AP News, October 3rd, 2007
Phil Spector is seeking a new legal team for his retrial on a charge of murdering actress Lana Clarkson, his attorneys told a court Wednesday.
Spector's trial ended last month when the jury deadlocked 10-to-2 with the majority favoring conviction.
At a hearing, prosecutor Alan Jackson confirmed that the district attorney's office will retry Spector, and lead defense attorney Roger Rosen announced that he will not be back for the second trial.
One member of the team, Christopher Plourd, said he will remain as counsel to Spector, at least for now.
"I'm the last man standing," Plourd said.
Spector, 67, is accused of murdering Clarkson, 40, on Feb. 3, 2003, at his Alhambra mansion.
Clarkson, most famous for the 1985 cult film "Barbarian Queen," met Spector at her job as a House of Blues hostess and went home with him after work. She died of a gunshot fired inside her mouth while seated in a foyer.
In the trial, the prosecution contended that Spector has a history of threatening women with guns when they try to leave his presence. The defense sought to show that Clarkson was depressed by career struggles and other problems and the gunshot was self-inflicted, either an accident or a suicide.
The legal team that defended Spector during the trial was his third. The first team was fired and the second resigned. He started the trial with New York attorney Bruce Cutler as lead counsel, but Cutler left before it was over.
Spector was a hit-making rock producer decades ago with a recording technique known as the "Wall of Sound."
