A "private life" Phil Spector and one of his lawyers, Linda Kenney Baden, arrive in court for opening statements in his trial.
Photo: AP
PHIL SPECTOR, the producer behind hit songs such as Da Doo struggling actress.
Spector, looking wan in a tan suit and purple shirt, walked his wife. Most of the time he sat impassively, his hand twitching.
He did just that, Mr Jackson said, on February 3, 2003, when he shot dead Lana Clarkson, 41, an actress and nightclub hostess he for a romantic evening.
other cult hits, Clarkson was found slumped in a chair in the house's foyer, a bullet shot through her mouth.
screen over Spector's face shot.
Spector, the prosecutor said, killed Clarkson when she resisted his advances, failed to call for help and made a "pathetic attempt" Until the death, Spector, 67, a music legend who worked with John Lennon, Ike and Tina Turner and the Rolling Stones, among others, had lived reclusively for decades.
orchestral arrangements, married to guitars and drums, powered hits in the 1960s and early 1970s and still influence artists today.
Bruce Cutler, a lawyer for Spector, told the jury in his opening and suggested that Clarkson died from a self-inflicted wound.
"The important thing is at the time of the discharge of the gun, at the time the gun was fired, Philip was not holding that gun. We'll prove that to you. She was," Mr Cutler said.
shooting was a suicide unless the prosecutor raised them first.
Spector has been known for erratic behaviour and gun play. He has been photographed pointing a gun from a car, and he also reportedly fired a pistol in a recording session with Lennon.
played the emergency call from Spector's driver, Adriano DeSouza, producer.
"Seal inspector?" the operator asked, struggling to understand.
Even when corrected, she did not seem to recognise it.
The trial, which is being televised, is expected to last two to three months.
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