phil Spector going forward with a trial. There`s a lot of evidence that he`s going to have a hard time explaining. One of them is the movement of the body after the death. The other one is his statement, where he states that this is an accidental shooting. That the type of defense is not going to fly.

Certainly, saying you put a gun in somebody`s mouth and pulled the trigger doesn`t really sit well with the jury as being an accident. Clearly, then he changes his mind to, that she killed herself. But again, there`s a lot of evidence which doesn`t add up with that scenario, the movement of the body, the statements that he`s made, so again, the gunpowder residue both on her body and on his body. Clearly, he`s going to have difficult questions to answer.

GRACE: You know, to you, Mike Brooks. Let`s talk about gunshot residue. We keep hearing a lot about it. The reality is that when a gun is fired, Mike, the gunshot residue, which is often invisible to the naked eye, goes about three feet at the most in all directions. The fact that she is shot in the head, it means absolutely nothing to me that she could have gunshot residue on herself. What`s interesting, he has residue all over him, as well. What do you think?

BROOKS: Well, also, Nancy, depends if it`s a semiautomatic or a revolver, on the amount that could come out. A revolver, you`re going to have much more residue than you would on a semiautomatic, where most of the residue usually comes directly out of the barrel, where on a revolver, it will come out of the barrel and also out of the cylinder, out of the sides of the cylinder.

But no, it -- you know, they -- he could have been holding the gun. She could have been holding the gun. They could have been fighting over the gun when the gun went off. So there`s a lot of...

GRACE: It was a .38 resolver.

BROOKS: OK, that`s the reason it sounds -- that`s to me why it sounded like there was so much residue, revolver. So they could have been fighting over the gun. A lot of questions still remain unanswered, Nancy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The actions of the Hitler-like district attorney and his storm-trooping henchmen to seek an indictment against me and censure all means of me getting my evidence and the truth out are reprehensible, unconscionable and despicable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Not nearly as despicable as a shooting death of a young actress, Lana Clarkson, her teeth found strewn all over Phil Spector`s entrance hall, her body apparently moved in some attempt to pose it as if there had been a suicide. At least that`s what cops allege.

And why, may I ask, has it been three years since Lana Clarkson was killed in Spector`s mansion? Why is justice moving so slowly? Is it because of money and fame?

As you all know by now, Phil Spector is a music genius, responsible for engineering the careers of people like John Lennon, the Beatles, the Ronettes, Ike and Tina Turner, then later just Tina Turner. The list goes on and on and on.

Take a look at this mansion this guy lives in. He`s loaded with money. That`s the one thing I really don`t understand, Michelle Caruso. Michelle is the L.A. correspondent with the "New York Daily News." It`s why people aren`t literally protesting on the front of the courthouse steps, the delay in justice.

MICHELLE CARUSO, "NEW YORK DAILY NEWS": Well, Nancy, I think part of it is because one of the delays at least was the result of Bruce Cutler, one of his attorneys, having a long trial in New York City. Another time, a delay was caused when the judge had a long cause case in front of him. So it hasn`t been...

GRACE: Three years?

CARUSO: Well, and the first year, it took that long before they took the case for the grand jury. So he wasn`t actually indicted until almost a year after the crime. So some of the delays have been -- you could blame Phil Spector, but some have just been circumstances.

GRACE: Take a listen to what Phil Spector`s ex-wife has to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RONNIE BENNETT, EX-WIFE OF PHIL SPECTOR: I view him as being very self-centered. And I also viewed him -- he was a great man in the studio. He did some work in there that I didn`t see how he could do it. He went beyond. That`s why it was the wall of sound, and it was great.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I read somewhere in the press that she killed herself. Uh-uh. This was not someone who is going to kill herself. No way. She was at a very happy time in her life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: That first one, first speaker was Ronnie Bennett, Ronnie and the Ronettes, incredibly famous, talented and gifted, also formerly married to Phil Spector. I want to go back out to the lawyers, Renee Rockwell and, joining us also from California, Michael Cardoza.

The delay, Renee, it`s a defense lawyer`s best friend. Why?

RENEE ROCKWELL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Absolutely. Rule number one, Nancy: Get them out. Get them a bond. And he`s on a $1 million bond, something you and me couldn`t make. But you don`t care how long it takes for this trial to go. You don`t care if it gets delayed four more years, because every day is another day on the street for him, Nancy.

GRACE: Long story short, Michael Cardoza, every day on bond is another day of innocence. And that is true, delay is a defense lawyer`s best friend.

MICHAEL CARDOZA, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Oh, come on, Nance. Step up to the plate on this one.

Number one, sure, a defense attorney can age a case like you age fine wine. But in this case, you know as a prosecutor, and I was an ex- prosecutor, you start leaning on the courts if you want it to get to trial. Judge, quit giving him continuances. You say it enough, the judge will finally put a stop to it.

In this case, remember, one of the D.A.s, in fact, the lead D.A., was appointed to the L.A. county bench. So that threw a delay into this trial. So it`s not only the defense`s trial calendar; it was also the district attorney`s trial calendar.

GRACE: Hold on just a moment. Hold on, no, no, no.

(CROSSTALK)

CARDOZA: Yes, yes, yes.

GRACE: You`re wrong. No, you`re actually wrong, Michael.

CARDOZA: Where am I wrong, Nance?

GRACE: When one of the prosecutors left the case to take the bench, they did not ask for a delay based on those grounds. The rest of the prosecution trial team agreed to go forward with the case; they did not ask for a delay.

And when you say, "Step up to the plate," know your facts. The state -- I`d like to finish.

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: The state has not ask asked for the delay. The delays in this case has been asked for by the defense.

CARDOZA: No, there have been...

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: And just once by the judge.

CARDOZA: Oh, and once by the judge, all right.

GRACE: Yes.

CARDOZA: And the D.A. -- you know, being a D.A., I know from being a D.A., you wanted to get the trial, start leaning on it. You will get it to trial soon.

(CROSSTALK)

CARDOZA: So you can`t put this on the defendant in this case.

GRACE: They didn`t ask for a delay, Cardoza. Know your facts, all right? And you step up to the plate.

CARDOZA: Nancy, I will. I always step up to the plate with you. I`m very happy to do it.

GRACE: Know your facts.

CARDOZA: Nance, they did delay this, the prosecution.

GRACE: Not the state. Name one way.

CARDOZA: Pardon me?

GRACE: Name one way.

CARDOZA: Name one what?

GRACE: Yes, one way.

CARDOZA: Delay?

GRACE: The delay in the prosecution.

CARDOZA: OK, I`ll name one way that was implied, without going into it because I wasn`t in every hearing. Stand up in that court and tell the judge, "Judge, we object to this continuance. We are ready to go."

GRACE: They did object.

CARDOZA: "The people are ready to go."

GRACE: They did object.

