Phil Spector, a record producer credited with creating the “Wall of Sound” technique for pop records, was convicted of murder and given a 19 years to life sentence for the shooting death of Lana Clarkson, an actress. His conviction came after two trials, the first trial ended in a stalemate. His lawyers are now appealing the second trial’s sentence, claiming that Spector was denied the right to a fair trial. Spector’s lawyers claim the judge in the trial made mistakes and that the prosecution behaved poorly.
During the trial, the prosecution presented the testimonies of several women who claimed Spector had threatened them with a gun. They also presented a video of the trial’s judge commenting on evidence during the first trial. Spector’s lawyers claim that the prosecution used the testimonies of the women to depict Spector as a person of bad character. In reference to the video of the judge, the lawyer’s appeal states that “a judge may not offer evidence in a trial over which he presides.”
Dennis Riordan, Donald M. Horgan, and Charles Sevilla are the lawyers who filed the appeal. They requested that the jury’s decision be reversed by the California Second District Court of Appeal and that Spector be granted a new trial.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Phil Spector’s Murder Trial Was An Absolute Sham
Los Angeles, CA—I wrote extensively about legendary record producer, Phil Spector’s first murder trial that ended in a mistrial when jurors could not reach a unanimous verdict. . I was not able to do much with the retrial because of other commitments, but it was even worse that the first trial.
Both trials were as unfair, and as outrageous as I’ve ever seen in my 40 years of experience inside the criminal justice system. During the trials I compared L.A. Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler to Roland Freisler, the President of The People’s Court of Germany’s Third Reich. I don’t think that was an exaggeration because of nearly every ruling made by Fidler.
It was obvious to me that Judge Fidler had an agenda to convict Spector at any cost after numerous embarrassing high profile acquittals of other celebrity defendants. Fidler was drunk with power as he satisfied the harpy-pundits of that failed TV network, Court TV. It just so happened that I met Judge Fidler when he was invited to San Francisco to attend an Investigative Reporter’s and Editor’s conference in San Francisco with that very pretty, former Court TV correspondent, Beth Karas.
Spector’s trial was not about evidence but was an exercise of pure hatred. The trial manifested hatred for Spector’s wealth, flamboyant hair, manner of dress and lifestyle.
Spector had a lifetime’s worth of gold-digging women satisfying his libido and then angered when Spector did not give them the wealth and fame they sought. The very worst of this group were allowed to testify against Spector about decades old affairs.
Spector’s real crime was his sometimes horrible taste and judgment in the women he allowed in his bed. In that mix were thieves, extortionists and drug addicts. Some would return to haunt Spector for a slim chance at fame and of course the cash they could get from the tabloids for their tall tales.
The dead woman, Lana Clarkson fit Spector’s bedmates well. Clarkson was a failed and now too old actress with habit for ingesting Vicodin nearly a dozen times a day. The poor woman was an alcoholic suffering from depression and was nearly destitute. It was clear that Clarkson was under the influence of both drugs and alcohol when she died.
None the less Clarkson was a sympathetic figure that Hollywood used and spit out. Clarkson was beautiful and there was evidence she tried very hard to gain fame and fortune that sadly never materialized. Clarkson was really just another tragic story from The Boulevard of Broken Dreams.
Clarkson did not go home with Phil Spector who she just met for anything more than an act of commerce. Spector had money and Clarkson needed some.
A violent death occurred but the evidence of murder just was not there. On the contrary there was a lot of evidence suggesting suicide or a self-inflicted accidental shooting by a drunken woman.
We don’t have a video, instant replay of this tragedy. We and the jury had to guess how Clarkson died. It’s a human trait to want to assign blame for a needless death. The blame went to Phil Spector.
In Judge Fidler’s court Clarkson’s problems were sanitized while any and everyone who wanted was encouraged by the jurist to throw mud on Spector.
Phil Spector was railroaded to a prison cell for more years than the 70 year-old has left on earth. Spector very well may never live long enough to win his appeal. This is wrong.
With The People’s Court of Germany, the public did not see much of anything wrong with Judge Freisler’s show trials either. “Justice” was always administered there, swift and sure. What happened in this Los Angeles courtroom can happen to you or someone you love.
Read now the appeal brief filed on behalf of Phil Spector:
http://www.crimefilenews.com/
http://www.scribd.com/28176613-People-vs-Phil-Spector-Appellant-s-Opening-Brief/d/28301307