Jurors see the bloodied gun in Phil Spector trial

12 April 2012

Jurors got a glimpse inside Phil Spector's castle-like mansion when prosecutors displayed pictures of the location where an actress was found shot to death.

Detective Mark Lillienfeld of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Homicide Bureau testified yesterday he spent 30 hours at the crime scene and assigned six to eight detectives to scour the 8,000-square-foot (743-square metre) home.

He showed jurors the bloody revolver found at the feet of actress Lana Clarkson and said it matched a holster in a drawer that was about five feet (1.5 metres) from the actress' body. She was found slumped in a chair on the morning of February 3, 2003.

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Phil Spector is accused of the murder of Lana Clarkson

Lillienfeld also testified the gun's ammunition was the same as bullets found in two other revolvers in the house.

Defence attorneys argue Clarkson shot herself. They were expected to suggest the gun could have belonged to her. The snub-nosed Colt Cobra revolver was not registered.

Testimony was scheduled to continue today.

Prosecutors allege Spector shot Clarkson in the mouth. Clarkson had gone home with the music producer after meeting him at the House of Blues, where she was a hostess.

Spector's briefcase was on a chair next to Clarkson's body, Lillienfeld said, adding that it contained some over-the-counter medications and a Viagra pill. There also was a DVD player with an old black-and-white movie called "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye."

Lillienfeld also pointed out the locations of 12 phones in Spector's home. Prosecutors are attempting to show that Spector could have easily called for help.

The jury has heard cell phone calls to an emergency dispatcher from the chauffeur who drove Spector and Clarkson home from the House of Blues but has not been told whether calls were made from the house phones.

Prosecutor Pat Dixon made extensive use of the bloody pictures of Clarkson's body and each time they were shown he signaled her mother and sister, seated in the front row, to look away.

Defence attorney Bradley Brunon, hoping to show evidence contamination and mishandling, showed the jurors other photos of detectives and investigators surrounding Clarkson's body, most of them barehanded.

Lillienfeld said he and others did not wear gloves because they did not touch anything.

Spector, 67, rose to fame with the hit-making "Wall of Sound" recording technique in the 1960s. Clarkson was best known for her role in the 1985 cult movie "Barbarian Queen."

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