CARDOZA: If they had done that time and again, this case would have been to trial by now.

GRACE: Repeat, I don`t want the facts to get in your way, but...

(CROSSTALK)

CARDOZA: They never do, Nancy, just like with you. They never do.

GRACE: But the state did oppose the delay, other than when Bruce Cutler, who was the main trial lawyer at that time, was in the middle of another trial.

And, Renee Rockwell, you have answered multiple calendars, Renee, at the same time...

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: And when the trial lawyer`s in another jurisdiction, you can`t make them appear at the same time.

ROCKWELL: That`s right. And it`s called a conflict, and you know that, Mr. Cardoza. It`s a conflict. And a lawyer cannot be at two places at one time. But sometimes that happens.

CARDOZA: I`m not saying the defense didn`t ask for it. I never said that. I`m saying the prosecution should have leaned heavier. And there was a time when they were trying another case.

GRACE: All right. You know what? Michael, I appreciate your attempt to blame the state for the defense asking for delays.

But back out to Art Harris, when is this ever going to trial?

ART HARRIS, INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST: Nancy, that`s a great question, possibly in the spring. Right now, it`s, I think, scheduled tentatively for April. But the other question is: Who`s gun was it, Nancy? Lana Clarkson had a gun, and we haven`t established whose gun this was. Spector had a lot of guns around the house, and that is going to be one of the issues.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The information came to our detectives after the family brought it to our attention that this was more than just a fatal vehicle accident. This was something more going on.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are a very close-knit community.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are people talking about it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, yes. They have been for a long time, ever since, you know, the accident. I think it`s pretty bizarre and seems very circumstantial that more than likely he`s guilty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Did a well-respected California preacher who manned the pulpit over the years to thousands hatch a murder plot and stage it to look like a car accident, all in an attempt to get his unholy mitts on the guy`s multimillion-dollar trust fund?

Out to Art Harris, investigative reporter. What happened?

HARRIS: Nancy, in 2002, they had an accident. The preacher, Doug Porter, was driving Frank Craig, a wealthy 85-year-old man, who had $4 million in stocks, and they ran off the road. He was injured, not hurt that time. Police investigated it as an accident. Two years later, he hits a tree and is killed.

The relatives complained, and they look into this. Too coincidental? He is now under suspicion. He`s in jail, charged with three counts, two, one of felony murder, one of the attempted murder, and one of attempted embezzlement.

GRACE: How much is in the trust fund?

HARRIS: Four million dollars, Nancy.

GRACE: Out to Mike Brooks, former D.C. cop and former fed with the FBI, what do you think about this prior alleged attempt of murder?

MIKE BROOKS, FORMER D.C. POLICE: I`ll tell you what, Nancy. You know, it took the cops awhile to go ahead and kind of put all the pieces together, but they were delayed a little bit because of the Scott Peterson trial. They were focused on that.

But, you know, they went back. They took a look at all the circumstances. And I think even the families, you know, were saying, "Wait a minute. Let`s take a look at this again." You know, he runs into an oak tree one time. Then he drives into a ditch, and the guy drowns. And then he gives the eulogy at the guy`s funeral. Come on. I mean, you talk about a guy -- talk about a breach of trust, Nancy. It`s unbelievable.

GRACE: OK, let`s go through the facts as they jump out at you, Mike Brooks.

BROOKS: The facts. OK. You know, he befriends this guy. He really doesn`t -- he`s really not a religious guy.

GRACE: You`re talking about Doug Porter, the suspect -- excuse me, Pastor Porter, age 55, befriends 85-year-old Frank Craig.

BROOKS: Right. Now Mr. Craig, they say he was not a religious guy, but he put all of his trust in this preacher. You know, he looked at him as a man of God that he could trust. And he wanted to build a museum for all of his -- for all of his farm equipment. And he thought that this preacher was going to help him do this.

Now, Mr. Craig apparently was fairly frugal. They said if he wanted to buy a pack of batteries that you had to buy four, he would just go without it. You know, he was a fairly frugal guy, and he put all of his trust...

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: Well, that`s why he`s a multimillionaire.

BROOKS: Yes, I guess so. I guess that`s why I`m poor. But anyway...

GRACE: That`s what you get for buying those four-pack batteries, Brooks.

BROOKS: I buy a 30, Nancy, when I go to Cosco, but what can I say? But, you know, he put all of his trust in this guy, Nancy. And it`s just - - to me, it`s incredible.

But, you know, everybody was saying he`s not a religious guy. He really wasn`t, you know, a churchgoer. But he was just apparently enamored by this preacher, and the preacher took full advantage of him.

"Hey, want to go for a ride?" Take him for a ride, this old guy, slam into an oak tree. Oh, didn`t kill him that time. So he waits a couple years later, and then he drives into an irrigation ditch and the guy drowns. You know, and then he has the audacity, Nancy, to give this guy`s eulogy at the funeral. To me, that is just disgusting.

GRACE: Oh, man, Art Harris, I can only hope the prosecution has the video of this eulogy. How many times do you think they`ll play that over and over in front of the jury?

HARRIS: Nancy, it`s a case, as we`ve seen before, of full-blooded hypocrisy, at least alleged -- I mean, the guy`s pleading innocent. He`s got one more arraignment coming up on the 11th. But he is in jail without bail, and it`s the man`s relatives who finally got police attention.

GRACE: He`s in jail without bail. Interesting. He`s in jail without bail, Renee Rockwell. But Phil Spector is wandering around free as a kite.

ROCKWELL: Yes, well, I would think that Phil Spector would be spotted if he was trying to maybe leave the country. But here`s a guy -- don`t forget, they didn`t give Scott Peterson bail either. Here`s a little county that`s a little bit tighter on their reins.

But here`s a guy that maybe has the wherewithal, with the $4 million trust, to get out. Don`t forget he was going to Mexico -- it`s my understanding at some point -- so maybe not a good flight risk, no bail.

GRACE: And I want to go out to Andrea Macari, clinical psychologist. Andrea, in this case, the family probably would never have been suspicious. But just let`s think about the boldness of this.

Backing in 3/02, March `02, this guy, the preacher, is driving the car, slams the car into an oak tree. The old man lives, sustains injuries, but lives, all right? At that time, he`s what, 82, 83 years old. The guy lives.

Four `04, January, February, March, April `04, all of a sudden he`s back in the car with the old guy. They go down an irrigation ditch, and the poor old man drowns to death, and this guy lives. And he gets -- and tries to get the money, millions.

ANDREA MACARI, INSTRUCTOR OF PSYCHOLOGY: Well, talk been arrogance, right, on the part of this guy. I have to say, there`s one diagnosis that`s screaming at me, and that is anti-social personality disorder. This guy has no remorse for what he did.

