Phil Spector Appeals Murder Conviction
Attorneys for music producer Phil Spector have filed a complex 148-page motion appealing his 2009 murder conviction asking the appeals court to overturn the jury verdict and order a new trial. Spector was found guilty of killing actress Lana Clarkson in a second trial after the jury deadlocked in his first trial.Spector was sentenced in May 2009 to serve a 19 years to life sentence.
The appeal, filed last week at the California Second District Court of Appeal, blames judicial error and prosecutorial misconduct on Spector not receiving a fair trial. The appeal calls the actions of Judge Larry Paul Fidler during the trial "shocking."
Some of the issues raised in the appeal include:
- Jurors in the second trial were allowed to see a videotape made during the first trial in which Judge Fidler made comments about the blood-splatter evidence in the case.
- During final arguments, prosecutor showed the jury side-by-side pictures of the judge and a forensic expert and said there were "persons who supplied crucial evidence supporting a guilty verdict."
- The Judge refused to exclude his own comments about where a blood drop was located in a transcript given to the second jury.
- In closing arguments, the prosecution suggested to jurors that the defense paid their expert witnesses to lie on the stand by paying them large amounts of money.
But the main focus of the appeal was on Judge Fidler allowing testimony from five women who claimed Spector threatened them with guns. They argued in the appeal that the incidents "did not meet the test of similarity to the events surrounding Clarkson's death."
Spector's attorneys said that the prosecution improperly argued that Spector "had a history and propensity of violence against women and thus should be convicted based on his bad character and evil propensities."
They also argued that the prosecutions use of the word "pattern" almost 40 times during closing arguments had a "cumulative prejudicial impact" on jurors.
See Also:
Appeal Filed in Phil Spector Case
Background:
The Murder of Lana Clarkson
The Phil Spector Case
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Comments
PHIL SPECTOR’S APPEAL IS AS HILARIOUS AS PHIL SPECTOR’S TRIAL DEFENSE THAT LANA CLARKSON COMMITTED SUICIDE.
Lozzi doesn’t know when to quit! He’s laughable.
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.scribd.com/28176613-People-vs-Phil-Spector-Appellant-s-Opening-Brief/d/28301307
http://www.crimefilenews.com/
Phil Sector is a weird man and should stay in prison.
1) E. Lozzi-Friends of Lana Clarkson:
If you had taken the time to read and digest Phillip Spector’s Opening Brief on Appeal (”AOB”) you would have found that just the opposite is true. (I posted the brief at Scribe.com—Google it.)
The three limited issues urging reversal are quite strong, are supported by statute, binding Supreme Court precedent, and in many cases Judge Fidler’s own findings on the issues complained of.
In addition, just as the Clarkson family wrongful death suit attorneys are near the top of their personal injury profession, the two attorneys who filed the AOB are in the top five criminal appellate lawyers in the state, and the appeal is as far from a laugher as it gets.
I realize, Mr. Lozzi, that you are being paid as the Clarkson family publicist to say these things, but what you post here in an all caps sound-bite is so far from correct as to be “laughable”.
(2): Brenda: This is the United States of America and we do not incarcerate people that the majority finds to be “weird” or eccentric.
Shame on both of you.
StephenG – This is the United States of America and people are free to state their opinions – whether or not they are silly – except in a court of law under oath. So anybody can state the ridiculous or not and should not be lectured for it. If you don’t like another’s opinion, that’s fine, but if you are going to spew legal jargon, then practice what you preach. I also agree with you that Brenda made a ridiculous comment.