Yesterday in Los Angeles, Superior Court Judge Larry P. Fidler ruled that prosecutors can introduce evidence in Phil Spector's upcoming murder trial suggesting a long "history of threatening women" before he was charged with killing actress Lana Clarkson in his Alhambra home over two years ago.
Deputy District Attorney Doug Sortino argued that Spector, 64, used guns to threaten or intimidate people in "an ongoing course of conduct that happens again and again and again," and the judge concluded that allowing the evidence was "a dangerous path to go down" but that four incidents that allegedly occurred between 1988 and 1995 were sufficiently suggestive to be allowed.
In grand jury testimony last year, Melissa Grovesnor claimed she was visiting Spector one evening in 1991, but when she told him she wanted to return to her hotel room, she said Spector pointed a gun at her head, yelled and swore and forced her to spend the night in a chair.
The three other incidents involve Stephanie Jennings (photographer, said Spector confronted her in a hotel room in 1995, then returned with a gun and sat in a chair in front of the door), Dianne Ogden (dated Spector, became a personal assistant in 1988, said Spector pointed a handgun at her when she went back home with him after a dinner date, chased her with an assault rifle after a dinner party a few weeks later), and Dorothy Melvin (romantically involved with Spector around 1990 - she woke at his home to find him pointing a handgun at her new car, then pointed the weapon at her, accused her of "snooping and stealing" and told her to leave).
The Dark Spector
Spector — the boy-genius songwriter and producer who created the fabled "Wall of Sound" in the '60s working with the Crystals, Darlene Love, the Ronettes, the Righteous Brothers — pleaded not guilty to the murder of B-movie star Lana Clarkson, who was shot in the face at close range in the foyer of Spector's Alhambra mansion.
Spector told Esquire magazine last June that Clarkson had shot herself after "kissing" the gun. Nonetheless, the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office ruled that the statuesque blonde, whom Spector met at the House of Blues before taking her to his home, was a victim of homicide. According to police reports on the case, Spector told his chauffeur, "I think I killed somebody," shortly after Clarkson's death. He is free on $1 million bail.
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Article comments
1 - HW Saxton
That is one HELL of a fro that Phil is
sporting these days. His hair is bigger
than all three of The Ronettes hairdo's
put together.
I have no idea whether or not Phil S. is
innocent but his PAST behavior does not
fare well for his FUTURE trial. I hope
not as I really LOVE a lot of his music
and this will sadly taint that for me if
it's so.I know that it shouldn't but yet
it still will.
2 - Eric Olsen
I share your admiration for his work, HW, and am very sad about this all the way around - it doesn't look good for him. Either it was suicide or he did it, and no one seems to buy the suicide claim.
3 - Jeffery Haas
We wont know till the evidence comes out about Phil, but many of the "gun stories" are true, so yeah, it doesn't look to good for him.
It's always a sorry sight to behold someone whose reaction to fame and fortune is withdrawal into an inner world where the only voices they hear are imaginary, and sad to say this was Phil's own self-induced exile.
He made his own choice in becoming a recluse.
I will always admire his landmark work and I continue to hold out hope that he is innocent.
But is he sane? That's anyone's guess.....have to ask the tiny handful that knew him well, and it's a tiny handful indeed. I wish I knew Leon Russell's opinion of the situation.
4 - Eric Olsen
good points Jeffery, thanks, and no I don't think he is sane in the sense of able to function in society
5 - Vacuity's Bane
Its a deffinite fact that spector pulled a gun on Dee Dee Ramone.
6 - uao
Just as a little aside:
A "small house" in Venice will easily set you back about a million dollars. A smaller bungalow will still set you back $600,000+ More, if you live on the canals.
So B-actress or not, Clarkson wasn't starving; those comic conventions must bring in some coin.
It is a horrible shame about what happened to Spector; with the possible exception of Gary Glitter, few have climbed so high only to ultimately disgrace themselves so much.
HW Saxton says it will change the way he hears Spector. I suppose it will for me too, although I long ago learned to separate good music from the pricks who make it.
And Vacuity's Bane is right; the story of Spector pulling a gun on the Ramones has been around for many years.
John Lennon was scared of him by 1974, when he fired him from producing Lennon's Rock And Roll album; he told the story of trying to get the tapes back from Spector many times.
7 - Rodney Welch
Supposedly, he fired a gun when Lennon was in a soundproof booth, causing the ex-Betle to throw off his headphones and yell the immortal words: "Phil, if you wanna kill me, kill me, but don't mess with me fuckin' ears -- I need `em!"
I'm a huge Spector fan. The whole business is very sad and no, it doesn't look good for him.
8 - Bliffle
I thought Spector was redundant at best: his musicians deserved better and his egregious embellishments don't have legs.
9 - Rodney Welch
If they don't have legs, then nothing has legs and nothing, sadly, ever will. Forty years down the road, Spector's cornball hymns to young love still sound fresh and dynamic. You can't argue with "Be My Baby," "River Deep, Mountain High," "He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss)," the extraordinarily moving "Black Pearl," "You've Lost That Loving Feeling," "Walking in the Rain," or his spectacular Christmas album.