PHIL SPECTOR FACES THE MUSIC | New York Post
PHIL SPECTOR FACES THE MUSIC
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April 13, 2009 | 9:30pm
Phil Spector was found guilty today of second degree murder in the death of actress Lana Clarkson, more than six years after cops found the actress fatally shot in the music man’s foyer.
Judge Larry Paul Fidler ordered Spector to be put into custody immediately.
The music industry legend is expected to be sentenced on May 29th.
Spector — the 69-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Fame artist who rose to prominence with his unique “Wall of Sound” production technique — faces 25 years to life behind bars for Clarkson’s slaying.
The Los Angeles jury of seven men and five women had been deliberating since March 26.
Cops in Alhambra, Calif., found the blonde beauty slumped over in a chair inside Spector’s castle-like mansion in the early morning hours of Feb. 3, 2003.
Clarkson, best known for her “Barbarian Queen” movies, died from a single bullet fired into her mouth.
The struggling actress had just taken a hostess job at the House of Blues nightclub and met Spector hours earlier inside the Sunset Strip hotspot’s VIP room.
Clarkson, 40, accepted a chauffeured ride back to Spector’s home that late Night just before her death.
Spector’s first trial ended with no verdict on Sept. 26, 2007, when the jury deadlocked, 10-2, in favor of conviction for murder.
Buo yed by that near conviction, LA prosecutors took another shot at Spector but gave themselves an out.
Jurors could have considered a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter, which carried a 14-year prison sentence, had they not found him guilty of murder.
Spector’s defense in both trials painted Clarkson as a desperate, failing actress, who ate the music man’s .38 Special rather than face another cruel day in Tinseltown.
But jurors clearly rejected that characterization and believed prosecutors, who showed Spector’s proclivity for fire arms and anger against women.
Five women — four in person, one on video tape — from Spector’s past testified with shockingly similar details about the mad maestro pulling guns on them, when they wouldn’t obey.
Spector was also done in by his chauffeur, Adriano DeSouza, who vividly recalled Spector standing in the mansion doorway, gun in hand, announcing: “I think I killed somebody.”
Clarkson’s slaying and ensuing trial brought a sad coda to one of the most remarkable careers in modern music history.
Spector’s producing credits include songs like “Be My Baby” and “Da Doo Ron Ron” and Beatles albums “Let It Be” and “Concert for Bangladesh.”
Spector was also one of his generation’s great song writers, having penned classics like “You’ve Lost that Lovin9 9 Feeling,” “Walking In The Rain,” “River Deep, Mountain High,” “Just Once In My Life,” and “To Know Him Is To Love Him.”
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