Phil Spector found guilty - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Tully Mars · 04-13-2009, 02:00 PM

Quote:

LOS ANGELES — Phil Spector, the rock music impresario behind such hits such as “Da Doo Ron Ron,” “You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feeling” and “Be My Baby,” was found guilty of second-degree murder in the death of an actress at his mansion in 2003, after a night of drinking.

Mr. Spector, 69, faces a possible 25 years to life in prison. The jury reached its decision after deliberating whether one of the recording industry’s best-known producers shot the woman in a fit of anger or, as his lawyers argued, merely witnessed the woman’s suicide.

Mr. Spector, who was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, is famous for his “Wall of Sound” lush orchestrations heard on an array of hits in the 1960s and 1970s with groups like the Ronettes. He has worked with the Beatles, Tina Turner, the Rolling Stones and others but had receded from the public stage in recent years and was known as much for eccentric behavior — he has been often photographed wearing a large fright wig — as his talent.

The verdict came more than six years after the actress, Lana Clarkson, 40, was found shot to death in the foyer of Mr. Spector’s mansion in suburban Alhambra on Feb. 3, 2003.

A previous trial was ended September 2007, when a jury deadlocked 10 to 2 in favor of conviction.

The decision was a victory for Los Angeles prosecutors who have endured high-profile defeats in celebrity murder trials, including the acquittals of O.J. Simpson and the actor Robert Blake.

Mr. Spector, who had been free on $1 million bail, was accused of shooting to death Ms. Clarkson, an aspiring actress best-known for a starring role in the 1985 cult hit “Barbarian Queen” and a bit part in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” in 1982.

She was working as a hostess at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip when Mr. Spector visited the nightclub, struck up a conversation and eventually took her out drinking.

They ended up at his Alhambra mansion, known as “the Castle,” but when she spurned his advances and tried to leave he put a gun in her mouth and fired, prosecutors said.

They argued that this fit a long pattern of Mr. Spector’s drinking and threatening women with guns over several years, and they presented testimony from several of them.

Mr. Spector, they said, essentially confessed when he emerged from the home, gun in hand, and told his limousine driver, “I think I killed somebody.” Mr. Spector retreated into the house and in the prosecution’s view, took steps to cover up the crime.

The defense disputed the case on several fronts, including the account of the limousine driver, Adriano DeSouza.

They noted that he was a Brazilian immigrant not fully proficient in English and said he may have misquoted Mr. Spector, who they suggested may actually have been telling him to “call somebody.” A gurgling fountain nearby and the driver’s fatigue and hunger from working all night may have added to confusion, they told jurors.

The defense suggested that Ms. Clarkson was handling the gun when it discharged. They said she was despondent over her lackluster career and finances and decided to take her own life.

They supported their case with scientific evidence they believed questioned the prosecution’s sequence of events.

NYT Story here

Wow! A Hollywood type was found guilty of something.

Anyone else surprised? I kind of figured he'd get another mistrial.

Glory's Sun · 04-13-2009, 02:10 PM

I dunno..

I watched some of the first trial that ended and something just didn't add up on either side. The prosecutions argument was off and the defense was hiding something .. of course I didn't have access to everything but what I did see was just off.

I'm sure the appeal process has already begun.

uncle phil · 04-13-2009, 02:34 PM

waste of talent...

the man broke music barriers back then...

sad...

sourgirl · 04-14-2009, 04:59 AM

That guy is one crazy person. I heard stories of him pulling guns on women before. He also did a LOT of cocaine. That stuff can permanently damage your brain.

The_Jazz · 04-14-2009, 05:09 AM

Greatest. Celebrity. Mugshot. EVAR.

Phil Spector: He's A Jailbird - April 13, 2009

little_tippler · 04-14-2009, 05:50 AM

I just read about this and it seems like he got his comeuppance, great music genius or not.

biznatch · 04-14-2009, 06:04 AM

Yeah, just finished reading this over at BBC. I wish someone could explain better than BBC what the Wall of Sound recording technique is.
Other than music, I don't care much, except for the fact that a celeb did get convicted, that's a good sign.
We should have a predictions/nets thread, where we predict which celeb will commit what crime next.

04-13-2009, 02:34 PM	#3 (permalink)
uncle phil comfortably numb... Super Moderator Location: upstate	waste of talent... the man broke music barriers back then... sad... __________________ "We were wrong, terribly wrong. (We) should not have tried to fight a guerrilla war with conventional military tactics against a foe willing to absorb enormous casualties...in a country lacking the fundamental political stability necessary to conduct effective military and pacification operations. It could not be done and it was not done." - Robert S. McNamara ----------------------------------------- "We will take our napalm and flame throwers out of the land that scarcely knows the use of matches... We will leave you your small joys and smaller troubles." - Eugene McCarthy in "Vietnam Message" ----------------------------------------- never wrestle with a pig. you both get dirty; the pig likes it.

04-14-2009, 04:59 AM	#4 (permalink)
sourgirl Upright Location: Los Angeles	That guy is one crazy person. I heard stories of him pulling guns on women before. He also did a LOT of cocaine. That stuff can permanently damage your brain. __________________ The statement below is true. The statement above is false.

04-14-2009, 05:09 AM	#5 (permalink)
The_Jazz Asshole Administrator Location: Chicago	Greatest. Celebrity. Mugshot. EVAR. Phil Spector: He's A Jailbird - April 13, 2009 __________________ "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - B. Franklin "There ought to be limits to freedom." - George W. Bush "We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo

04-14-2009, 05:50 AM	#6 (permalink)
little_tippler Leaning against the -Sun- Super Moderator Location: on the other side	I just read about this and it seems like he got his comeuppance, great music genius or not. __________________ Whether we write or speak or do but look We are ever unapparent. What we are Cannot be transfused into word or book. Our soul from us is infinitely far. However much we give our thoughts the will To be our soul and gesture it abroad, Our hearts are incommunicable still. In what we show ourselves we are ignored. The abyss from soul to soul cannot be bridged By any skill of thought or trick of seeming. Unto our very selves we are abridged When we would utter to our thought our being. We are our dreams of ourselves, souls by gleams, And each to each other dreams of others' dreams. Fernando Pessoa, 1918

04-14-2009, 06:04 AM	#7 (permalink)
biznatch Junkie Location: France	Yeah, just finished reading this over at BBC. I wish someone could explain better than BBC what the Wall of Sound recording technique is. Other than music, I don't care much, except for the fact that a celeb did get convicted, that's a good sign. We should have a predictions/nets thread, where we predict which celeb will commit what crime next. __________________ Check it out: The Open Source/Freeware/Gratis Software Thread

04-13-2009, 02:10 PM	#2 (permalink)
Glory's Sun Registered User	I dunno.. I watched some of the first trial that ended and something just didn't add up on either side. The prosecutions argument was off and the defense was hiding something .. of course I didn't have access to everything but what I did see was just off. I'm sure the appeal process has already begun.