Phil Spector's Counsel: Prosecution Didn't Prove 2nd-Degree Murder Case
Updated: Following a blistering closing argument by the prosecution on Monday, the defense team representing Phil Spector had its turn the following day and said the prosecution hasn’t proved its second-degree murder case against the legendary music producer.
“It doesn’t matter how close they came. It doesn’t matter if they gave you some evidence. It doesn’t matter if they gave you a lot of evidence,” argued attorney Doron Weinberg on Spector’s behalf. “The only question is whether they proved it beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Weinberg also cautioned the jurors that they shouldn’t take his closing argument as a tacit admission of guilt, and contended that forensic evidence acquits Spector, who is now 69, of the crime, reports the L.A. Now blog of the Los Angeles Times.
As the defense closing continued for a second day on Wednesday, Weinberg also argued that a Brazilian chauffeur waiting outside Spector’s home on the night of the alleged 2003 murder misunderstood what Spector said after gunfire resounded, due to his limited English and a loudly burbling fountain nearby. The chauffeur, Adriano DeSouza, also hadn’t slept in 22 hours or eaten in 10 hours.
DeSouza testified at trial that Spector stepped outside the back door of his mansion with a gun in his bloodied hand and said “I think I killed somebody,” reports the latest L.A. Now blog post. But, Weinberg told the jury, DeSouza likely said something along the lines of “Call somebody!”
“He is confused, as you would expect anyone to be in those circumstances,” Weinberg contended.
The victim in the case, actress and restaurant hostess Lana Clarkson, 40, died in in a hallway in Spector’s Los Angeles area home. The government says he shot her; the defense, which has portrayed her as depressed over her flagging career prospects, says she shot herself. Forensic evidence shows she pulled the trigger, Weinberg argued on Tuesday.
“Phillip Spector did not kill Lana Clarkson. That’s what the evidence shows. That’s what the truth shows,” Weinberg told the jurors, recounts a KABC report on the defense closing.
Spector’s initial 2007 trial ended with a hung jury, which split 10-2 in favor of conviction, the Times blog notes. Jurors in the current trial could begin deliberating on Friday.
Earlier related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Prosecutor: Phil Spector a ‘Demonic Maniac,’ Likens Defense to Sand Dunes”
Esquire (2003): “Be My, Be My Baby: The Phil Spector Story”
Updated at 8:20 p.m. on March 25 to include information from subsequent L.A. Now post.