I guarantee you that he`s done horrible things in the past, cons people. If you look back in history, I don`t know if there`s any evidence of it, but I guarantee you, you don`t just have two attempts at murder out of nowhere.

GRACE: You know, interesting, Michael Cardoza, when you get somebody charged with murder, it`s hard for me to believe that they just suddenly graduated to murder. What happened to pre-K, you know, a the little shoplifting, you know, then you go onto high school, a couple of larcenies. Suddenly, a murder.

And what do you think, Cardoza? Keep the camera on Cardoza for just one moment while he`s not talking. What do you make of the pastor...

CARDOZA: I`m not talking, because I can`t believe this.

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: ... leaving California to start a mission in Mexico, where you know they will not bring you back home if the death penalty is being sought, a mission.

CARDOZA: Nancy...

GRACE: In Mexico.

CARDOZA: I cannot believe this.

GRACE: Believe what?

CARDOZA: Nancy, I cannot believe this. I cannot believe we`re talking like this guy`s guilty right now.

GRACE: That he killed a guy?

CARDOZA: Yes, I`ll tell you what. The people that are listening now, I`d love to hear from them. Would you convict this guy because they got in two automobile accidents?

GRACE: Yes.

CARDOZA: God forbid, I`ve been in more than that. And because he`s the head of this guy`s trust or the trustee, no, there`s not enough evidence to convict this guy.

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: Have you literally...

CARDOZA: Have at me. Please, have at me.

GRACE: Yes, OK. I have to be able to give you the Q -- that`s the question -- before you give me the A. Bring it down. Use your inside voice. First of all, you said you`ve had plenty of wrecks, OK, fine. How many wrecks have you had with the same single individual in your car?

CARDOZA: Gee, you know, I can`t remember exactly how many. I think two.

GRACE: OK, no further questions.

CARDOZA: Two times, because I was commuting to and from work. To and from work, I was rear-ended, and we went and slid off the road one time.

GRACE: Who was the person?

CARDOZA: It was icy, and I slid off the road. It was someone that I worked with.

GRACE: Both times?

CARDOZA: Both times.

GRACE: Who?

CARDOZA: Fortunately, neither one of us were hurt.

GRACE: Who?

CARDOZA: Who? You want a name?

GRACE: Yes.

CARDOZA: Jim.

GRACE: OK, you know what? I`m going to check that out.

CARDOZA: OK, does that help you?

GRACE: Because I don`t believe. I don`t believe you`ve had two crashes...

CARDOZA: OK, have at that, Nancy.

GRACE: ... with the same person in the car. When were the crashes?

CARDOZA: Say that again?

GRACE: When were the crashes?

CARDOZA: We worked together. It was when I was in San Francisco working in the D.A.`s office. I was a district attorney at the time.

GRACE: Year? Year?

CARDOZA: Gosh, it`s going to give up my age, but it was in the `80s.

GRACE: You said "it." I thought you said there were two accidents?

CARDOZA: There were two accidents.

GRACE: OK, when was the other one?

CARDOZA: The other one was `83, and I think about `84, `85, somewhere in there.

GRACE: And both times, same person in the car with you on a road?

CARDOZA: Same person in the car on the way to work.

GRACE: Both times rear-ended?

CARDOZA: No, I said we slid off the road one time.

GRACE: You said you were rear-ended.

CARDOZA: It`s ice or something. One time we were rear-ended.

GRACE: Ice or something one time? OK, the story`s getting a little fuzzy.

CARDOZA: No, no, it`s not getting fuzzy at all. So am I going to get convicted if he were hurt...

(CROSSTALK)

CARDOZA: ... and I were the head of -- the head of his trust? There`s not enough evidence here yet, Nancy. I really hope the district attorney has more evidence.

GRACE: Get your story straight!

CARDOZA: God, my stories are very straight, Nancy.

GRACE: Right, ice freezing, rear-ended, `80-ish.

(CROSSTALK)

CARDOZA: There`s not enough evidence.

GRACE: You know what? Let`s go to Bud Whitney, the voice of the victim. He is married to Frank Craig`s niece.

Bud, thank you for being with us. When did the family first become suspicious?

BUD WHITNEY, MARRIED TO ALLEGED VICTIM`S NIECE: Well, after the first accident, we visited Frank in the hospital. And, you know, Frank was in the hospital for six months, because of broken legs, broken sternum, broken pelvis, arm paralyzed. And he told us at that point that the accident was not an accident. He told us that Doug Porter had turned off the air bags in the front seat of the car and told him the safety belt was broken.

GRACE: How did he end up back in the car after that accident?

WHITNEY: Well, Frank really wanted to build a museum, and he really wanted to trust Doug Porter. He had some friends...

GRACE: OK, hold on. We`ll be right back for the rest of that story. Thank you, Bud.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was a total accident. He was a great guy, and I just don`t believe it was an accident. He was trying to save him, and he just couldn`t. He was an old guy, and it was really hard for him to get him out of the seat belt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: A pastor who administered to thousands over the years charged with murder. Is it an attempt to get his hands on a million-dollar trust? With us, the victim`s nephew, Bud Whitney.

But very quickly, Dr. Daniel Spitz, the first accident with the elderly gentleman caused a crushed pelvis. How painful is that?

DANIEL SPITZ, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Oh, that`s very painful. Any broken bones are very painful, and certainly that caused him to have serious difficulties after that, left him unable to walk, I think, since that accident.

GRACE: Back to Bud Whitney, Mr. Whitney, again, being the voice of the victim tonight. After this first crash into an oak tree, I believe it was, he told you guys this was no accident. So how did your wife`s uncle end up back in the car with this guy, a preacher, no less?

WHITNEY: Well, he was paralyzed, and Doug had power of attorney. And Doug took over the care, and took Frank out of the rehab hospital ahead of time, and put Frank in his own house. And Frank had very inadequate care.

We asked Frank to come and live with us, but Frank`s an independent sort and he would not do that. But he really trusted Doug Porter. He wanted the museum built. He didn`t know that Doug Porter had already been spending his money. Doug started spending his money...

GRACE: Spending it on what?

WHITNEY: ... on his house. He built a compound above the city of Hickman, and he built it on his house. He paid his kids` salaries. He paid his wife. He bought a phone system for the church. He took a trip to Monterey with all of the staff of the church...

GRACE: On your uncle`s money, the uncle, 85 years old, now dead. We will be watching the trial, Mr. Whitney. Thank you for being with us.

Tonight, we stop to remember Army Chief Warrant Officer Miles Henderson, 24, Ft. Myers, Florida. An aviator, he was in Iraq three weeks after marrying his new wife, Artis, before he was killed. Miles Henderson, American hero.

Thank you to our guests and to you. NANCY GRACE signing off. Until tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern, good night, friend.

END


Mark Ribowsky strongly believes that Rock 'n' Roll producer Phil Spector was B-list actress Lana Clarkson's murderer, but he will be exonerated, relates The Associated Press.

