Ex-Spector Lawyer Decides To Testify
A former attorney for Phil Spector agreed Thursday to testify in his murder trial about evidence allegedly withheld by a defense expert rather than go to jail for contempt of court.
The turnabout by attorney Sara Caplan came a day after the California Supreme Court refused to hear her appeal of a contempt order issued by Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler, who had ordered her jailed to coerce her testimony.
The judge ordered her to return to court Thursday afternoon to give her testimony.
Caplan was part of an original defense team that examined the foyer of Spector's mansion where actress Lana Clarkson died from a bullet fired from a snub-nose .38-caliber revolver stuck in her mouth on Feb. 3, 2003. The defense claims Clarkson shot herself.
Her story about the possible evidence emerged unexpectedly in hearings outside the jury's presence. She said she saw famous forensic expert Henry Lee pick up a small white object the size of a fingernail at the scene and put it in a vial. Autopsy pictures of Clarkson show a small piece of acrylic fingernail missing from her right thumb.
Lee denied picking up such an item, but the judge found that Caplan was more credible and made a formal finding that Lee had removed something from the scene and never turned it over to the prosecution.
Photos: Phil Spector
Caplan claimed attorney-client privilege in refusing to repeat her testimony to the jury, but the judge said the privilege did not apply.
Lee flew to China on a business trip Tuesday and told The Associated Press it was now unlikely he would testify in the trial.
"The bottom line is I did not take a fingernail," Lee said in a phone interview Tuesday. "But they made it a smoke screen. A little thing became a big thing. What for?"
The decision by the California Supreme Court came as the defense continued to call to the stand witnesses who would support its theory that Clarkson shot herself.
Jennifer Hayes-Riedl, a friend of Clarkson, testified that the actress had hit bottom financially, professionally and personally in the weeks before she died.
"She was crying her eyes out," Hayes-Riedl said.
The witness said that during their friendship she had never seen the 40-year-old Clarkson so defeated. She said the last straw was Clarkson's decision to take a $9-an-hour job as a hostess at the House of Blues, a job she found humiliating.
"She was out of her mind depressed," said Hayes-Riedl. "She was crying as if she'd had it."
When prosecutor Pat Dixon asked if it was true Clarkson never gave up hope, Hayes-Riedl said, "I totally disagree with you.... She had a game face and she thought she could get parts. But she was very, very depressed."
Hayes-Riedl also told the jury that Clarkson knew how to handle guns.
"She worked on some movies where she had to use weapons and I know she had weapons training," Hayes-Riedl said. "I'm sure she used to go shooting at the Beverly Hills Gun Club."
Spector, 67, rose to fame in the 1960s with a recording technique known as the "Wall of Sound." Clarkson was best known for her starring role in "Barbarian Queen." Clarkson was shot after going home with Spector after the pair met at the House of Blues.