More on the pending Phil Spector murder trial.
As previously reported, Spector's legal team are trying to get the courts to throw out statements the legendary producer made to police shortly after actress Lana Clarkson was shot at his house on the grounds that he had been deprived the prescription drugs he was taking at the time and therefore was in not in an appropriate mental state to make any comment.
But prosecutors in the case objected to those claims on Friday. In papers filed with the court, Deputy District Attorney Douglas Sortino says that Spector started saying he had shot Clarkson by accident as soon as police arrived at the scene. He points to a testimony in the grand jury investigation into Clarkson's death in which a police officer claims that as he handcuffed Spector the producer said: "What's wrong with you guys? What are you doing? I didn't mean to shoot her. It was an accident". Those comments, of course, contradict with Spector's later defence that Clarkson used his gun to commit suicide.
Responding to Sortino's response, Spectro's defense attorney Bruce Cutler said last weekend: "Mr Spector denies he shot anyone at his house and denies he said he shot anyone. We have made motions to suppress certain statements that were not admissions and were illegally obtained."