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Nancy Grace
Nancy Grace Mysteries: The Phil Spector Trial
Aired February 21, 2014 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHIL SPECTOR, RECORD PRODUCER: The actions of the Hitler-like district attorney and his storm-trooping henchmen to seek an indictment against me and censor all means of me getting my evidence and truth out are reprehensible, unconscionable and despicable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: From the Beatles to the Ramones, he produced the music legends of a generation. But after years of erratic behavior, Phil Spector turned his famous "wall of sound" into a house of horrors.
Tonight, on NANCY GRACE MYSTERIES, we take an inside look at the music mastermind accused of murdering a beautiful young actress.
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Let`s start at the beginning, with the forensics. The victim in this case, 40-year-old Lana Clarkson -- beautiful. At that time, she was working as a hostess at the House of Blues, and I believe that`s how Spector met her.
Her body is found in Spector`s mansion, near the front entrance. She`s still sitting in a chair, still wearing the clothes she had on that evening. She has one bullet, one gunshot wound to the mouth. It literally blew the teeth out of her head. And when you see a before shot of Lana Clarkson, she`s just got this megawatt smile. It`s just beautiful. And they had to pick up her teeth off the floor of Spector`s mansion.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Phil Spector wasn`t supposed to end up this way, making headlines with his arrest in connection to the shooting death of 40- year-old Lana Clarkson, an aspiring actress and part-time hostess.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Spector has been booked for murder.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After all, Spector is the legendary record producer. His magic touch, his so-called "wall of sound," made hits out of the Crystals` "Da Doo Ron Ron" and the Righteous Brothers` "Unchained Melody." His style of music was shoved aside by the invasion of the Beatles, forcing Spector into seclusion in a vast, castle-like mansion near Hollywood, only to ironically reemerge in the 1970s when he produced the Beatles classic "Let It Be" album.
But since Spector`s induction into the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, he all but vanished from the public`s eye until this past February. That is when Spector met Lana Clarkson, who was hosting at the famed House of Blues on the Sunset Strip. They left together, returning to his mansion.
Hours later, Clarkson`s body was found in the foyer of Spector`s home, a gunshot wound to her head and neck. Marky Ramon (ph), whose group Spector produced, says Spector often carried guns even to recording sessions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He did wave them around, but I`m not saying he did for any reason to hurt anybody. He was like a cowboy at times.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Spector`s hired famed O.J. Simpson lawyer Robert Shapiro, who has steadfastly refused to discuss the case. Spector has maintained his innocence and pleaded not guilty at an arraignment Thursday. And now at 62 years of age, Phil Spector must face a different kind of music.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: The evening in question, February 3, Spector`s been out to multiple restaurants -- at least three that we know of. He ends up at House of Blues, and it is there where he meets the victim, Lana Clarkson. The House of Blues closed down around 2:00 AM. He invites Clarkson over to his mansion to have some drinks. So together, they get into Phil Spector`s limo. They go to his mansion. The driver waits outside while they go in together.
About an hour passes. The limo driver hears a gunshot. He almost immediately sees Spector come out of the Pyrenees Castle through the back door. He has a gun still in his hand. He comes over to the limo driver and says, I think I just killed somebody.
Well, immediately, the limo driver races away. He calls not 911, but the limo driver calls Spector`s assistant, and then after speaking to the assistant, the limo driver calls police.
Now, let me point out that there`s between 10 and 15 telephones within Spector`s Pyrenees Castle, and he never bothered to call 911 to try to save Lana Clarkson`s life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SPECTOR: When the incident took place and we called for the paramedics, instead of the paramedics showing up, the police showed up and negotiated with me for 45 minutes before they came into the house. But no paramedics came to help the injured party, who had administered a self- inflicted wound.
Then after about 45 minutes, while the injured party could have possibly been saved from dying, because nobody knows what her condition was, alive or dead -- the police decided not to enter the house as human beings and to protect and serve, but rather as animals -- drunken animals, if you will, because I don`t know that they were not drunk because all I know is that they came in barnstorming like storm troopers and overwhelmed me physically, about -- between 12 and 16 of them.