"I believe he's guilty, but I believe he will walk," the author of He's a Rebel: Phil Spector: Rock Roll's Legendary Producer' was quoted as saying by the New York Daily News.

"[He's] too smart and too rich for the LAPD and DA to put away," he added.

The police had found Lana Clarkson on a chair in an "unnatural death pose" with "a single entry wound to the mouth" at Spector's home on February 3, 2003.

At that time, the famed music producer had told the cops that "I didn't mean to shoot her. It was an accident," but later he and his lawyers changed the whole story, painting Lana Clarkson as a depressed, desperate House of Blues hostess who set out to kill herself in a superstar's home.

corpse

Mark Ribowsky believes that Lana Clarkson's rolled-up skirt found inside her purse, and semen found on one of her breasts are two key elements that can lead the jury into believing that she was not an innocent victim. Options He masturbated on her in living room No, she would have wiped it off   He masturbated as she was leaving No, she was 6' and he was 5'4"   He masturbated on the corpse Yes, that's why it was fresh and not wiped off

"This is strong evidence that there was some sort of sexual by-play between them when the gun - which was possibly being used as a phallic tool either by consent or otherwise - went off," he said.

A handful of other inconsistencies will play in Spector's favor, creating a case "far stronger than O.J.'s ever was. [Bruce] Cutler will 'brucify' witnesses to death and play up the inconsistencies, weaving a quilt of reasonable doubt," says Ribowsky

Criminalist: Spector's DNA Found On Left Breast Of Slain Actress

POSTED: 1:16 pm PDT June 12, 2007
UPDATED: 1:23 pm PDT June 12, 2007

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Spector Jerked off on corpse?

LOS ANGELES -- A DNA sample consistent with Phil Spector was found on the left breast of actress Lana Clarkson as she lay dead in the music producer's Alhambra mansion, a criminalist testified Tuesday in Spector's murder trial.

Spector, 67, is accused of shooting Clarkson, a 40-year-old hostess at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip, inside his "Pyrenees Castle" home during the early hours of Feb. 3, 2003. He maintains she shot herself.

Steve Renteria, a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department forensic scientist, testified that the swabs he took on Clarkson's left nipple showed minor traces of DNA consistent with Spector. He testified he would need to look at 14.8 billion other Caucasians before he could find another person matching the DNA sample, but still said the results weren't specific enough for him to definitively say the sample came from Spector.


Renteria's swabs came as part of a sexual assault test performed on Clarkson's body, he told the court. Clarkson was found slumped in a chair, wearing a black coat, a black slip dress and her underwear in its normal-position, Renteria said.

Photographs shown to jurors showed Clarkson also wore a large purse over her right shoulder, which prosecutors claim is a sign that she was trying to leave Spector's home when she died.

During cross-examination by defense attorney Christopher Plourd, Renteria conceded that some mistakes were apparently made during his investigation.

Renteria testified that his own DNA appeared on one of the batches of Clarkson's blood that he tested in connection with the case, calling it "the very first time" it had happened in his nine years on the job.

But he added that the other samples tested were not contaminated.

"This was not a serious problem," Renteria said.

Plourd again asked Renteria about the match of an unidentified male on the gun handle and one of the live rounds inside the weapon. All the genetic markers on the gun belonged to Clarkson and an unidentified male, Renteria testified. Spector's DNA did not match any found on the gun handle, he said.

Monday, under Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson's questioning, Renteria admitted that other DNA could be present on the gun, but it just didn't show up on tests.

Renteria also testified that none of Spector's DNA was found underneath Clarkson's fingernails, causing Plourd to suggest that no struggle occurred between them.

Spector's DNA also wasn't found on any of the bullet tips of the ammunition in the Colt Cobra .38-caliber revolver that ended Clarkson's life, Renteria said. The DNA found on the bullet tips belonged to Clarkson and an unidentified male, he said.

Clarkson was a Long Beach native best known for her starring role in the 1985 Roger Corman cult film "Barbarian Queen."

Spector, a 1989 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee famed in music circles for his layered "Wall of Sound" recording technique, is free on $1 million bond.

Phil Spector faces life in prison if he is convicted of murder.

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Phil Spector Murder Case

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DNA on body
 
LOS ANGELES — Lab tests found DNA consistent with Phil Spector on the wrists of an actress shot to death in his home, a criminalist testified Monday at Spector's murder trial.


Prosecutors claim Spector was trying to force the 40-year-old actress to remain at his Alhambra mansion when he shot her in the mouth on Feb. 3, 2003.

Spector, 67, faces a possible sentence of 15 years to life in prison if he is convicted of murder.

Renteria told jurors that other DNA tests indicated Spector and Clarkson were sharing drinks from two brandy snifters found near the death scene. DNA consistent with a mixture of their genetic profiles was found on the rims of both glasses.


Renteria helped collect evidence from Spector's mansion and later performed DNA tests on a number of items, including swabs of the bullets in the .38-caliber revolver that killed Clarkson.

In her opening statement, a defense attorney said authorities had tested the bullets to try to determine who loaded the gun. The results showed DNA from Clarkson and a second person, but not Spector, she said.

Renteria, however, told jurors that he never tested the top of the bullets. He said he only swabbed the tips of the bullets, which faced Clarkson's mouth when the gun was discharged. The tips, Renteria said, showed Clarkson's DNA and the "foreign" sample.

Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson questioned Renteria about the location of blood in the foyer of Spector's mansion, the location of the shooting. Renteria said there was a streak of Clarkson's blood on the hand rail of a stairway leading to the second floor. Prosecutors have said Spector went upstairs to remove his bloody dinner jacket after the shooting.

Spector's defense maintains that he was across the room near the stairway when Clarkson took her own life. Defense expert Dr. Henry Lee is expected to testify that the blast from the gun could have propelled Clarkson's blood more than 6 feet, accounting for blood spatter on Spector's jacket sleeve.

Renteria testified that Luminol tests of the carpet and walls between Clarkson and the staircase showed no blood spatter.

"Had there been blood spray that went as far as that wood paneled wall ... would Luminol have detected it?" Jackson asked.

"Yes," Renteria replied.

The criminalist's testimony continues Monday afternoon.

