Phil Spector found guilty in shooting of actress
By Harriet Ryan | Tribune Newspapers April 14, 2009 LOS ANGELES - —Legendary music producer
Phil Spector was convicted Monday of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of actress Lana Clarkson in his Alhambra mansion six years ago.
The verdict means Spector, famed for his work with
Tina Turner, the Beatles, the Righteous Brothers and others, faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole after 18 years. A judge is expected to sentence him May 29.
After nine days of deliberations, a Los Angeles Superior Court jury concluded that Spector, 69, killed Clarkson, a statuesque 40-year-old actress, on Feb. 3, 2003, just hours after they met in the Sunset Strip club where she worked as a hostess.
This was the second time Spector stood trial on the charges. A 2007 trial ended with a jury deadlocked 10-2 in favor of conviction after hearing months of testimony.
On Monday, as the court clerk read the verdict, Spector's wife, Rachelle, who is four decades younger than he, began weeping in the front row of the courtroom. Her husband, however, bore the same stoic expression he wore throughout much of the trial.
His lawyer asked the judge to allow Spector to remain free on bail until sentencing. But Judge Larry Paul Fidler ordered Spector be taken into custody immediately.
"Public safety and public protection are paramount," Fidler said.
Spector, dressed in one of his trademark knee-length suits, spoke only once during the hearing — a hoarse "Yes" in response to whether he agreed to the date of sentencing.
After the verdict, the jury forewoman broke into tears at a news conference as she described the "painful" process of convicting someone of murder.
"You are talking about another human being. We all had hearts. We all have people we love," said the forewoman, a paralegal who declined to give her name.
Over the course of the trial, which began in October, the prosecution portrayed Spector as a sadistic misogynist who had a three-decade "history of playing Russian roulette with the lives of women" when he was drunk. A prosecutor told jurors in her summation that "by the grace of God, five other women got the empty chamber and lived to tell. Lana just happened to be the sixth woman, who got the bullet."
Spector's defense contended that Clarkson died by her own hand. They said she was depressed over her flagging career and accompanying financial worries and that she may have committed suicide after hours of late-night drinking with Spector.
Spector, one of the richest people in Hollyweird, will probably die in prison - barring a successful appeal. He has to serve a MINIMUM of 18 years before he gets a parole hearing.
... and the Wall of Sound comes tumbling down.
Phil Spector found guilty in shooting of actress
@ John Wayne quote! ^^^
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