It's coming to the part of the Phil Spector murder trial where the jury will have to stop listening to stories about how Phil Spector hates all women and decide if Phil Spector murdered Lana Clarkson or not – and nothing else.
Phil Spector's defence team has persuaded the court to kill the possibility that Phil Spector could be convicted of a lesser crime, like voluntary or involuntary manslaughter. That means the jury will only be able to consider Phil Spector's guilt of second-degree murder after the trial's closing statements next week. So, is Phil Spector guilty of murder or not? This is all turning out to be a bit like Deal Or No Deal, isn't it? Only a version of Deal Or No Deal where the result is decided by listening to several months of scientific evidence about an old man with lesbian hair instead of the random opening of some boxes as presided over by a beardy bloke who pulls inappropriate spaz-faces a lot and hears voices in his head.
As the Phil Spector murder trial draws to its inevitable close, the jury will be asking itself a lot of questions about what they've witnessed over the last few months. How relevant was it that several women testified about Phil Spector holding guns to their heads, or that Phil Spector once yelled that all women were "fucking cunts" who deserved to be shot? And what about blood spatter? Would Phil Spector be covered in Lana Clarkson's blood if she stood two feet away from him and shot herself in the mouth, or six feet? And, perhaps most importantly, when the jury sat in Phil Spector's chair and pretended to be dead, did they feel murdered or suicided?
And that's just the tip of the iceberg – the Phil Spector murder trial jurors' heads are are full of Lana Clarkson's ghosts and DNA-splattered boobies and shoes and Michael Bay and Elmer Fudd, too – so if anything the jury members should be grateful that Phil Spector's defence wants to limit their choices to second-degree murder and nothing else. And, as the Los Angeles Times reports, that's what has happened:
Jurors can consider only one charge — second-degree murder — when they decide whether legendary music producer Phil Spector shot and killed an actress he took home to his mansion more than four years ago. Finalizing the instructions that will be presented to the jury, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler concluded Wednesday that the evidence presented at trial did not allow the 12 men and women deciding Spector's fate to consider a lesser charge of voluntary or involuntary manslaughter.
It's a strange choice, we'll admit – given Phil Spector's extensive history of holding guns to people's heads without ever actually killing any of them, voluntary or involuntary manslaughter sort of sounds about right – but it's thought that limiting the jury to choosing between guilty of second-degree murder or not guilty of second-degree murder may push the jury's decision slightly towards the direction of not guilty, sparing Phil Spector anything between 15 years in jail to a life sentence; even though, at 67, 15 years is mostly a life sentence anyway.
So let's call this decision a smart move on the part of Phil Spector's lawyers. Once the jury has forgotten about all the forensic proof, the near impossibility of Lana Clarkson – an attractive woman – shooting herself in the mouth sitting down with her handbag on hours after buying several pairs of shoes and Phil Spector's murder confession, they'll be sure to find Phil Spector innocent of all charges.
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Kelley Lynch says
I know Phil Spector and I believe he is completely innocent. Lots of tale fish tales involved with Phil Spector.
Internet Pedant says
Well, I’m convinced.
ha-dooou-ken! says
Him and OJ will probably start a club if he’s found not guilty.
TameTheShrew says
Kelley Lynch: I know Phil Spector and I believe he is completely innocent. Lots of tale fish tales involved with Phil Spector.
Right, this from the woman who stole $5 million from Leonard Cohen and was ordered to pay it back by a California judge. You’d make the perfect character witness for Phil. With friends like you, who needs enemies.
Kelley Lynch says
Well, the IRS Commissioner’s Staff is involved, I met with agents from the Department of the Treasury, and I’m waiting for Bruce Cutler to represent me. Boies Schiller was able to figure out that Cohen owes me millions and not vice versa. My advisers were able to figure out Cohen and his advisers had dragged me into criminal tax fraud – and, I have witnesses that Cohen offered me 50% of his community property to lie and say his advisers defrauded me. Actually, Boies Schiller suggested that I have the LA "DA" wire me when I went to meet with Cohen’s advisers. The reason I didn’t enter an appearance or participate in Cohen’s fraud lawsuit: because 1) I don’t participate in tax fraud; and, 2) I was never served the lawsuit. Also, I was dragged to King Drew by LAPD and questioned about Phil Spector and involuntarily drugged. Beyond that, I could care less what you think. Who do you know and what’s your evidence?
And yes, I’ll be suing Cohen and his advisers for slander.
Kelley Lynch
Laurie says
Boies Schiller aside, I’m sure lots of people would be interested in hearing what Kelley Lynch did with Leonard Cohen’s money.
