More graphic information at the ongoing Phil Spector murder trial yesterday, which isn't fun. In fact, it was probably the most graphic information yet. It wasn't the first time the jury had been show grim images of Lana Clarkson after she had been shot dead in Spector's Beverly Hills home, but the latest forensic expert on the witness stand went into much more detail.
Now, I should point out, I'm very squeamish, so excuse me if I don't go into too much detail here. But I can tell you the court room saw images of Clarkson's face with blood oozing from her mouth and nose, while expert Lynn Herold used words like clotting and stringy blood and blood spatter and bodily fluids while pointing at the slide show. Needless to say, Clarkson's mother and sister, in the court room, had to cover their eyes at times, the whole thing no doubt especially distressing for them.
Herold again discussed how the blood was splattered around the room where Clarkson died, adding that the blood would only splatter an area of about three feet as a result of the actual bullet impact, any other blood splatters would therefore have had to have been moved there after the event, dripping off either the gun or a cloth diaper found at the scene, or Spector himself. This contradicts claims by the defence that blood may have been splattered in a six feet radius by the gun shot itself.
Of course, even if the blood outside the three feet radius, and in the hall of Spector's mansion, got there via the gun or cloth, the inference is that Spector himself moved things in the minutes after Clarkson's death. As prosecutor Alan Jackson said yesterday: "The gun doesn't move itself, so he moved it?". To which Herold responded: "That is the inference. I'm assuming no law enforcement personnel moved it".
Herold herself didn't visit the crime scene immediately after the shooting, so is relying on photo evidence and items taken from the crime scene to form an opinion on what happened. The trial will continue today - with Herold expected to be the proseuction's final witness.
As much much previously reported, Spector is accused of shooting Clarkson at his Beverly Hills home in early 2003. Spector claims Clarkson shot herself.