"It's not supposition, it's not hypothesis, it's scientific fact". So that's you told. The defence concluded their opening address at the Phil Spector murder trial yesterday, claiming that evidence from the scene of the crime will back their claim that actress Lana Clarkson was not shot by the legendary music producer, but that she shot herself.
Having begun his opening remarks on Wednesday by trying to dismiss the reliability of the witnesses the prosecution plan to present in a bid to prove that Spector had a history of violence against women, defence lawyer Bruce Cutler turned his attention yesterday to forensic evidence that he claims will prove that Spector could not have fired the gun that killed Clarkson.
He said that evidence would show that Clarkson died of a "classic self-inflicted type of injury", adding that: "There's no evidence that a gun was forced in her mouth. There were no broken teeth in. The gun was in her mouth, put there by her".
Cutler's co-defender Linda Kenney-Baden added that said evidence showed that Spector was not close enough to Clarkson at the time the gun went off for the producer to be holding it. That evidence seems to be based around the amount of gunshot residue on Clarkson after the shooting or, more importantly, the small amount of residue on Spector's clothes, and especially his gun holding right hand and arm (where there was none), which you might expect to be covered in the stuff if he was holding the gun that was in her mouth. Kenney-Baden: "It proves that this means he did not shoot that gun. He was too far away to be holding the gun and get GSR [gunshot residue] on his clothes. The science will tell you that Phil Spector was not holding the gun in the decedent's mouth, that he was [simply] not close enough. It's not supposition, it's not hypothesis, it's scientific fact".
From their opening remarks there seem to be three strands to the defence's argument. Firstly, that all the forensic type evidence favours their case. Secondly, that the police assumed Spector's guilt from the word go and therefore ignored that evidence. And thirdly, as a result, the prosecution is relying on circumstantial evidence that portrays Spector as a "sinister" man capable of murder because of the lack of evidence that he is actually guilty of it. Or something like that.
Presumably the prosecution will endeavour to throw doubt on the forensics as the trial continues (or argue that even a small amount of residue and blood spots on Spector's hands and clothes is enough to prove he was holding the gun), while in addition to pursuing their main agenda of portraying Spector as a man who "when he is confronted with the right circumstances ... turns sinister and deadly".
That said, as the trial moved on from the opening addresses yesterday they continued with that agenda, by calling one of the women who are all set to testify that they have each had run ins with a drunk, gun wielding Spector. The first was Dorothy Melvin, a former manager of Joan Rivers and ex-girlfriend of the producer, who claims that on one night in 1993 a drunk Spector brandished both a revolver and a shotgun in her direction, twice struck her on the head and then tried to make her strip at gunpoint. Describing the incident, she told the court: "I was sobbing and I said: 'Why are you doing this Phillip? Why are you doing this?' I was crying. I was terrified".
Melvin said the incident occurred after she had spent a "lovely" night at his Pasadena home in July 1993. She said Spector was charming, despite consuming nearly an entire bottle of vodka, but that after she fell asleep on a couch outside the house she was abruptly woken by Spector who was pointing a gun towards her Mercedes in the driveway, demanding to know where "she had gone". Melvin: "He took his right hand that was holding the revolver and smacked me on the side of the head, and at that point I knew I was in trouble".
Melvin says that Spector then forced her back inside, accused her of "snooping" and stealing from him, and then ordered her to strip, back-handing her in the head again when she refused. But then once she had given Spector her jacket he told her to leave. That was easier said than done because the gates to her house were closed. She said that as she agonised over what to do with the gates she "saw Phil coming down the driveway and I heard the pump of a shotgun. He was screaming, 'I told you to get the F out of here'. And I was screaming, 'The gate won't open'". She says Spector then opened the gate, letting her drive away. She then called the police who escorted her back to the premises so she could retrieve her purse.
The defence are keen to weaken these testimonies against Spector by questioning why, if these women thought Spector was a danger, they continued to keep in contact with him after the incident. Under questioning Melvin admitted that she had maintained an email relationship with the producer, and that they had seen each other in person several times since the incident, but she did point out that she ended her dating relationship with Spector straight after the gun incident, and that she had never let herself be alone with him again.
The trial will take a day off today, so is set to resume on Monday. Commentators reckon the whole proceedings could take up to three months. It remains unclear whether the reclusive Spector, who has remained pretty sombre and at times looked rather frail throughout the first two days of his trial, will be called to the stand.