Experts Hold Key in Spector Murder Trial

May 29, 01:41 AM

Current Headlines: By LIAM CHRISTOPHER

A CORONER and crime lab technicians are due on the witness stand in the trial of record producer Phil Spector for murder.

They will be explaining blood spatters, gunshot residue and DNA evidence gathered from Spector's Los Angeles home on the night of the death of actress Lana Clarkson.

"The prosecution has to show that the forensic evidence is consistent with their theory that Spector pulled the trigger or forced her to pull the trigger," said Loyola University law professor Laurie Levenson.

"This is where the defence has their focus," she said.

Clarkson's body, with a gunshot wound through the mouth, was found seated in the foyer of Spector's mansion in the LA suburb of Alhambra on February 3, 2003.

Spector, 67, invented the "Wall of Sound" recording technique scoring hits with among others You've Lost That Lovin1 Feeliri by the Righteous Brothers and the Ronettes' Be My Baby. Clarkson was best known for a 1980s role in Roger Corman's Barbarian Queen.

She had met Spector at the House of Blues, where she was a hostess, and agreed to accompany him on a chauffeur-driven ride to his home.

Jurors have seen gory photographs of her bloody face. Her mother and sister and two lawyers representing them have been present for every day of testimony. The women have averted their eyes when gruesome pictures of Clarkson in death are flashed on a courtroom screen.

Spector, whose once flamboyant image is toned down with a series of frock coats in muted colours with coordinating silk shirts and pocket handkerchiefs, is a pale shadow of his former self.

His hands tremble constantly, said to be the result of medication, and his expression is flat. His appearance could be a plus for the defence.

"He looks old and passive and not particularly threatening," said Levenson. "He doesn't look like a big bad murderer."

The prosecution built its case against him in three phases. The first focused on Spector's past behaviour, presenting four women who claimed that the legendary record producer threatened them at gunpoint in the 1980s and '90s.

The trial's second phase focused on the hours before Clarkson's death with witnesses telling of Spector's night on the town, visiting four different restaurants and clubs with different women, travelling in a chauffeured Mercedes and drinking alcohol at each stop.

Spector's Brazilian-born chauffeur, Adriano De Souza told of waiting for two hours outside Spector's home for Clarkson's expected departure, then hearing a "pow" around 5am.

Seconds later, he testified, Spector emerged holding a gun and said: "I think I killed somebody"

A defence attorney, stressing that English was De Souza's second language, tried to show the driver did not understand Spector.

But the witness remained adamant and a videotape of his interview with police showed jurors that he easily handled questions in English.

The trial has been hampered by delays after illness stuck one of the lawyers and a key defence witness was discredited.

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