Music producer Phil Spector has been found guilty on second-degree murder charges. After 27 hours of deliberation, the jurors convicted Spector for the 2003 murder of Lana Clarkson.
The second-degree murder conviction against Spector, 69, could draw a sentence of 15 years to life in prison. As the verdict was being read, Spector's young wife, Rachelle, cried in the courtroom.
Jurors announced they have reached a verdict in his murder retrial. Spector was found guilty of fatally shooting actress Lana Clarkson in 2003.
Phil Spector Murder Trial
Music producer Phil Spector is accused of fatally shooting struggling actress Lana Clarkson in 2003. His original, 2007 trial lasted for 5 months but resulted in a mistrial. Spector is currently back in court.
Music producer Phil Spector and his wife Rachelle leave the Los Angeles Country Superior Court Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2008, for a lunch break during his murder retrial.
Music producer Phil Spector is shown during his murder trial in Los Angeles, Monday, Aug. 27, 2007. Spector, 67, is accused of fatally shooting Lana Clarkson in February 2003.
In the original trial jurors could not decide whether Spector was responsible for the death of actress Lana Clarkson. In earlier testimony, Spector's then-chauffeur had told the court that he heard a loud noise and that Spector came out of his house and said "I think I killed somebody." Spector has referred to the death as "an accidental suicide."
Fidler polled the jury at the first trial, and each member agreed that a unanimous decision was not possible. "At this time, I will find that the jury is unable to arrive at a verdict and declare a mistrial in this matter." It is unclear which way they were leaning. Weinberg claims that Fidler's gag of Spector's wife and a potential defense witness were unfair.
Spector stands accused of killing Clarkson, a 40-year-old struggling actress, who met Spector at her job at the House of Blues on Feb. 3, 2003. Spector's defense claimed that Clarkson was depressed about her career in the months before her death. "I really feel like I'm losing it," she wrote to a friend at the time in an e-mail.
A search of Spector's mock-castle home in the Los Angeles suburbs uncovered several guns. Prosecutors claim Spector shot her; the defense contended throughout the trial that Clarkson died of a self-inflicted wound that was an accident or a suicide.
According to testimony, Clarkson went to Spector's mansion for a drink after work and a few hours later was dead from a single bullet fired into her mouth. A bloody revolver was found by police at her feet. A forensic expert said she was "unable to isolate any fingerprints" belonging to Spector on the gun that killed Clarkson, above.
Four women supported the prosecution's claim that Spector had a habit of threatening women with guns. Clockwise, from top left: Diane Ogden said Spector threatened her with guns in 1989. Kathy Sullivan said he liked to dress like Elmer Fudd and carry a shotgun around. Dorothy Melvin said he brandished a shotgun at her in the early 1990s. Stephanie Jennings said Spector held her at gunpoint in 1994.
Spector did not testify at the five-month trial. He remains free on $1 million bail. He's best known for his "wall of sound," a production technique yielding a dense, layered effect that he put to use crafting hits for the Ronettes, the Righteous Brothers, Ike and Tina Turner among others.
Spector's first trial in 2007 ended in a deadlock, with 10 out of 12 jurors favoring conviction.
Clarkson, the star of the 1985 cult film "Barbarian Queen," died at the age of 40 from a gunshot fired into her mouth as she sat in the foyer of Spector's mansion in 2003. She and Spector had met just hours earlier.
In the final arguments of the trial, Deputy District Attorney Truc Do painted a picture in the minds of jurors of what she says happened the night that Clarkson was shot dead in Spector's home. Calling Spector a "demonic maniac," Do pushed for a guilty of second-degree murder verdict, saying that Spector "is about a man who has had a history of playing Russian roulette with the lives of women. Five women got the empty chamber. Lana got the sixth bullet."
A ruling by Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler which permitted testimony by five women in Spector's past was perhaps the most controversial of both trials. All the incidents occurred between 1975 and 1995 but none resulted in guns being fired. All involved women who said Spector confronted them with guns when they tried to leave his presence.
Released on 1 million dollars bail? WTF? They shoulda locked him up TODAY!
