REASONABLE DOUBT IN THE PHILLIP SPECTOR MURDER CASE?

Opinion, by Blogonaut

We are trying to follow the Phillip Spector retrial, except that there is little to no coverage of the Los Angeles proceedings in the main stream media.

We did, however, review some key testimony from the 2007 Spector prosecution that left two jurors holding out for not guilty until a mistrial was declared.

On June 12, 2007, CourtTV News reported that a prosecution expert, Steve Renteria, testified that he found DNA on Spector's genitals that was consistent with the genetic profile of Lana Clarkson’s saliva. Perhaps more information than we wanted to know, but still important evidence of what occurred in Spector's mansion that night.

Moreover, on June 26, 2007, defense expert Dr. Vincent DiMaio, a physician with a specialty in forensic medicine, summed up the basis for his conclusion that Lana Clarkson died from her own hand:

“She's got blood on her hands, gunshot residue on her hands, an intra-oral wound. Ninety-nine percent, it's suicide," DiMaio said.”

Now, we are not advocating for Phillip Spector’s innocence, but follow me for a minute.

Ms. Clarkson was reportedly very discouraged about her career prospects as an actress; she had not done a movie in years. She was described as despondent. Unwilling to acknowledge that her dream of stardom had faded, she went so far as to forge notes of encouragement from famous producers (“Congratulations Kid, you made it!”) and place them in her scrap book.

Out of money and (in her words) on the verge of losing everything, she took a job as a cocktail waitress while preparing for an unpaid infomercial. On the night of her death, she served Phillip Spector, who had already consumed at least 6 shots of rum earlier at Trader Vic’s, and who then switched to 151 rum straight up.

Perhaps thinking Spector might be able to jump start her career, Clarkson agreed to accompany Spector to his Alhambra estate.

We admittedly lack a woman’s perspective, but a dissipated Phil Spector, drunk on 151 rum could be fairly described as repulsive.

Yet the evidence suggests that not only did Lana Clarkson go home with him, something more occurred. If Ms. Clarkson had become as desperate as the evidence suggests, who can say for sure that she did not take her own life that night, particularly with gunshot residue and blood on her hand, and neither on Spector's hands?

But what about Spector’s driver, who Spector allegedly “confessed” to that night? The driver, Adriano DeSouza, initially told police in a taped interview, when asked to confirm if Spector confessed: “I think so. I think — I'm not sure. It's my English that — “.

DeSouza did not implicate Spector until after law enforcement promised to halt deportation proceedings then pending against the Brazilian born chauffeur.

One thing is for sure, during the first trial every thing that could go wrong for Spector’s defense, went wrong. Spector’s lead attorney walked away from the trial after giving a (some said) bizarre opening statement to tape a reality TV show. Another defense lawyer got sick. Famed blood splatter expert Dr. Henry Lee was scratched off the witness list after the trial judge found that he lost or destroyed evidence from the crime scene. And yet, two jurors held out for a not guilty verdict. Stay tuned…..