A former girlfriend of Phil Spector, one of the exs who testified against the legendary producer with a tale of how he once held her at gun point, has said she is "over the moon" about this week's verdict in his murder trial. As previously reported, Spector was found guilty of murder on Monday and now faces 15 years plus in prison.
Devra Robitaille was a prosecution witness at both Spector trials. She worked for Spector's record label in the mid-seventies, and says that one night when she tried to leave the producer's home after a party he forbid her from leaving and pointed a gun to her head to reinforce his point. The prosecution said that Robitaille's testimony, and other similar stories provided by other former girlfriends of the producer, proved that Spector had a "long history of gun-related violence directed at women". That, they argued, suggested Spector was holding the gun that killed actress Lana Clarkson that night in 2003, and even if he never intended to shoot any of the women he pointed guns at, such reckless behaviour was bound to end in tragedy.
Recalling her time in the witness stand, and the media coverage of her testimony, Robitaille told WENN: "I've got a daughter. She's only 15; when we first started this dance , I think she was 12 or 13. That's what kept me co-operating, the thought that anybody would do anything like that to her. It's an outrage and it can't be condoned and it must not slip through the cracks. That's what's motivated me all the way through. I got into a lot of trouble on the stand for talking to the press. I was humiliated and dragged through the mud and made to look like some stupid schmuck... but I stand by my convictions. I talked because I thought that the truth should come out and people should know".
Commenting on Spector's conviction, she continued: "I'm over the moon with the verdict. It's symbolic that people can't get away with it, and the fancy footwork of the lawyers doesn't always mask the truth. I think Alan Jackson and his crowd should really be commended. They were awesome. They were all true gentlemen".
Elsewhere in random post-verdict Spector quotes, James Walsh from Starsailor, the last band to ever work with the producer (and ever likely to now, unless there's a prison band in need of some production guidance), has been recalling his time working with the man. Starsailor recorded two tracks with Spector just before Clarkson's death.
Walsh: "Recording with Phil Spector was an amazing experience at the time. I had grown up with 'Imagine' and was just getting into the brilliant 'Born To Be With You' when we got the call. The two tracks, 'Silence Is Easy' and 'White Dove,' were recorded in the first week of working with him. He then returned to LA and came back to England some weeks later a different character. The outgoing, charismatic producer we had met previously had become withdrawn and hard to communicate with. We persevered as long as we could out of respect for the man and his reputation, but we had to call it a day after a while. Some weeks later, while the album was being mixed, we heard he had been arrested for murder. It is hard for me to pass judgement on whether he is guilty or innocent. We certainly never saw an aggressive side to him while we worked with him, but like everybody else, we do not know exactly what went on inside that house".