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Music mogul Phil Spector, the behind-the-scenes recording studio whiz, finds himself front and center in an unfolding spectacle. Authorities say shortly after 5:00, they received a call reporting someone had been shot at Spector`s hilltop estate. Spector was later arrested at his mansion in connection with the shooting death of a female. Spector`s black sedan, driver`s side door wide open, is also part of the investigation.
Robert Shapiro, Spector`s long-time lawyer and former O.J. Simpson attorney, spent much of the day at the Alhambra city jail with his client, Spector.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m very happy to say that the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame welcomes Phil Spector.
VERCAMMEN: For Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame members, one of the best known producers in pop music history, working with the Righteous Brothers, Ike and Tina Turner, and the Beatles on "Let It be." Spector cranked out countless `60s hits, including the Crystals` "Da Doo Ron Ron." Spector helped launch the career of the Ronettes and Ronnie Bennett (ph), seen here on "Hollywood A-Go-Go." The couple married in 1968 and divorced six years later.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I view him as being very self-centered. I also viewed him as being a great -- he was a great man in the studio. He did some work in there that -- I didn`t see how he could do it. He went beyond. That`s why it was a "wall of sound." And it was great.
VERCAMMEN: Spector`s current residence, a testament to success and riches, is now a crime scene. Some neighbors say noises from the direction of Spector`s estate woke them up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was asleep, and then suddenly, it was about 5:20, 5:25, morning, when I heard the "Boom, boom, boom." It was about three or four shots.
VERCAMMEN (on camera): Spector is out of jail after posting bail. He and his attorney, Robert Shapiro, left through a side door or a back door, avoiding any comment with the news media. Paul Vercammen, CNN, Alhambra, California.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: The police arrive at 5:02 AM to Phil Spector`s Pyrenees Castle. They come in and they find Phil Spector standing over Lana Clarkson`s dead body. He`s standing there with his hands in his pockets, just looking at the body.
They immediately ask him to take his hands out of his pockets. He refuses. I`m sure that they were trying to get a gunshot residue test on his hands. And as a matter of fact, he actually puts up a fight. He struggles when police try to arrest him, insisting vehemently that Lana Clarkson shot herself, that she committed suicide.
Finally -- remember, they get there at 5:02 -- at 6:09 AM, they arrest Phil Spector for Lana Clarkson`s homicide. He`s taken to police headquarters, booked, and he makes bond at $1 million.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Phil Spector was born in the Bronx during the Great Depression. His mother was a seamstress, his father an ironworker who committed suicide when young Philip was 9. By the age of 21, Spector already was a millionaire and one of the first music producers whose fame rivaled that of his artists.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was, you know, an iconic sound that he developed, the "wall of sound," and you know, when you heard it, you knew it was his.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That rich, multilayered sound was the basis of a string of hits in the `60s and `70s -- "Be My Baby" by the Ronettes, "You`ve Lost That Lovin` Feelin`" by the Righteous Brothers, "Let It Be" by the Beatles.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I always thought he was a genius.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There were stories of drinking and manic- depression. Then there was his fascination with guns.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One evening, driving up to his house, I heard all this commotion in the house. I heard somebody telling Phil, Put the guns away, Phil. Somebody`s going to get hurt. Put them away. Stop playing with the gun, man. Come on, now. And I knocked on the door, and Phil opened the door and he had the gun in his hand.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On February 3rd, 2003, Spector was arrested after Lana Clarkson`s lifeless body was found in his castle-like home in the Los Angeles suburb of Alhambra, the victim of a single gunshot in the mouth. His defense team maintains the B-movie actress took her own life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Was there a clean-up? Experts disagree. This much we know. The murder weapon, the gun, the Colt, had blood smeared on it. Now, you would expect to find blowback or possibly gunshot residue, blood spatter, because the gun was so close to her, probably touching her mouth when it was fired. But blood smear? No. That would suggest someone had tried to wipe something, like fingerprints, off of the gun.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SPECTOR: (INAUDIBLE) Phil Spector could never have done this. He could never stand up and shoot a girl in the mouth with a gun. Where`s my history of this? How come in the last 40 years, you never heard stories about me pointing guns in women`s mouths, blowing their heads open and shooting women? How come only after this Lana Clarkson incident did all this stuff come out? I`ve been functioning fine as a human being.