AP Features, September 6th, 2007
Phil Spector's attorney told jurors Thursday in closing arguments of the music producer's murder trial that prosecutors only presented "speculation instead of certainty" as to who pulled the trigger of the gun that was fired inside the mouth of actress Lana Clarkson.
Defense attorney Linda Kenney-Baden, who had sat through a prosecutor's hours-long attack on the defense case Wednesday, counterattacked in a summation aimed at reinforcing the contention that Spector was too far away to have fired the gun and that Clarkson killed herself.
"Finally after four years of investigation, five months of trial and approximately 70 witnesses, we now have a variety of the government's speculations as to how this could have happened," Kenney-Baden said.
"Some of them, you heard yesterday, include: The gun fell into her mouth. She was talking and he put the gun in her mouth. She screamed and he put the gun in her mouth. It even got to the point (where) a big gust of wind or an earthquake could have made the gun go off. It must have been San Andreas' fault," she said sarcastically.
Prosecutor Alan Jackson's closing argument Wednesday had repeatedly attacked the high-profile forensic experts hired by Spector, calling it a "checkbook defense."
Kenney-Baden said it was the government that had boundless resources.
"For all their talk about a checkbook defense, it is the government who has a combined budget of billions of dollars. They had every forensic tool available to them as to who fired the gun that night _ every forensic tool, every scientist, a crime lab, thousands of investigators," she said.
Before she began, Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler denied a defense motion for mistrial based on Jackson's closing argument, but he told the jury that Jackson had made some mistakes.
"Argument is very emotional" and sometimes statements are made that should not be, the judge said.
Fidler told jurors Jackson crossed the line by characterizing the defense case as having murdered or assassinated Clarkson's character. Fidler said he had deemed certain evidence about Clarkson's background to be relevant and it was therefore fair for the defense to present it.
The judge also said Jackson made an incorrect statement to the jury about physician-patient privilege in reference to Clarkson's medical records. Fidler also said the jury could not consider a suggestion that the defense and a witness "got together concerning testimony."
"There's no showing whatsoever that defense counsel asked a witness to testify untruthfully in any way," he said.
Spector, the 67-year-old producer of hit records, is accused of second-degree murder in the death of Clarkson, 40, who died of a gunshot while seated in the foyer of his home at about 5 a.m. on Feb. 3, 2003. The star of the 1985 cult film "Barbarian Queen" had gone home with Spector from her job as a nightclub hostess.
Spector remained intent on having Kenney-Baden deliver the closing summation despite warnings by the judge, who said Spector was taking a risk by having her deliver the argument because she was absent for a large part of the defense case while ill.
Kenney-Baden received criticism in Jackson's summation because her husband, forensic expert Michael Baden, testified for the defense.
Jackson suggested Baden tailored his testimony to help his wife win and suggested he and other scientific witnesses were hired guns who would say anything for money.
"You hire enough lawyers to hire enough experts. If you pay someone enough money you can get them to wear a tutu in court. You can get them to say just about anything in court," Jackson said.
Countering the defense claim that Clarkson was depressed and killed herself, Jackson ended his presentation with video excerpts from a self-produced video which Clarkson tried to use to market her talents.
"This is Lana Clarkson," announced Jackson, in the tone of an emcee introducing a star.
The video had been introduced in evidence by the defense to show how desperately Clarkson pursued fame, only to be met with rejection. Jackson showed segments emphasizing the actress' beauty and ebullience.
He also presented footage of his strongest witnesses _ the five women who spoke of Spector drinking and pulling a gun on them and the chauffeur who delivered Clarkson and Spector to his mansion on the fateful night.
After Kenney-Baden's summation for the defense, a second prosecutor, Pat Dixon, was to present the prosecution's wrap-up argument before the case goes to the jury.
