IN A closing argument urging a jury to acquit Phil Spector, a defence lawyer framed the legendary music producer’s murder retrial on Tuesday as a competition between the prosecution’s portrait of the music producer as a gun-crazy misogynist and hard evidence offered by the defence.
“The prosecution has a story, but we are telling you about science,” lawyer Doron Weinberg told jurors.
Mr Weinberg pointed to 14 pieces of forensic evidence that he said proved the shooting of actor Lana Clarkson six years ago was suicide, not murder.
The evidence he listed included blood spatter on the grip of the .38 Special that killed her, which he said proved Spector did not have his hands on the gun, and Clarkson’s broken fingernail, which he suggested was cracked when she pulled the trigger. All 14 pieces of evidence “are pointing in the same direction – Philip Spector’s innocence”, he said.
As in Spector’s 2007 trial, which ended in a hung jury, both sides claim forensics as their ally.
Arguing for a conviction on Monday, a prosecutor contended that the same type of microscopic bloodstains highlighted by the defence were proof Spector was within arm’s length of Clarkson when the gun went off.
In his summation, Mr Weinberg said the prosecution misrepresented evidence to aid its theory that the producer shot Clarkson when she tried to leave his Alhambra mansion.
He said all evidence was consistent with suicide. Clarkson died when the gun discharged in her mouth – an injury known as “an intra-oral gunshot wound”. Medical experts testified that in the vast majority of cases – more than 99 per cent according to some – such wounds were self-inflicted.
Responding to prosecution attacks on defence experts as hired guns, Mr Weinberg said Spector had no choice but to defend himself.
“There are no charities out there who are paying for investigations for affluent people,” he said.
The defence lawyer acknowledged obstacles for Spector.
Looking at the shooting “from the outside . . . you would say, ‘Sure looks like he did it’”, the lawyer said. He noted that some panellists had expressed views in jury selection, including aversion to guns, that might worry a defence lawyer. But he told jurors that if they focused on the standard of proof required, he was confident they would acquit.
“It doesn’t matter how close they came,” Mr Weinberg said. “The only question is did they prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Spector (69) leaned back in his chair with his arms clasped in front of him as his lawyer spoke. The courtroom gallery behind him was packed with supporters, who sat across the aisle from Clarkson’s mother and sister.
Spector faces at least 18 years in prison if convicted of second-degree murder. Jurors will also consider involuntary manslaughter, which carries two to four years behind bars. – ( LA Times-Washington Postservice)