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: That was from Wallofguilt.com.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Phil is also notorious for living a reclusive life plagued with alcohol, outrageous behavior and a fascination with guns.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One time, he pulled out the gun, and he held it up to one of the musician`s head. Not angry at him. He was just drinking and he was showing off.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And the cursing. I never heard words like he would say. I never heard them. And what made it worse was he would have saliva coming down the side -- you know, that foam or whatever, and his neck would be bulging with these purple veins and stuff.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: That was from Biography.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: DNA was found at the scene. There was Phil Spector`s DNA on Lana Clarkson`s genitals, and Clarkson`s DNA on Spector`s genitals. So they had some type of sex contact. We don`t know exactly what, but that much we know.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The producer of these recordings is Phil Spector, but instead of enjoying retirement in California, Spector is now accused of murder. It`s the latest high-profile LA celebrity trial.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Clear away from the door so (INAUDIBLE) access, please!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Spector, how do you feel with the case finally beginning?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Excuse us. Excuse us, please. Excuse us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Spector is charged with murdering actress Lana Clarkson at his suburban home in 2003, allegedly putting a gun in her mouth and pulling the trigger.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There`s no evidence that a gun was forced in her mouth. There were no broken teeth in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was simply the last in a very long line of women who had been victimized by Philip Spector over the years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Spector never pushed a gun on any of these women. Make that very clear.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s a trial involving Phil Spector, who is probably the most famous music producer of the 1960s, possibly the most famous music producer in all of pop music.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Spector became renowned for the "wall of sound" style, overdubbing of instruments to produce his hit records, artists such as the Ronettes and the Ramones represented along "Rolling Stone" magazine`s wall and hall of covers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Phil Spector`s always been respected for his production chops, but he`s also been a notoriously difficult person to work with.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Spector`s zany hair and testimony from women who say he threatened them with guns has provided some eye-catching moments and even drawn international news coverage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Another big trial in the city of Los Angeles, trying to prosecute a celebrity again.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A member of the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame, this is one spectacle Spector can`t produce his way out of.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s a very strange story. No matter what the real story is, it`s bound to be kind of tawdry and fascinating in a way that film noir is fascinating.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: At the scene, police find -- it`s very odd -- a white diaper covered in Lana Clarkson`s blood. It was found on the floor of the bathroom, where, apparently, Spector had tried to clean up the scene. Blood was also found on the stairway and the rail leading up from the area where Clarkson was found, dead. Blood was also found on a man`s coat, Spector`s coat, and that coat had been hidden away in a closet in an upstairs dressing room.
Odd, when they search the home, Spector`s Pyrenees Castle, as he called it, they found nine other guns, including two additional Colt blue steel revolvers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You still got those bodyguards?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it`s a little more than that. They`re bodyguards, but basically, they`re (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you doing over there?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, I just pulled out a gun, nothing, you know, a gun and...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you think of songs like "I Cried for You"?
SPECTOR: What do you mean, what do I think? What do you think, I`m some kind of an idiot or something? You trying to trap me like I`m some kind of a (INAUDIBLE) What do you think of those songs?
(CROSSTALK)
SPECTOR: Here we go. Here we go. You`re going to start in with me now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don`t you want me to talk to you, Phil?
SPECTOR: No, that`s quite all right. Talk to antagonistic Eartha Kitt.
EARTHA KITT, SINGER: Why do you think I`m antagonistic?