Jewish inbreeding

SPECTOR LINKED MENTAL PROBLEMS TO INBRED PARENTS




PHIL SPECTOR fears his emotional and mental difficulties can be linked genetically to the fact his parents were first cousins, according to a new biography. British author Mick Brown spent a day with the music mogul two months before he was arrested and charged with the murder of actress Lana Clarkson, and he has since turned the producer's candid comments into a book. In Tearing Down The Wall Of Sound: The Rise + Fall Of Phil Spector, Brown looks back over the eccentric mogul's life and career with the help of his subject's commentary. The author admits he was shocked when Spector hit the headlines as an alleged murderer, because he felt sure the producer had battled his mental demons - and won. Brown says, "What I really hadn't expected was that he would be so candid about the emotional and mental difficulties that he had suffered over the years. "He talked with great honesty about his parents having been first cousins and his fears that that had left some sort of genetic mark on him. "Looking back, I think he felt able to be so candid about all of that because he genuinely thought it was all in the past." In the book, Spector reveals, "I've been a very tortured soul... I have not been happy. I have devils inside that fight me." The record producer is currently on trial for Clarkson's 2003 murder. He stands accused of shooting the actress in the head.





28/05/2007 20:23




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PHIL SPECTOR


Phil Spector’s DNA Splattered On Lana Clarkson’s Boob
June 13th, 2007 at 14:30 by Stuart Heritage

This week we learnt that none of Phil Spector's DNA was found on the gun that killed Lana Clarkson, but now we've now discovered that pretty much everyone's DNA was splattered all over everyone else's naughty bits like goodness knows what.

Already in the Phil Spector murder trial a detective has opined that Lana Clarkson's death may have had a sexual leaning thanks to the candlelit crime scene and the brandy snifters left on the mantelpiece, but now events have been given a slight nudge in that direction thanks to the revelation that Phil Spector's DNA was found on Lana Clarkson's left breast, what appears to be Lana Clarkson's DNA was found on Phil Spector's genitals and someone else's DNA was found on a different part of Phil Spector's genitals. We've said it before and we'll say it again - with results like that we've got to get our hands on one of those lesbian wigs.

Los Angeles County criminalist Steve Renteria is proving to be worth his weight in gold as far as the Phil Spector murder trial goes. For weeks and weeks all we've had to go on has been circumstantial gun-waving evidence from a handful of women, the opinions of a coroner who made all kinds of mistakes and a book that says Lana Clarkson might have maybe seen the ghost of a dead actress once. But screw that - we want science.

And Steve Renteria is Mr Science as far as we're concerned. Already this week Renteria has announced that Phil Spector's DNA wasn't on the gun that killed Lana Clarkson, and now he's just getting downright filthy. After an investigator into the Phil Spector murder case claimed that there was a sexual motive behind the murder, Renteria has announced that some of Phil Spector's DNA was found on Lana Clarkson's breast, with some of Lana Clarkson's DNA being found on Phil Spector's todger. The Los Angeles Times reports:

A small amount of genetic material matching Phil Spector's DNA profile was found on Lana Clarkson's left breast, a courtroom expert testified Tuesday. Sheriff's criminalist Steve Renteria also said DNA matching Lana Clarkson's genetic markers was found in Spector's groin area. The DNA matching both Clarkson's and Spector's profiles most likely was from saliva, although Renteria said experts could not be sure. Renteria also said he detected the presence of DNA, again most likely saliva, from someone other than Spector or Clarkson in a different part of Spector's genitalia.

Oh, phew, the DNA was just saliva. Otherwise, you know, greeegh. However, the DNA sample found on Phil Spector's genitals isn't an unique match to Lana Clarkson and could be matched to one person in just 94,000, leaving plenty of room for doubt.

But let's assume that the saliva DNA found on Phil Spector was Lana Clarkson's - what then? Chances are the prosecution would try to claim that any sexual activity between Phil Spector and Lana Clarkson was forced at gunpoint, keeping with the pattern of testimonies from earlier in the trial. But it'd be much more useful evidence for the defence, which can dismiss the prosecution's notion that Phil Spector shot Lana Clarkson after she sexually rejected him. Not only that, but the defence could use this evidence to further push the theory that Lana Clarkson killed herself because, well, you'd probably commit suicide if you'd just sucked off Phil Spector too, right?

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After Lana Clarkson died, Phil Spector may have been doing more than just waiting around for the cops to show up, according to the prosecution's 34th and final witness.

Played with body

Lynne Herold, a forensic scientist with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, testified Tuesday afternoon that Spector may have messed with evidence before police arrived—approximately 40 minutes later, according to prosecutors.

After examining pictures of the scene as well as other evidence, such as the dress Clarkson was wearing that night, the criminalist said that she concluded there were three reasons why the actress' blood may have ended up the way it did in hallway of Spector's Alhambra home after she was killed by a gunshot wound to the mouth: one being the gun; another, a cloth diaper found in an adjacent bathroom; and the third, Spector himself.

Clarkson's head appeared to have been moved "at least once" to the left side of her body after she died, Herold testified. When authorities arrived at the scene, the right side of her jacket and dress were soaked in her blood, while the left side was clean. The right side of the chair where Clarkson's slumped body was found was also bloodstained, she added.
 

Did the Jew wipe off his sp**m-DNA?

Herold also said that Clarkson's face looked as if it had been wiped, possibly with the diaper found nearby.

"Somebody manipulated not only the face and neck, but somebody manipulated the blood on her face and neck, correct?" Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson asked her.

"Correct," Herold answered.

Jackson also suggested to the court that the diaper could have been used to wipe down the Colt Cobra .38-caliber revolver that killed Clarkson.

Previous witnesses have testified that only Clarkson's DNA was found on the gun, but that her blood could have covered up any DNA that Spector left behind by touch. No latent fingerprints were found on the weapon, either, meaning that several different criminalists who worked on the case were unable to conclude who pulled the trigger that morning.

Tuesday's was a shortened session and Herold is expected to spend at least two more days on the stand, after which the prosecution is expected to rest its case. Herold will likely be questioned further about the position of Clarkson's body, where the gun was when she died and the blood spatter impact on the white jacket Spector was wearing when, according to the District Attorney's argument, he shot the actress.

The defense, meanwhile, has maintained that there was not enough blood on the jacket for Spector to have shot Clarkson in the hallway of his mansion, as the prosecution contends. The Wall of Sound creator's camp is alleging that Clarkson shot herself, becoming the victim of an "accidental suicide."

L.A. Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler has said that the trial is on schedule so far and that testimony should conclude in July or August.

Also on tap for tomorrow, Fidler is expected to formally serve a contempt order to Sara Caplan's lawyers at 11 a.m. PT.

Fidler found the former member of Spector's defense team to be in contempt of court yesterday for refusing to testify about forensics expert Henry Lee's actions at Spector's house the day after Clarkson's death. Caplan had previously said during an evidentiary hearing last month that she saw Lee pick up a small white object and place it in a vial.

Prosecutors have contended that that object was a piece of acrylic fingernail—evidence that could suggest that a struggle took place—and that Lee never turned it over to the D.A.'s Office, a charge the potential defense witness has vehemently denied

Expert says Spector was near Clarkson By LINDA DEUTSCH, AP Special Correspondent
1 hour, 20 minutes ago




 

"Most of the bloodstains on the jacket are mistlike," she said. "You can barely see them."

