The biggest celebrity court case since OJ Simpson got the idea for his latest book got underway yesterday in Los Angeles, as Phil Spector stands trial for the murder of B-movie actress Lana Clarkson – and, yes, the lesbian haircut is completely intact.
Opening statements at the Phil Spector murder trial started yesterday, and it was pretty much the place to be for anyone who likes to see pictures of actresses with their mouths blown off by gunshot wounds, hear confused old men being described as "sinister and deadly" and get strangely excited that Keith Richards might be called up as a character witness at some point in time.
As of yesterday, legendary music producer Phil Spector is officially standing trial for the murder of Lana Clarkson, who died of a gunshot wound to the mouth in Phil Spector's LA castle in 2003. It took a slow, careful investigation for the coroner to decide that Clarkson's death was a homicide, it took several delays to actually get the murder trial to court and, most importantly, it took months for Phil Spector to find a haircut that made him look like a friendly lesbian instead of a potential murderer.
Already the odds have been stacked against Phil Spector – the trial is being televised, meaning that the public will make their own decisions regardless of the verdict, plus the testimonies of all the women who Phil Spector also pulled guns on will be difficult obstacles to cross – especially as several potential jurors already think that Phil Spector is guilty.
But now that the Phil Spector murder trial is underway, it's down to the all-star prosecution and defence teams to convince the gang of blokes that make up the jury that Phil Spector either did it or didn't do it. Yesterday saw the opening statements for the prosecution and, as The Times reports, it was a bit of a doozy:
Pacing before the jury — while Spector sat in a white suit and wide-collared purple shirt, his head slumped, hands clasped on his lap — [lawyer Alan] Jackson described the defendant as a man who, “when confronted with the right circumstances, turns sinister and deadly”. Mr Jackson added: “To understand why Philip Spector would have done what he did, you’re going to be introduced to the defendant’s very rich history of violence, a history of violence against women, a history of violence involving guns. You’re going to be introduced to the real Philip Spector.”
Today it's the turn of the defence, headed by John Gotti's old lawyer Bruce Cutler – who'll be expected to set out the claim that Lana Clarkson's death was an accidental suicide – to make an opening statement.
And that bit about Keith Richards taking the stand? That's the rumour so far. Yoko Ono too, although whether they'll be appearing as prosecution or defence witnesses is as yet unknown, since we aren't sure if the words of a dad-snorting relic with a hole in his brain and the second-most hated Beatle wife will be a good thing for Phil Spector or not.
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