SPECTOR: Oh, just the slight (ph) way you come at me with the (INAUDIBLE) little things like that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But that`s the way she is in life.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You seem to be terribly sensitive.
SPECTOR: Very sensitive. You have no idea. I`m going to knock the both of you right out (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With the karate? With the karate?
SPECTOR: Never mind. It`s all...
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to know exactly what he`s sensitive about.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you sensitive (INAUDIBLE)
SPECTOR: What? Who`s ignorant?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What kind of (INAUDIBLE)
SPECTOR: Never mind now. Let`s not get intellectual now. This is a pretty solid audience over here. We don`t want to abuse their intelligence or anything like that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: That was from "The Merv Griffin Show."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SPECTOR: Look, I just played your new song. Well, let me see. The bridge is very weak. The tempo`s awful. The lyric stinks. I think you got another smash.
(LAUGHTER)
SPECTOR: Congratulations. Look, I`m ordering 100,000 records, and that`s just the beginning. Look, I`ll talk to you later.
How did you get in here?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Excuse me, are you Mr. Phil Spector?
SPECTOR: Look, it`s been a real bad day. Would you come back in April?
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you out looking for singers?
SPECTOR: You`ll have to make an appointment -- Hello? No. No, you have to go to Nashville and bring the group back yourself. I`m telling you, it`s the greatest group I ever heard in years. Of course, you have to bring their mother with them. They`re only 9 years old.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: That was Phil Spector appearing in an episode of Screen Gems` "I Dream of Jeannie."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The jurors will be asked to decide what exactly happened just before dawn four years ago at the house up on the hill. The incident began a few hours earlier, about 20 miles away in the heart of the Sunset Strip. That`s when Phil Spector, a legendary music producer, met a striking blonde named Lana Clarkson, a hostess at the House of Blues and a struggling actress.
Clarkson had some B film credits, like "Amazon Women on the Moon" and a few small TV roles. As for Spector, he was 64, renowned for inventing what`s called the "wall of sound," a wave of layered instruments used by almost every musician today. In the `60s and `70s, he worked with the biggest acts, including the Beatles.
In the music industry, Phil Spector was regarded as a genius whose time had long passed, a very wealthy producer who had also become reclusive and all but disappeared inside his gated mansion. Neighbors called this place the castle. But the man living here also had a darker reputation, someone with a quick and reckless temper who had a fondness for guns and alcohol.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Let`s talk about the blood evidence. There were 18 drops of Lana Clarkson`s blood on Phil Spector`s white women`s jacket that he was wearing. The state says those 18 drops of blood were blood spatter that blew out at the time of the shooting. And what does that prove? According to the state -- and this is conventional ballistics and firearm -- it`s basically firearms 101 -- blood spatter goes about 36 inches, or three feet.
So their theory is, based on that conventional wisdom, that Spector had to be no further from Lana Clarkson than three feet, 36 inches, at the time she was shot.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the personal level, Phil Spector is feared because of his personality. And that`s a problem in this case.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In grand jury testimony, on that February night, witnesses say Spector arrived here at the House of Blues shortly before closing time. He was slurring his words and was unsteady. Several times, he invited Clarkson to go back to his mansion. She told him no, but eventually gave in, agreeing to go there for only one quick drink.
5:00 AM at the mansion, the driver had been waiting in Spector`s Mercedes for about an hour when he heard a pop. Court documents say Spector emerged from his house, blood on his hand and told his driver, quote, "I think I just killed someone." Police would find Lana Clarkson`s body slumped over in a chair.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the most powerful evidence that the prosecution has is Spector`s own words, "I think I killed somebody." If the jury believes he said that, case closed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Harvey Levin is an attorney and managing editor of the celebrity Web site TMZ.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Phil Spector is a nut. And he happens to be a genius, but a nut nonetheless. And that is the challenge that he has before this jury because he`s so off-center that he`s capable of a lot. And the question is, is he capable of shooting someone with a gun?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you plead, not guilty.