But magnified 60 times, she said they showed that, "That piece of fabric was within two to three feet of the bloodletting event." She spoke of "high-velocity backspatter" and showed jurors where spots were left on the front, back and left sleeve cuff of Spector's woolen jacket.

She also said the jacket was on Clarkson's right side and was "forward-facing and the arms had to be raised so the spatter could get on the back."

Clarkson, 40, a struggling actress best known for her starring role in "Barbarian Queen," was shot through the mouth on Feb. 3, 2003, after going home with Spector from her job as a hostess at the House of Blues nightclub. Spector, 67, a legendary music producer who gained fame in the 1960s with his "Wall of Sound" recording technique, had been out on the town that night and met Clarkson for the first time. He invited her to his mansion after closing time for a drink.

Seeking to recreate the scene, Herold also offered analysis of bloodstains on Spector's pants and a piece of bloody cloth found in a nearby bathroom as well as blood smearing on the death gun.

"Something bloody came in contact with the inside of the left pants pocket," she said and suggested it could have come from placing the gun in the pants pocket and taking it out.

"There is smeared blood," she said as she viewed photos of the snub-nose .38-caliber revolver that killed Clarkson. "It indicates to me there was some movement. There are places on the gun that would show some of the blood was moved or removed."

"Could that be a product of someone wiping the gun off?" asked Jackson.

"That is one possible mechanism," she said. She also said that a bloody cloth found in the bathroom had been saturated with water.

Herold is considered the prosecution's most important witness on forensic evidence and she gave jurors an extensive rundown on her professional associations, experience and awards.
denied.

The lack of DNA on the gun could raise questions about what a chauffeur saw at Spector's home. He testified that he saw the record producer emerge from his home holding a bloody gun and declare, "I think I killed somebody." The gun was found on the floor beside Clarkson's leg.

The lack of DNA from Spector under Clarkson's fingernail would support a defense theory that that there was no struggle between the pair and that the gun evidence further suggests that Clarkson pulled the trigger. The prosecution has fought to get a missing piece of Clarkson's acrylic nail which they claim a defense forensic expert found and withheld. Prosecutors have suggested it would help to show the angle of the gun when it was fired and might prove a struggle was involved. Sperm on the corpse The finding of what is likely Spector's DNA on Clarkson's breast may remind jurors of testimony by sheriff's Detective Mark Lillienfield, who said he felt there were "sexual overtones" to the death scene from the moment he saw the blond, leggy actress slumped in a chair in Spector's foyer, her face and her short slip dress soaked in blood. Clarkson, 40, the onetime star of the movie "Barbarian Queen," died around 5 a.m. on Feb. 3, 2003, from the single shot fired with the gun in her mouth. She had met Spector just hours earlier while she was working as a hostess at The House of Blues nightclub. He asked her to accompany him to his mansion for a drink. Prosecutors have relied on testimony from a parade of women who claimed Spector threatened them with guns when they tried to leave his presence after dates. The defense has contended that scientific evidence would prove that Clarkson killed herself. Renteria explained to jurors the intricacies of DNA testing and the potential for contamination as well as the frequency figures that would isolate Spector's DNA to him and no one else in the world. But he did not offer any theories about how Spector's DNA came to be on Clarkson's breast. Nor would he say absolutely that Spector was the DNA "donor," only that he was the likeliest donor of anyone in the world population. "So the inference there is that for all practical scientific purposes Mr. Phillip Spector's DNA was on that left (breast) that was collected, is that true?" Plourd asked. "I wouldn't say that. The number is slightly over the world population which is about 6.6 billion and usually I will have to have that frequency estimate get well above over 100 times the world's population for me to have an opinion personally that that DNA came from that person," Renteria said. He was more absolute in his analysis of portions of the gun. Testing the barrel of the gun, inside and out, he found only one DNA donor. "All of the DNA came back to one contributor -- Lana Clarkson," Plourd asked. "Yes, it did," said Renteria. The witness also gave jurors an example of how DNA can become contaminated. He said that during testing in the Spector case his own DNA wound up in a "control" test tube by accident. He said in such a large laboratory with so many employees incidents of contamination can occur. "I had confidence the other samples were fine," he said. Spector, 67, became famous in the 1960s and '70s when his "Wall of Sound" technique revolutionized the recording of rock 'n roll music.

il Noir: The Human Stain How Spector left his mark on Lana Clarkson By STEVEN MIKULAN Friday, June 15, 2007 - 5:00 pm ON TUESDAY THE PROSECUTION finally got around to that dab of DNA Phil Spector left on Lana Clarkson’s left nipple the night she died. There’s no mention of it in the coroner’s 57-page homicide report because the coroner is not charged with solving murders. And the Sheriff’s Department crime lab, which is, doesn’t release this kind of information to the press or public. Still, the presence of Spector’s stain had been whispered about for some time. In December, Spector biographer Mark Ribowsky (He’s a Rebel) told an open-mouthed Nancy Grace on CNN, “The only DNA of Spector that was found on her was semen on one of her breasts.”

Judging by the number of long silences that filled my conversation with a senior member of the crime lab last month, the subject was obviously a sensitive topic. In answer to my questions, however, the official said that non-Lana DNA had been found on Clarkson’s body but it was not semen. Indeed, last week, Sheriff’s criminalist Steve Renteria allowed in court that the DNA pointed to Spector and might be saliva. Somehow this seemed less damning to the suspect than if the DNA on Clarkson had been from Spector’s sperm — even though Ribowsky and others appear to suggest that such a money shot could help the defense, since it presumes a sexual assignation occurred before Spector’s other gun went off in Clarkson’s mouth during the early-morning hours of February 3, 2003. Come again? you might ask, since there’s no proof that any sex play that might have occurred was consensual — or, more to the point, that it wasn’t postmortem. And even if the DNA that Ol’ Brown Eyes left on Lana’s breast — and, it seems, that she might have left on his crotch — was saliva, there’s no timeline evidence asserting it didn’t get there after her death, either. Suffice to say, that possibility was not discussed by the Sheriff’s crime-lab spokesman.

Phil Spector's DNA Found on Lana Clarkson's Breasts, Not Gun

A small amount of Phil Spector's DNA was found on the breast of late starlet Lana Clarkson, according to a sheriff's criminalist who testified in Spector's trial for the murder of Clarkson. On cross examination, the criminalist also admitted that Spector's DNA was not found on any part of the gun or bullets that reportedly killed Clarkson. Spector has pleaded not guilty to charges that he murdered Clarkson in his home in 2003 and has rather alleged that she killed herself.

 

Phil Spector’s DNA Splattered On Lana Clarkson’s Breast June 13th, 2007 at 14:30 by Stuart Heritage This week we learnt that none of Phil Spector's DNA was found on the gun that killed Lana Clarkson, but now we've now discovered that pretty much everyone's DNA was splattered all over everyone else's naughty bits like goodness knows what.