Kelley Lynch says
I personally think Larry Fidler should lose his job over these two trials. His jury instructions in the first trial were deranged and delusional, changed the minds of the jurors, and were then revoked. Now, after ruling that the jury in the first trial could not consider lesser charges, he is permitting them to consider involuntary manslaughter. I know Phil Spector, have worked for Phil Spector, and know his family. He is unrecognizable as it stands. That may be due to the fact that the prosecutors seem to have gone through the gutters to find every gold-digger who used Phillip – that would include Diane Ogden, who now seems to have died of a drug overdose. I worked for Phillip in 1988 and 1989 and do not recall any other assistants, apart from his wife and the Mother of his children, Janis Zavala Spector. That means: Diane Ogden lied. And, I believe my former partner, Leonard Cohen, perjured himself in Phillip’s secret grand jury. The reason I believe this is because Cohen me for nearly 20 years that he simply could not stand the fact that Phillip drowned his vocals on the album they worked on together. He told the detectives I met at his house that his comments to the newsmedia about Phillip, over the years, were good rock ‘n roll coments. Why would he change his story for the Grand Jury? Could it be to see if the Los Angeles District Attorney could help him out when he realized there was nothing on earth that could prevent me from reporting his tax fraud – that I was told was criminal – to the District Attorney. This might also explain why the DA’s investigator was so nice to me initially and then began threatening me. They are common criminals from what I have experienced and I believe Phil Spector has been set up. I also believe the District Attorney, the prosecutors, investigators, police, etc., should be investigated by the Department of Justice.
Kelley Lynch
Ann Diamond
Come-on Kelley says
Kelley Lynch is Leonard Cohen’s former manager. According to the May 16, 2006, judgment obtained by Cohen against her, she stole $4 million from him and also mismanaged Cohen’s affairs, resulting in a $7.8M judgment + 10% interest per year at the legal rate.
Cohen also obtained restraining orders against Kelley Lynch in California and Colorado (where she currently lives).
In response, Kelley Lynch has engaged in a relentless smear campaign against Cohen and anyone who dares question her tactics–including by sending 3 emails a day to the IRS and Justice Department demanding that all such persons be arrested or investigated.
In the meantime, most sites on which Lynch has posted her hate have either banned her or removed her posts, and Google deleted her two blogs (and related email accounts) for hateful spamming.
Kelley Lynch has also suffered two involuntary psychiatric hospital commitments, is stalking and harassing attorney Bruce Cutler (whom she has posted she wants to have sex with and has sent over 1,000 ranting voice messages to)–while at the same time stating that Cutler will sue her enemies.
Kelley Lynch has also called for the
Kelley Lynch says
Come on Kelley actually says: RICO permits me to go back four years so Cohen and his rotten lawyers should study RICO and attendant statutes. Cohen actually stole from me and that probably explains the lengths he has gone to silence me – including flying into Boulder after Ann Diamond posted her draft article for Rolling Stone on a public blog. She also confirmed, in writing, that Freda Guttman told her that Lorca Cohen informed her classmates at Concordia that her father molested her. This is – no doubt – the reason Cohen via Kory threatened Ann Diamond. I mismanaged nothing. Cohen’s financial adviser, Neal Greenberg, handled Cohen’s finances and Cohen and his advisers structured the corporations, committed the tax fraud on the returns, didn’t report the income, extinguished the promissory note and annuity obligaton, and refuse to undertake a forensic accounting or explain the illegal K1s I was issued by LC Investments, LLC – essentially making me a 99.5% partner on that corporation (illegally, of course). Kelley awaits Opinion Letters from the IRS and State of Kentucky and would like Judge Ken Freeman to explain what documents he reviewed that permitted him to grant a judgment stating I was a trustee. I was not and no such documents exist.
There is no restraining order in California. While I think the “judge” should have quashed the fraudulent restraining order Cohen so desperately took out in Colorado (where I do not live) it is evidence that Cohen himself crossed state borders and is actively involved in what I view as an unreal and aggressive attempt to cover up criminal tax fraud in the view of everyone – including the IRS Commissioner’s Staff. Who knows – perhaps the IRS Commissioner’s Staff is as stupid as Richard Westin, Cohen’s tax lawyer, told me they were: “MacDonald workers” is how he put it. It seems obvious that Cohen, Kory, Rice, et al. hold similar views about the IRS Commissioner’s Staff.
I don’t think telling the truth about Cohen is a smear campaign but it certainly is ugly and malicious. Documenting the destruction of my life for the IRS and DOJ, who clearly can identify spam and address it accordingly (but haven’t), is not a smear campaign although it might be threatening to Cohen and his gang of cyber-terrorists. Wonderful activity for a “folk singer.” I continue to request that various agencies investigate his activity and the activity of others. That is correct. I have not demanded anything.
I have notified Google’s legal team that my Blogs and email accounts have been targeted. Michelle Blaine publicly noted that she and Blogonaut participated in this cyber-terrorism. If anything is hateful that is due to the actions of others. I’m simply telling it like it is.
Kelley Lynch was taken to King Drew and UCLA and promptly released. Steven Clark Lindsey, who inserted himself into Cohen’s tax fraud matter and Phil Spector’s set up, seems to have been involved in that. Unfortunately, he had no legal authority to speak to anyone on my behalf and witnesses saw him lying to the SWAT Team, etc. He also asked my son to go in and sign documents transferring our former house to Cohen/Kory.
I have never stated that “Cutler” will sue anyone for me. I also don’t refer to Bruce Cutler as “Cutler.”
I think the District Attorney (Steve Cooley) should be arrested if it can be proven that Phil Spector is innocent and this was a set up. Since it appears that the coroner was advised not to investigate Clarkson’s suicide as a suicide one can assume that something’s wrong and corrupt. Beyond that, five forensic scientists concluded that Clarkson shot herself and some of them have been “set up” – by Alan Jackson and others (probably) so there are incredibly serious issues at hand. For the record, I have never called for the arrest of a Chief of Police. I have never even asked anyone to investigate a Police Chief.
Justice is my agenda. Take it at face value.