Phil Spector's Murder Conviction Upheld

Los Angeles - A state appellate court panel today upheld record producer Phil Spector's murder conviction for the shooting death of actress and nightclub hostess Lana Clarkson in the foyer of his Alhambra mansion eight years ago.

The three-justice panel from California's 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected the defense's claim that jurors should not have heard the accounts of five women who contended they were involved in gun-related incidents with the music industry figure between 1975 and 1995 -- years before Clarkson's Feb. 3, 2003, death.

"The evidence showed that, when fueled by alcohol and faced with a lack or loss of control over a woman who was alone with him and in whom he had a romantic or sexual interest, Spector underwent a sharp mood swing, exhibited extreme anger and threatened the woman with a gun when she refused to do his bidding," Presiding Justice Joan D. Klein wrote on behalf of the panel in an 81-page ruling.

The justices found that the evidence was "admissible to prove that the cause of Clarkson's death had neither been an accident nor a suicide."

The appeals court panel also rejected Spector's contention that there was prosecutorial misconduct during the closing arguments of his trial, which resulted in his second-degree murder conviction in April 2009.

The first jury to hear the case against him deadlocked 10-2 in favor of guilt in September 2007.

"Spector contends the prosecution committed misconduct during closing argument by impugning the honesty and integrity of defense counsel and the defense experts. There is no merit to this claim," Klein wrote, with Associate Justices Patti S. Kitching and Richard D. Aldrich concurring.

Additionally, the appellate panel turned down the defense's claim that it was improper for the jury to have been shown a videotape of Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler describing in the first trial where criminalist Jaime Lintemoot testified that she had seen blood spatter on Clarkson's hands.

"Spector claims he was unfairly prejudiced because the videotape showed the trial court's personal intervention during Lintemoot's testimony. This claim is meritless," Klein wrote.

The appellate court panel's ruling came just under three weeks after it heard arguments from Spector's appellate attorney, Dennis P. Riordan, and Deputy Attorney General Lawrence M. Daniels.

Riordan could not be reached for immediate comment on the ruling.

The defense could ask the California Supreme Court to review the case.

Clarkson and Spector had met for the first time, hours before her death, at the House of Blues in West Hollywood, where the 40-year-old actress had recently begun working as a VIP hostess.

Spector has maintained that he did not kill Clarkson. He is renowned in music circles for the "Wall of Sound" technique he developed in the 1960s and used in his work with the Beatles, the Righteous Brothers and other groups and for writing or co-writing such enduring hits as "Be My Baby" and "River Deep, Mountain High."

Clarkson had a starring role in the 1985 Roger Corman cult film "Barbarian Queen" and bit parts on dozens of television shows and in a few well-known movies, such as 1982's "Fast Times at Ridgemont High."