Politics & Government

Appellate Court Panel Upholds Phil Spector Murder Conviction

The three-justice panel from California's 2nd District Court of Appeal rejects the imprisoned music producer's claim, alleging judicial error and prosecution misconduct.

A state appellate court upheld Phil Spector's 2009 murder conviction Monday, ruling unanimously that the 71-year-old music producer received a fair trial in the 2003 shooting death of actress and nightclub hostess Lana Clarkson, reports City News Service (CNS).

The ruling came just under three weeks after hearing arguments from Spector's appellate attorney, Dennis P. Riordan, and Deputy Attorney General Lawrence M. Daniels. 

First tried in 2007, Spector was tried again in 2009 and convicted by a Los Angeles Superior Court jury of second-degree murder. In both trials, the judges allowed prosecutors to call on victims from Spector's past. Five women testified to being victims of gun-related incidents with Spector years ago, CNS reported.

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Riordan argued April 12 that Spector's trial was prejudiced and irrelevant by those testimonies, and should not have been allowed since, as he put it, there was no evidence Spector "was ever angry" at Clarkson, CNS reported.

Riordan also argued in his appeal that certain video footage of the first trial shown to the second jury was "improper," according to CNS. The videotape depicted Judge Larry Fidler describing where on Clarkson's wrist evidence technician Jaime Lintemoot testified to seeing blood spatter.

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The three-justice panel from California's 2nd District Court of Appeal turned down the defense's claim.

"Spector claims he was unfairly prejudiced because the videotape showed the trial court's personal intervention during Lintemoot's testimony. This claim is meritless,'' Presiding Justice Joan D. Klein wrote on behalf of the panel in an 81-page ruling, according to CNS.

The justices found that the evidence was "admissible to prove that the cause of Clarkson's death had neither been an accident nor a suicide." 

Spector, 71, faces 19 years to life for the 2003 murder of 40-year-old actress Lana Clarkson. She met Spector hours before her death at the  as a VIP hostess.

The defense could ask the California Supreme Court to review the case, CNS said.

City News Service contributed to this story.


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