SPECTOR: Yes, your honor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Spector soon claimed he was innocent and Clarkson committed suicide while in a hazy state of mind. As for the gun used to kill he...
SPECTOR: The gun the deceased used to kill herself was not owned by me nor registered to me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But prosecutors don`t buy the suicide. Neither do Clarkson`s friends and relatives. They say she had a lot to live for and would never do anything to put her life at risk.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was just a very positive person, very upbeat, very spontaneous.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For years, Spector has also been known for his flamboyant appearance. But for the trial, he has toned it down. So the jury must decide exactly who is Phil Spector and what happened in those early hours up there? Was it some kind of weird foreplay gone wrong? Did the actress decide to take her own life in front of a music mogul she had just met?
Did Spector suddenly become enraged and kill her, or was it simply an accident caused by a legend with a love for guns? Spector earned his place in the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame. The question now is, will he earn his freedom?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`ve got a guy sure looks guilty. He`s a freak. They`re going to convict him of "I just don`t like you."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, then, he`s going to need a good lawyer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For what am I being punished? For being the most successful music producer in the history of the world!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you kill that girl?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he`s not guilty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First time you got felt up, guess what? You were listening to one of my songs. You think I shot the girl?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What can I do to defend him?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The prosecution is going to do everything in its power to break you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You defend me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you get him off, what will you do when he kills the next girl?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know what this is costing you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have testified...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She had the gun in her mouth. I screamed, No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They killed him (ph) for telling the truth.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They let O.J. go. They let Michael Jackson go. They are not going to let him go.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That`s (INAUDIBLE) You (EXPLETIVE DELETED) murderer!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you kill Lana Clarkson?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why would I kill that girl? Why?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You`re going to jail for the rest of your life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I played this game a million times before! I know how the game is played!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Now, remember she was shot in the mouth. So her own mouth would have protected him, Spector, from some of the blood spatter. But in any event, he had 18 drops of her blood on his white women`s jacket that he was wearing at the time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So then from...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Phil Spector, the man behind pop music`s "wall of sound," can only sit in silence...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He had a gun to my face.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... as witness after witness...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... smacked me on the side of the head.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... describes him as a violent, gun-toting nut.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He walked right up to me and held the gun right to my face with just inches between my eyes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The prosecution is relying on these four women. They say a drunken Spector threatened each of them with a gun after they rebuffed his advances. Diane Ogden (ph) is Spector`s former assistant. The two also dated. She testified about a night in 1989, when she tried to leave Spector`s house after a party.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was screaming at me. He was screaming the "F" word, and not (EXPLETIVE DELETED) leaving, and you`re not -- you know, it was, like, I couldn`t even understand him. He was not my Phil. He wasn`t the man I loved. I mean -- I mean, I cared about this man. And it wasn`t him. It was like he was demonic.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Each of the women escaped uninjured, but prosecutors say not in the case of Lana Clarkson.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are men good for?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Clarkson was a struggling Hollywood actress, appearing in B films like "Amazon Women on the Moon." She worked as a hostess at the House of Blues. She met Spector there the first time that February night in 2003 and agreed to have a drink with him at his mansion. Other than Spector, the last person to see Clarkson alive was this man.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did he come out alone or was he with somebody?
ADRIANO DE SOUZA, DRIVER: (INAUDIBLE) Lana.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Adriano De Souza was Spector`s limo driver and may be the most crucial witness to the case. Listen to this exchange with the prosecutor. De Souza testified he heard a gunshot and Spector emerged from his house.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did he say?
DE SOUZA: He said, I think I killed somebody.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was he directing this comment to you?
DE SOUZA: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But Spector does not concede he has ever admitted to the killing. Spector has spoken little publicly since the shooting, but the TV show "Inside Edition" obtained this 2005 video that Spector reportedly intended to post on his Web site.