Already in the Phil Spector murder trial a detective has opined that Lana Clarkson's death may have had a sexual leaning thanks to the candlelit crime scene and the brandy snifters left on the mantelpiece, but now events have been given a slight nudge in that direction thanks to the revelation that Phil Spector's DNA was found on Lana Clarkson's left breast, what appears to be Lana Clarkson's DNA was found on Phil Spector's genitals and someone else's DNA was found on a different part of Phil Spector's genitals. We've said it before and we'll say it again - with results like that we've got to get our hands on one of those lesbian wigs. Los Angeles County criminalist Steve Renteria is proving to be worth his weight in gold as far as the Phil Spector murder trial goes. For weeks and weeks all we've had to go on has been circumstantial gun-waving evidence from a handful of women, the opinions of a coroner who made all kinds of mistakes and a book that says Lana Clarkson might have maybe seen the ghost of a dead actress once. But screw that - we want science. And Steve Renteria is Mr Science as far as we're concerned. Already this week Renteria has announced that Phil Spector's DNA wasn't on the gun that killed Lana Clarkson, and now he's just getting downright filthy. After an investigator into the Phil Spector murder case claimed that there was a sexual motive behind the murder,   Renteria has announced that some of Phil Spector's DNA was found on Lana Clarkson's breast, with some of Lana Clarkson's DNA being found on Phil Spector's todger. The Los Angeles Times reports: A small amount of genetic material matching Phil Spector's DNA profile was found on Lana Clarkson's left breast, a courtroom expert testified Tuesday. Sheriff's criminalist Steve Renteria also said DNA matching Lana Clarkson's genetic markers was found in Spector's groin area. The DNA matching both Clarkson's and Spector's profiles most likely was from saliva, although Renteria said experts could not be sure. Renteria also said he detected the presence of DNA, again most likely saliva, from someone other than Spector or Clarkson in a different part of Spector's genitalia. Oh, phew, the DNA was just saliva. Otherwise, you know, greeegh. However, the DNA sample found on Phil Spector's genitals isn't an unique match to Lana Clarkson and could be matched to one person in just 94,000, leaving plenty of room for doubt. But let's assume that the saliva DNA found on Phil Spector was Lana Clarkson's - what then? Chances are the prosecution would try to claim that any sexual activity between Phil Spector and Lana Clarkson was forced at gunpoint, keeping with the pattern of testimonies from earlier in the trial. But it'd be much more useful evidence for the defence, which can dismiss the prosecution's notion that Phil Spector shot Lana Clarkson after she sexually rejected him. Not only that, but the defence could use this evidence to further push the theory that Lana Clarkson killed herself because, well, you'd probably commit suicide if you'd just sucked off Phil Spector too, right? Read more:

It's sickening to think that Spector took a diaper, dipped it in toilet water and wiped Lana's face.  Sure tells you how sick he was and what he thought of women!!

I am hoping the jury is remember opening arguments from Linda Baden!  She promised a lot and did not come through.  She promised that Dr. Lee would testify and he did not.  When Dr. Lee was on the stand before the judge and lawyers he showed a temper...and did not impress me.  Can you imagine if he was put on the stand and was cross examined by Alan Jackson how he would have behaved.  No wonder the defense sent him to China!!  The jury would have been shocked at Lee's demeanor.

The judge is one smart cookie!  He believed the lawyer who testified about the white piece of material that was found at the scene...most likely Lana's nail which proved she fought back. Remember that Lana had broken both her wrists and bruises were found on her arms which shows she fought back...Spector's hands forcing her to hold the gun in her mouth!!!  I think Lee's reputat

He also cited evidence that the gun had been wiped and a large amount of Clarkson's blood was in the left pocket of Spector's pants, which could indicate the gun was placed in the pocket.

 

What happened in the two hours after Mr Spector and Ms Clarkson returned from a nightclub was the subject of heated claim and conjecture in court.


Jurors saw a photo of Ms Clarkson's legs, showing where the gun fell
Candles were lit on the fireplace and an empty bottle of tequila and two glasses with the pair's fingerprints were found on the coffee table in the living room.

The jury was told Mr Spector's DNA was found on one of Ms Clarkson's breasts, but there was no sign of intercourse or assault.

In the foyer was a leather briefcase containing some over-the-counter medication and a packet holding one Viagra pill with empty spaces for two more.

There was also a bureau with a draw that was partially opened. In it was a holster that matched the snub-nosed Colt Cobra revolver that killed Ms Clarkson.

She was found sitting in a chair with her legs outstretched and a leopard-print handbag over her shoulder.

She had an "intra-oral" gunshot wound, according to the criminal terminology.

Murder One, into the lesser offense of involuntary manslaughter? The answer resides in both psychology AND the law. Evidence exists that Mr. Spector and Miss Clarkson had engaged in some form of sexual contact, e.g., Spector’s DNA was found on one of her breasts and a blisterpack of Viagra, with two of the three tablets missing, was found in Spector’s briefcase.

 

Phil Spector Trial: Day 55
Phil Spector
Defense team says prosecutions case "suitable for gossip rags"

Sep 6, 2007
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The defense began their wrap-up argument today in Los Angeles, with a last-ditch effort by lawyer Linda Kenney-Baden to convince the jury of the innocence of music producer Phil Spector, who is on trial for murder.

Spector is accused of shooting dead actress Lana Clarkson at his Alhambra, CA mansion in February 2003.

Jew_cleans_up_the_corpse

Kenney-Baden today responded to Prosecutor Alan Jackson’s statement that Spector spent around 40 minutes cleaning up Clarkson after he shot her, and then planted a gun on her to imply suicide. “There is no evidence whatsoever of staging” the laywer told the court emphatically and that Spector “wasn’t trying to hide or wipe anything.” Jackson had told the court previously that Spector had used a diaper to wipe blood from Clarkson’s face, with water that he had taken from a toilet telling the court “of all things, by god, he chose toilet water to wipe on her face. “ And called it “disgusting, barbaric, monstrous.”

Kenney-Baden also addressed Spector’s celebrity status, saying that the prosecution case consisted of “cute jokes, tall tales and theatrics” and “what ifs, possibilities and embellishment ... suitable only for gossip rags,” says the Los Angeles Times.

She referred to the scientific evidence in the case, which saw defense forensics experts claim that Spector was too far away from Clarkson to have shot her in the mouth. As previously reported, Kenney-Baden’s husband, forensic scientist Michael Baden, testified for the defence. His testimony prompted accusations from Prosecutor Alan Jackson that he tailored his testimony to support his wife’s case.

Kenney-Baden concentrated on the scientific theories to support her case, as opposed to the prosecution's personal testimonies given throughout the trial, including Spector’s chauffeur who says that Spector emerged from the house saying “I think I killed somebody”, and five women who testified that he had threatened them with a gun.

