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Spector defence wants diary
01/06/2007 12:40 - (SA)
Los Angeles - Lawyers in Phil Spector's murder trial clashed over whether jurors should hear about a diary of the woman found dead in his mansion, writings the defence says refer to a fascination with guns and visions of a dead actress.
In a hearing outside the jury's presence, prosecutors acknowledged they knew about actress Lara Clarkson's diary but considered it untrustworthy and did not bring it to the coroner's attention.
Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler appeared to disagree.
"If you have the words of a deceased?how do you keep that away from the jury and away from an expert who could have considered it," the judge said.
Clarkson died of a gunshot fired inside her mouth in the foyer of Spector's mansion in 2003. Lawyers for the music producer say she killed herself.
'Homicide, not suicide'
On Thursday, Deputy Medical Examiner Louis Pena testified he had not considered doing a "psychological autopsy" on Clarkson because he had concluded her death was a homicide, not a suicide.
"We do a psychological autopsy only at the request of the family when it's ruled a suicide," he said.
Defence attorney Christopher Plourd tried to begin questioning Pena about whether he considered the diary found in Clarkson's computer after she died.
With the jury dismissed, he discussed the Clarkson composition called "The Story of My Life."
"She has delusions," Plourd said, "She's seeing people who are deceased and talks to them. She talks about seeing a dead actress who comes to her in visions, a struggling actress who didn't make it and killed herself with a gun."
Nothing relevant to the case
Plourd said the defence team investigated the story and found the place where the actress Clarkson mentioned had lived, which is where Clarkson claimed to have had the visions.
Plourd said a district attorney's investigator read the diary and concluded it did not contain anything relevant to the case.
Prosecutor Alan Jackson argued that the writings in the computer were not authenticated, could not be relied upon and were probably creative efforts that Clarkson made for a writing class she was taking.
Fidler said he would read the diary before ruling.
Clarkson, 40, was best known for her role in the 1985 cult film Barbarian Queen.
She had gone home with Spector from her job as a hostess at the House of Blues nightclub on the Sunset Strip before the shooting.
Spector, 67, gained fame in the 1960s with a recording technique known as the "Wall of Sound" that produced many hit records.
- AP
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