SPECTOR: I don`t know why, when, how, or where and what circumstance she may have taken her own life, whether she planned to or not. It is not my responsibility to do that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Spector working with John Lennon, a stark reminder of his legendary status, his brilliance now drowned out by a sensational murder trial.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is really what I live for, as a lawyer, as a journalist. This is an important trial for a number of reasons. One, it`s the first major celebrity trial in this courtroom for a number of years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The cable reel, as you pulled it out, it should have gone to the telco line.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When Phil Spector walks up here, even though there are no interviews, we`ll get the arrival every day and the key question -- if I`m going to bet, I`ll put money on the fact that he will say nothing. But I will ask.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m actually here to get the coverage of the trial, and I want to know what you guys are actually doing and why this has created such a media circus.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Clear away from the door so I have access, please!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Spector, how do you feel with the case finally beginning?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Excuse us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Excuse us, please.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Excuse us, please.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Excuse us.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right. So that was it. I mean, he came in, and as you can see, I mean, the energy was palpable, actually, being out here. But as soon as he came in, he walked in the door, that interview kind of just was -- all right, he`s there, we got what we needed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Allen Jackson (ph) is giving a very, very thorough, very powerful opening statement. And he`s not done yet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did the blood get on the banister? The defendant transferred that blood onto the banister as he went upstairs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re good there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So between all of them, it`s a packed house, but again, it seems like there are probably more journalists in there than anyone else.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s not like "CSI." It doesn`t happen in 44 minutes with three commercial breaks.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I mean, it could take three to four months. Are you going to be here (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`ll -- I`ll be -- we`ll be here, as far as I know, every day.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re clear.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We all can make a difference. Need proof? Check out this week`s "CNN Hero."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you holding up with the trial?
SPECTOR: Fine, thank you. Thank you for asking.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Spector never pulled the gun on any of these women. Make that very clear.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: None of them are true. She (ph) never did any of these things. So when you mention the descriptive term that I used to the court, it was to describe the kinds of people who would make up allegations like that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s also alleged that you personally used a firearm within the meaning of penal code sections 12022.5A and 12022.53B. (INAUDIBLE) charges (ph) and statement (ph) of rights.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So is (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not guilty plea and denial of allegations entered?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. It`s the same as the felony complaint. It`s the same wording.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Correct.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Spector, you plead not guilty?
SPECTOR: Yes, your honor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you deny all allegations, is that correct?
SPECTOR: Yes, your honor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Now, the defense insists that that conventional wisdom is not true, that blood spatter -- and in this case, Lana Clarkson`s blood -- could have spattered or flown six feet away from the body. Now, I`ve never seen that number, six feet, for blood spatter proven in a court of law, but that was what they argued.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As compared to the amount of the spatter that Lana Clarkson (INAUDIBLE) had, if Spector was standing -- if Philip was standing close enough to the decedent to put the gun barrel all the way in her mouth and pull the trigger, he would have had an equal distribution, equal pattern. If he was up there, it would have been all over him, like it was all over her. And it wasn`t. And (INAUDIBLE) even though some of the spatter from the decedent was actually removed...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: The state says that based on the positioning of the blood spatter found on his clothes, Spector`s clothes, that they are convinced he had his left hand near her, pointing toward her, and that they can prove that through the blood spatter.
They also say that his face was very close to her face, and that that can be proved by the blood spatter. The defense says, basically, that Lana Clarkson inhaled blood when she was shot that she then exhaled, that she had the physical ability to continue breathing after she was shot in the head, in the brain. They`re saying because her spine was not severed totally, she could inhale and exhale and that she actually breathed, exhaled the blood on to Phil Spector.
They say her spine only fully severed when she was picked up and moved from the crime scene. Many people do not believe that once you`re shot in the brain that you continue to breathe, but that was the defense argument.