“Science is the most important witness in this case” concluded Kenney-Baden. Science is not meant to entertain the mass media.”

--By our New York staff.
Find out more about NME.
http://www.nme.com/news/phil-spector/30956

The most important absentee was Phillip's long-time personal assistant, Michelle Blaine, who also has a close family-like history with Spector. Michelle Blaine is the daughter of Hal Blaine, the L.A. session drummer extraordinaire who headed The Wrecking Crew, the group of talented and prolific 1960's L.A. session musicians who were Spector's backup musicians of choice for many years. Following the shooting Spector spent :40 minutes in the house alone, cleaning up. The gun had obviously been wiped down and placed back in the "murder" scene; Lana's face was also wiped. Not a single call to 911 was ever made from inside the house, despite the fact that there were something like 14 working telephones. If someone accidentally shot themselves in your foyer, wouldn't you call the police immediately? Why would you start cleaning up? And what about the eighteen or so additional firearms found in the house? The jury was only allowed to hear about three guns - the ones which used the same caliber bullets that killed Clarkson. A large garbage bag of those same bullets was found in an upstairs bedroom. Hopefully they can subpeona Michelle at the next trial, which will either be the civil wrongful death suit or the murder retrial

hope that AJ sees right through all of this crap by the defense. My question is does that jury no about the 40 minutes that Spector had before the police were in his house where he was "cleaning up" his mess and trying to make it look like a suicide?

By contrast, Spector's actions revealed consciousness of guilt, Dixon said. Spector did not use any of the more than a dozen phones in the house to call police. He did not ask DeSouza to help him or Clarkson.

"He didn't call for help. Why?" Dixon asked. "Because he murdered her. He killed her."

After shooting Clarkson, Jackson said, Spector tried to clean up the scene, wiping her with a cloth diaper, and spreading her blood around the house -- it was found on a banister and a doorknob. He described Spector's statement to his driver as a confession.

Baden later became the subject of a second defense misconduct ruling. Late in the case, he electrified the courtroom with a surprise theory of Clarkson's death: The 40-year-old actress did not die instantly, but lived for a few minutes after she was shot, during which time she could have coughed up blood onto Spector's jacket.

 

Last week was the week of the steampipe explosion here in NYC so that's why we were missing. Sorry about that. As for the diaper, the prosecution's theory is that Phil used the diaper to wipe the gun clean. They will argue that the bloodstains on the diaper are consistent with that, rather than with having been used in the shooting itself. gogo: Jami, I believe Spector wiped Lana with the diaper deliberately to contaminate the evidence after he planted the gun. This is his explanation of how the blood got on him. It was already on him, but he is saying, prove it. It was deliberate, imo

Spector's lawyers are expected to submit Herold to a gruelling cross-examination as they attempt to show that scientific evidence will prove the producer did not fire the shot that killed Clarkson.

Earlier this week, Herold testified that Clarkson's body appeared to have been tampered with when forensic experts pored over the scene.

She said some kind of cloth, possibly a diaper found in an adjacent bathroom, had been used to wipe blood off of Clarkson's face as jurors were shown a series of gruesome photographs of the scene.

Prosecutors said earlier in the trial 40 minutes elapsed between Clarkson's shooting and Spector's arrest, suggesting he had attempted to cover up evidence of murder immediately after the killing.

Why didn't Spector call 911 after someone was shot in his home? Why did he wipe Ms. Clarkson's body with a diaper, and then hide the diaper upstairs - after he changed clothes? And are you, Blogonaut, in communication with any member of Phillip Spector's defense team? Your vague and ambiguous answers to this inquiry make it clear that you are - and Weinberg has instructed you that he believes the jury is reading websites. Spector will be found guilty.

GRACE: OK. Is it true that throughout the home, there were found diapers used to clean guns with Lana Clarkson`s blood on the diapers? Yes, no.

LALAMA: Yes. Yes.
GRACE: You know, another thing, Pat Lalama, to Kristin`s question, didn`t we learn today that, apparently, her face had been wiped down before police got there? If her face was wiped down, certainly the gun was wiped down.

LALAMA: Yes, I mean, that`s what I was thinking about early on, is that, you know, if he was smart enough to take the time to clean up the place and try to wipe her off, for lack of a better term, obviously, he`s going to, allegedly, try to wipe off the gun.

GRACE: Did we learn today that Phil Spector walked around in the house and did something for up to 40 minutes after the gunshot went off?

LALAMA: Well, if you mean 40 minutes by not calling 911, yes, and trying to clean up the place.

 

 

phil spector went to the door, opened it, and told the driver "i think i killed somebody" while still holding the revolver in his bloodied hand. he then tried to destroy evidence by wiping things down with a diaper. lana had her purse on her shoulder, clear evidence she was trying to leave.
 

Witness: Spector May Have Messed with Evidence

Tue., Jun. 19, 2007 8:35 PM PDT by Natalie Finn

What was Spector doing (upstairs while Lana was downstairs? [...] He didn't call 911. [...] He goes up to his room and takes off the jacket and drops it on the floor. He doesn't use the phone that's there in the room. [...] He gets a diaper rag. The same type of rag that was found in this room." Up on the screen at this time are several different images. One is the bloody diaper next to the other diaper that was found. Another image is of a phone in the room and on the file cabinet below the phone is a classic sign of a gun pointing at the observer that says, 'Forget the dog. Beware of the owner.' "What did he do? He smeared blood on her hair and face. Forty minutes. [...] Everything he did shows consciousness of guilt."Truc asks the jurors, how dies the gun get to that location (photo of the gun by Lana's left calf) after Adriano De Souza saw it in Spector's hand. "You know from Dr. Herold the gun had been wiped. The next image up on the screen is a close up of blood on the hammer of the gun. "You should look at, also, there's blood on the hammer. That's Mr. Spector, wiping the gun down. Did he do a good job? Of course not. [...] When he touched the door knob he put her blood there. When he touched the banister, he put her blood there. [...] When they did the GSR, what didn't they find? Her blood on his hands! He washed his hands! that' shows consciousness of guilt. He can wash his hand of her blood, but he can't wash his hands of her murder."

Jew_calls_Women_cunts

Truc goes onto talk about how deals are made in the entertainment world, over drinks, because it's who you know. "All Lana knew on February 3rd, 2003 was that Phil Spector was a VIP. He was told by her supervisor to treat him as golden. [...] She was reluctant but willing to go have a drink with him. [...] In three hours her dream ended with a single gunshot. [...] She didn't know about the "All women are fucking cunts who deserve a bullet in their heads. [...] She didn't know about a man with an impulsive rage and impulsive anger. [...] She didn't know about five other women. She would be the last in a long line. She didn't know any of that."
 

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