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FOR PHIL SPECTOR
At left, convicted murderer Phil Spector. At right, actress Lana Clarkson, the victim. |
He's finally convicted for
murdering Lana Clarkson
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Andy Murcia first wrote about the Lana Clarkson murder case on this website in 2003. To read his earlier column, click here: The Lana Clarkson Murder: Feb. 10, 2003 |
of TheColumnists.com
Lana Clarkson, the actress who was shot and killed by record producer Phil Spector in his home way back on February 3, 2003, finally has been avenged. Spector has been convicted of murder in the second degree.
Spector, the famous "wall of sound" music producer, has been free on $1 million bail ever since the murder. His lawyer said he took the verdict “stoically” when it was handed down last week in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Spector and his wife, a former Playboy bunny, had been living high on the hog these past six years while Lana Clarkson lay in her grave. Meanwhile, Lana’s mother was left to suffer in silence along with the rest of Lana’s family and friends. When the jury retuned a guilty verdict the other day, the silence was broken. The guilty Spector was led away to be put in a cage where sick-o’s like him belong.
Phil Spector, through his high priced lawyers, defamed the actress when they tried to sell their B.S. defense that Lana was an out-of-work actress who got so depressed that she just waited for the opportunity to meet Spector, go to his house with him and ask if she could borrow his gun so she could shoot herself dead.
If Spector told that defense to a donkey, it would have kicked him in the seat of his pants!
Folks, if there is any occupation where being “out of work” is just part of the deal, it’s the acting profession. Many big name actors are often “out of work” for periods of time. Once a film is wrapped, all the actors are out of work.
To float that lousy defense strategy, I understand Spector's lawyers soaked him for so much money that it’s been said Spector had been “liquidating assets” as well as taking out a multi-million dollar loan against his home. His costly “defense” included world-renowned forensic experts Henry Lee and Cyril Wecht. Sure, these experts came up with at least 14 points that, in their opinion, could have created doubt in the jurors' minds about Spector's guilt. But they forgot that the doubt must be “reasonable” and this just did not fly.
In the end, one statement made by Spector himself to his limo driver probably settled the case against him. After shots rang out, Spector emerged from his home and told the driver, “I think I killed someone.” Personally I’m glad the lawyers and experts are bleeding Spector’s bank account. Soon he'll be totally broke and "out of work." too.
The people spoke on behalf of Lana Clarkson when they declared that Phil Spector murdered her. Prosecutors Alan Jackson and Truc Do did a terrific job on behalf of we who pay taxes in Los Angeles. I say, “Thank you, guys. Well done!"
In his summation to the jury, Deputy D.A. Jackson told how Spector was a gun-crazed eccentric with a "history of violence," especially towards women who tried to leave him. Five other female acquaintances testified that Spector had threatened them at gunpoint in incidents dating back to the 1970’s.
At one point, Jackson asked the jury to
imagine the one thing they would say to Clarkson before she got
into the producer's car on the night of her death: "You
are all thinking the same thing," he said, before lowering
his voice to an effective theatrical whisper. "You'd say,
'Lana, whatever you do, don't go."
Jackson said Spector had repeatedly pulled guns on women who
wouldn't go to bed with him.
"A woman, alcohol, loss of control, and Phil Spector reaches
for a gun. Click," the prosecutor told jurors repeatedly,
displaying photos, one by one, of the five women who testified
against him. "February 3rd, 2003, Lana Clarkson. A woman,
alcohol, a loss of control--and Phillip reaches for a gun. Pow!
Lana Clarkson got the bullet. It's as simple as that," Jackson
said.
The prosecutor referred to Phil Spector
as a “demonic maniac”. I could not agree more.
Spector dragged his feet on going to trial. Maybe he figured
he was going down, despite a hung jury that failed to convict
him back in 2007.
For six years Spector was free after being charged with this murder. This tells us all we need to know about our justice system. With money and the right defense lawyers, justice is anything but “swift”.
But, finally, justice has been done. Spector,
now 69, will be sentenced for 15 years to life for this murder.
My hope is that he stays in prison until he dies. In the meantime
I know the “fellas” at whatever prison Spector is sent
to are waiting for him. Surely they will be taken by his bouffant
hairdo, and his boyish figure. I think prison will let Spector
know how his female victims felt just before he had his kinky
way with them.
Prison will do Phil Spector good in that it will teach him once
and for all that just because one has power over another person--whether
it be from money, fame or a gun-- it does not give him the right
to do as he pleases with them. He has only to look at Lana Clarkson’s
mother and sister to see the pain his actions caused.
I'm sure there will be the usual appeals, at least until the lawyers drain the last of Spector’s dollars. But this verdict is solid, in my humble opinion. I also suspect that Spector's wife, who's only 28, if she is smart, will go to court and legally dump him, so she can grab a few bucks for herself before he gives it all to his lawyers.
After all, she had to live with this degenerate and I’m sure she earned whatever bucks she can get off this creep. Until then I’ll be keeping an eye on the appeals, and will keep you posted.
©2009 by Andy Murcia. The Murcia caricature is ©2003 by Jim Hummel. This column first posted April 20, 2009.
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