Facing the music

By the time attorney Bruce Cutler -- famous for representing the likes of John Gotti and associates -- presented himself to the Spector jury, the icon of rock had fired a few lawyers and hired some more, all to argue his central claim: the state could not prove he killed Lana Clarkson because she did it herself.

Cutler: I'm not suggesting to you and I'm not saying the evidence will indicate to you that this was a suicide, but a self-inflicted gunshot wound, ladies and gentlemen, can be an accidental suicide.

But to persuade the jury of that, Cutler and the rest of the defense team would have to surmount some rather inconvenient evidence, such as this:

(police video in court)
Adriano DeSouza: He had a gun, in the front. And he... he told me, like I - "I think I killed somebody."

That's the driver, Adriano DeSouza, telling the cops he heard Spector say "I think I killed somebody." The defense strategy? Question DeSouza's reliability as an accurate reporter. English wasn't his first language and he admitted he had fallen asleep.

Cutler: And that awakening from a deep sleep, he was able to be startled enough and to hear those five fatal words: I think I killed somebody. I think I killed somebody. I think somebody is killed. Or maybe he didn't hear anything.

And, said the defense, there was noise from that fountain by Spector's house that might have drowned out Spector anyway.

Prosecution: You think you might have gotten those words wrong?
DeSouza: No, the the words that I heard that like were clear

The strategy wasn't working terribly well. So, was what you're about to hear a legal Hail Mary pass? If it was, it bombed.

Question: Can you describe Mr. Spector's voice?
Answer: I'm not good with describe stuff, sir. Voice? You want me to uh like, to talk like him?
Question: Well, that's one way.
Answer: (in a nasally voice he impersonates Spector) "Adriano, Adriano go to the grill in the alley." That's what it was. Like that. (courtroom laughs)
Prosecutor: I would object but he asked for it.

If that were the entire defense, Phil Spector would have a big problem.

But that was just a sideshow compared to the rest of the defense.

The prosecution had claimed the fine blood spatter on Spector's white jacket proved he was so close to Lana when the gun went off that he must have pulled the trigger.

But that, said a small army of defense forensic experts, was not necessarily true at all.

The spots on the jacket proved nothing, they said, because blood could travel quite a distance.

DiMaio: If you give it more energy will go three feet or four feet.

Werner Spitz: They can go six feet.

Stuart James: There's simply a wide variation … anywhere from there up to five or six feet.

Famed pathologist Michael Baden came to say the blood on Spector's jacket would have landed on the right side not on the left where it was found if he shot her.

And in an eleventh hour epiphany, after he'd been on the case over four years, since the day Lana died, Baden suddenly realized that she did not die instantly but was alive and was breathing for perhaps four minutes.

Question: If there's an injury to the area of the mouth, and blood, does blood ever get expirated from the mouth?
Baden: Surely. Once there is blood in the cranial in the oral cavity, as we breathe out, some of that blood uh will come out out of the mouth or nose.

Could Phil Spector have been coming to Lana's aid, when that blood came out of her mouth, and sprayed his jacket?

But how could the gun have wound up under Lana's leg if Spector didn't plant it there himself? After all, the driver had seen him holding the gun after the shooting.

Well, there was a simple answer to that, too, said the defense.

Defense opening: By the time these pictures are taken of where the gun is there was what's called a take-down of Phillip by several police officers … god knows what got kicked or moved or whatever in the take down.

A take down? That's right. When police arrived, and Spector put his hands in his pockets instead of over his head, they tackled and Tasered him.

Question: All officers, the four officers, now entered in kind of a rush, is that right?
Police officer: It was a controlled rush, yes.

The defense even brought the jury on a tour of The Castle.

The idea was that they would see for themselves the small entry way -- that they'd see how easy it would be for a gun to go flying during a police take down. But the key to Spector's defense was Lana Clarkson herself.

The defense never explained how Phil Spector's gun ended up in Lana Clarkson's hand. But it was there they insisted. And suddenly the thing on trial seemed to be Lana's frame of mind.

Defense: Was she acting recklessly because of her history?

Her history?

Well, there was her moribund career. Going nowhere.

And, she'd taken a bad fall in 2001, broke both of her wrists, couldn't work for nearly a year, and was still on a strong pain killer Vicadin.

She had to be depressed, suggested the defense. They had her emails that said so and she'd been fired from a play. She was also dumped by a man, said this friend…

Friend: She was very, very upset about it.
Question: Was she depressed over it?
Friend: Yes, extremely.

That was just a month before her death.

Depressed about men and work.

And drinking, claimed the woman whose name is Punkin Pie. And though she was taking the stand for the defense, she insisted...

Punkin Pie: She was my very best friend in the whole wide world.

Ms. Pie gave her profession as club promoter. She came with pictures which the defense showed as evidence of parties with Lana.

Defense attorney: At the time of this birthday party did Lana drink tequila?
Punkin Pie: Yes.

She smiled for the cameras, but Hollywood was simply not being kind to Lana Clarkson. Like the night, a few weeks before she died, said Pie, when she approached a big time movie director who she'd once worked with.

Pie: She said Michael Bay just dissed me. He didn't know who I was. And she was crying and very upset.
Roger Rosen: Did she say something else to you?
Pie: She said I'm really sick of the people in this town, I hate this town and I hate the people in it and I don't want to be here anymore.

Then, less than a week before she died…

Punkin Pie (crying): She called me at home and she was bawling, crying uncontrollably and she said "Pie, I can't take it anymore." She said "I don't want to live, live any more, I don't want to be in this town. I want to end it."

Then, in a risky move, the defense put Lana Clarkson's mother on the stand.

Question: I'm going to ask you if uh, have you seen those three letters before?
Mother: Yes.

Lana, desperate for work, claimed the defense, had forged supportive letters from industry executives. They wanted Lana's mother to confirm she'd found the letters.

Question: You found those in Lana Clarkson's residence, did you?
Mother: Yes.

Would the jury think the defense had been cruel to a grieving mother?

Question: When was the last time you spent time with Lana, before she died?
Mother: February 2. Sunday.

It was, said the defense, a depressed and suicidal Lana Clarkson whose unhappy life ended in the entryway of Phil Spector's castle full of drinks and Vicodin. And with the solution, a gun, finally in her hand.

Not Phil's doing. Not at all.

MORE FROM PHIL SPECTOR TRIAL

Phil Spector trial Section Front

Judge declares mistrial in Spector case Facing the music: Phil Spector on trial Photos: Evidence from Phil Spector's house Photos: Life and death of Lana Clarkson Spector jury will not consider lesser charge Criminalist: No Spector DNA on gun Spector trial highlights actresses’ vulnerability Spector defense targets evidence collection Spector Denies Killing Actress in Video Spector told driver, ‘I think I killed somebody’ Phil Spector trial Section Front   Add Phil Spector trial headlines to your news reader: