So, Sara Caplan allowed her point of principle to fall yesterday in a bid to avoid being jailed. And I can't say I blame her.
As much previously reported, Caplan previously testified in a court session without the jury present that, as part of Phil Spector's initial defence team, she attended the legendary producer's Beverly Hills home with forensics expert Dr Henry Lee who she saw pick up and take a "small white fragment" that had been missed by police who had previously searched the premises. That fragment could, the prosecution argue, have been a piece of an acrylic fingernail, the presence of which, they also argue, might suggest some kind of struggle before actress Lana Clarkson was shot dead, backing their claim that Spector shot Clarkson, and throwing doubt on the defence's claim that Clarkson committed suicide.
Lee strongly denies taking any "fragment", but Judge Larry Paul Fidler concluded that Caplan was telling the truth. But when he then said Caplan should give her testimony to the full trial, in front of the jury, Caplan got cold feet, saying that to do so would violate the confidentiality pledge between her and her former client Spector. Fidler disagreed and held Caplan in contempt of court for refusing to testify, threatening to jail her. Caplan continued to refuse to testify until her attempts to appeal Fidler's ruling on the matter failed at the first hurdle this week (the California Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal). So yesterday she finally agreed to be questioned by the prosecution in the main court room of the Spector trial.
Clearly unhappy to be there, Caplan confirmed to the jury her previous claims about Lee, saying: "There was something white that I saw, it was about the size of my entire fingernail, and I do not know what it was. I have no idea what it was. I called Dr Lee's attention to it. He came over to it. He picked it up and put it in a vial. I do not know what happened to it. I don't remember where I saw it. I don't know what it was".
Caplan's testimony ñ favouring the prosecution, as it did - was yet another interruption in the defence's case, which was interrupted earlier in the week when the prosecution were able to call New York police detective Vincent Tannazzo, who had previously been ruled 'inadmissable' as a witness. Once they were back in the hotseat yesterday the defence called Angela Pileggi Silverstein, the sister of one of the prosecution's earlier witnesses, who said that her sibling had fabricated the story she had told the courtroom ñ of a 1991 incident when Spector had allegedly pulled a gun on her after she tried to leave his home after having dinner there.
Melissa Grosvenor's testimony was part of the prosecution's attempts to portray Spector as a gun wielding loon. But sister Silverstein says that Grosvenor fabricated the incident in order to get involved in the high profile trial, reporting that her sister had excitedly bragged about how she'd be on TV when giving her testimony. Cross-examined by the prosecution, Silverstein's own credibility was questioned, with prosecutors arguing that she was angry at her sister because she had taken her ex-husband's side in a bitter child custody dispute, and that she was, in fact, perjuring herself by making the perjury claims against her sister.
The case continues.