All of the delays and maneuvering could only prolong the inevitable: in an indictment unsealed today, Phil Spector was charged with murder in the shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson at his home last year:

Spector, 64, leaned on the arm of his attorney as the indictment in the slaying of 40-year-old Lana Clarkson was read, but showed no emotion. Outside court, he railed at prosecutors, comparing District Attorney Steve Cooley to Adolf Hitler.

"The actions of the Hitler-like DA and his storm trooper henchmen are reprehensible, unconscionable and despicable," said Spector, who remains free on $1 million bail.

He spoke only briefly in court, answering, "Yes, your honor," to Judge David S. Wesley's questions. Lesley set Dec. 16 as the earliest possible trial date.

....If he had been allowed a preliminary hearing, Spector said, his attorneys would have called to the witness stand three of the foremost forensic scientists and coroners in the world and each would have testified that Clarkson shot herself.

Prosecutors avoided a preliminary hearing by taking the case directly to a grand jury, which returned the indictments.

District attorney spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said that was done in part to avoid any further delay in bringing Spector to trial for the Feb. 3, 2003, shooting.

"It's been almost two years since Ms. Clarkson was killed in Mr. Spector's home and it's time for a trial," she said. "We believe there is a crime. We charged a crime. And that crime is murder. Nothing is politically motivated in this case."

Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty. Spector could receive a life sentence with the possibility of parole if convicted. [AP]

Obviously Spector thinks this is about him, but it isn't, it's about a young woman, Lana Clarkson, whom he apparently shot to death in the foyer of his Alhambra faux-castle.

Let's take another look at Clarkson and the events of February 3, 2003:

Lana Clarkson, a moderately successful B movie hottie moving into middle age, had recently begun working at the Sunset Strip House of Blues as a ticket taker and hostess in an effort to get her career back on track. AP writes:

"She wasn't thrilled to have people from the industry see her doing that, but she thought it was a good step to get back into the mainstream," said her neighbor, Paul Pietrewicz. "It wasn't exactly what she wanted to do, but she thought she could meet the right person."

Which was apparently not Phil.

Police think legendary rock producer Phil Spector murdered a B-movie actress in the foyer of his hilltop home just hours after meeting her at the Sunset Strip blues club where she worked as a hostess, sources said on Tuesday.
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