SPECTOR ORAL ARGUMENTS TODAY: JUSTICE ALDRICH APPEARS HOSTILE TO SPECTOR APPEAL, KLINE SYMPATHETIC, KITCHING AN ENIGMA

Justice Aldrich of the three judge panel that will decide Spector appeal ***BREAKING NEWS***** Los Angeles, CA We asked a person attending the oral arguments in the Spector appeal this morning to email us with their impressions for the one hour hearing. Here are the highlights from our field report: Justice Aldrich took the lead in questioning by the three justice panel and appeared hostile to Spector’s grounds for appeal. According to our informant: “Justice Aldrich really pounded the appellate. He told Dennis Riordan that the cases cited in the appeal briefs didn't relate to this one.” Apparently, the major points focused on by the court were the Jaime Lintermoot and Judge Fidler testimony regarding the blood spatter, the Ewoldt case regarding the standards for admissibility of the testimony of the five women regarding prior gun brandishing incidents. Dennis Riordan was described a “passionate Presiding Justice Klein (who was appointed to the court of appeal by Jerry Brown in 1978) seemed the most sympathetic to Spector’s arguments that the testimony of the five women was prejudicial. According to our source at the hearing, Justice Kitching said very little. Our source also said:

“The AG brought up the Doctrine of Chances to which Dennis stated on rebuttal it was not admissible. He continued to point out that there was no evidence of forcing the gun, no gun in mouth, and no evidence of anger at Lana Clarkson this was in regard to Doctrine of Chances. The AG was arguing that it was only a matter of time that something like this would happen because according to these women this is what he did.”

The bottom line, according to our source:

Aldrich did ask the AG how the “doctrine of chances theory” differed from plain old character-propensity evidence, but “I would have to say based on what I observed today that Justice Aldrich is squarely on the side of the prosecution. Justice Klein though getting a little impatient with Dennis during the Lintermoot discussion, I guess she felt he was repetitive, did grill the AG on the 5 women and how highly prejudicial they were in the case and also the Doctrine of Chances. Justice Kitching said very little.