They want their cake and they want to eat it, too. They want him to be six feet away from Lana Clarkson at the time she`s shot, suggesting she committed suicide, but they also give the jury a backup saying, Well, if he was right beside her, she breathed the blood on him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A Phil Spector song with lyrics that hit home. Rachelle Spector was 26, he was 66 when they were married. They did turn heads. Rachelle married Phil Spector after he had been arrested for the shooting death of Lana Clarkson.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So here`s a man accused of murder and you marry him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just because you`re accused of something -- and even at the point when I did meet him, he wasn`t arraigned. He wasn`t charged, nothing. So you`re innocent until proven guilty. And unfortunately, during this whole trial, he was tried in the court of public opinion versus the courtroom.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She lives alone now in their 35-room mansion museum.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This was one of John Lennon`s favorite guitars. It was used in the Concert for Bangladesh and was given to Philip by Yoko Ono.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wedding pictures are arranged in the foyer. This is where a single shot inside the mouth killed Lana Clarkson. An accident, says Rachelle Spector, but prosecutors harped on her husband`s history.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They didn`t want people to know that his DNA was not on the gun, no gunshot residue, no fingerprints on that gun. And he was wearing white, thank God, that evening. So I mean, where was the blood spatter.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: About the chauffeur`s testimony that he heard Spector say, I think I killed somebody?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you`re going to shoot somebody, why would you just walk outside and tell somebody that you just did that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Rachelle Spector is running his businesses on her own now, but buried in debt. There are legal fees from two trials. In an upcoming civil trial, the family of Lana Clarkson will try to claim what`s left.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, my husband`s pretty tapped out at this point, to where we`re going to have to take out other loans to afford to pay for the appeal process. My main focus is the appeal and getting him home where he belongs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A history of violence against women, against -- a history of violence involving guns, flying into a rage, profanities, cussing, swearing, screaming at her. The door was locked. She couldn`t get out. This was at the Pasadena home. And that evidence, ladies and gentlemen, is going to paint a very, very clear picture, a picture of a man, Philip Spector.
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GRACE: At trial, the jury voted guilty 10-2. On September 26th, they deadlock. Mistrial. The state didn`t let go.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that brings us back to the point where we`re at outside the residence, when that gunshot went off, when Adriano De Souza saw the defendant walk outside, jacket on, gun in hand, blood on his hands, her blood literally on his hand.
The evidence will also show what his attitude was toward the police when the police finally did arrive, again, 40 minutes before they actually made their way into the house.
And let me explain that. You may be thinking in your mind that seems like an awful long time for the police to respond. Well, the police responded literally to the location in a minute or two. As a matter of fact, you heard, if you recall, Adriano De Souza make contact with first responding unit as he was still on the phone about 911. Everybody recalls that.
The police had to set up -- the Alhambra police had to set up a plan, if you will. They didn`t know what they were going to be confronted with. All they were told is, man inside a house, possible victim of a homicide, and he`s still armed inside this castle.
It`s a large compound. You`ll hear that they had to search different areas of the compound. In the motor court, before they actually get to the back door, there`s a large garage, multi-car garage, with another apartment over on top of that. They had to search and clear that. There were multiple vehicles on the lot. They had to search and clear those.
But by the time they got to the back door, officers saw Adriano De Souza -- I`m sorry, Adriano De Souza was down off the property down at the mouth of the driveway. They saw Phil Spector walking around upstairs, further corroboration that he was, in fact, moving around upstairs, not downstairs rendering aid to Lana Clarkson.
The evidence will establish that he was moving around upstairs. They saw him. And eventually, he came downstairs, looked out the back door. And he looked at the police officers, as well. They were in full uniform. And he was completely utterly -- the evidence will show that not one time, not once did Philip Spector say, Oh, my God, thank God you`re here. There`s a woman who`s injured. Please help her. Not once.
As a matter of fact, when the police continually said, Let me see your hands, get out here...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: The state tried Phil Spector again two years later. This time, the jury came back guilty, 12 to nothing, on second degree, Spector sentenced to 19 years to life.
Lana Clarkson will never get her role. She will remain in her coffin.
END
