Features
Spector Hates Everyone
“The alternative is allowing the jury to believe Mr. Spector hates women and women only,” Spector’s lawyer, Doron Weinberg said, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Spector is accused of killing actress Lana Clarkson at his Southern California mansion Feb. 3, 2003. Clarkson was killed by a gunshot to her mouth by a revolver that revealed no fingerprints.
The defense says it was self-inflicted by accident or suicide. After meeting for about 44 hours over 12 days, the jury deadlocked 10-2 in favor of convicting him and a mistrial was declared in September 2008.
During the retrial that began a month ago, Dorothy Melvin, who dated Spector for four years in the 1990s and was Joan Rivers’ manager at the time, was called to the witness stand. Melvin testified Spector once pistol-whipped her when they were dating and said there were two instances when the producer waved guns at men. In one situation, Spector allegedly threatened a man in a stairwell at Rivers’ Christmas party.
During the second day of testimony, Melvin told of another instance when Spector became outraged when a group of fans in Manhattan mistook him for Dudley Moore.
Spector is alleged to have pulled a gun on the group and chased them down the street, screaming and yelling.
“The expletives and the gun-waving are like conversational exclamation points for emphasis, but not intended to do harm,” Weinberg said, according to the Los Angeles Times. “The point is he has never fired a gun at a living being.”
If convicted of second-degree murder, Spector faces a minimum of 18 years in prison.
Meanwhile, Ramones drummer Marky Ramone told NME that there was no truth to a longstanding story that Spector held the band at gunpoint. The story goes that some of the Ramones were at Spector’s house during the recording sessions for End of the Century when Spector brandished a gun and told band members who were there not to leave.
“There were no guns pointed at anybody,” Ramone told NME. “He never held us hostage. We could have left at any time. We had the keys.”