The Murder Trial of Phil Spector

I want to post the main story as it has been published in a major US newspaper and being there is a time difference, the first one that I stumbled upon was the New York Times, so I'll paraphrase their story. I guess Los Angeles hasn't woken up yet...

Phil Spector, music producer and legend behind a string of popular music hits, artists and songwriters was convicted on Monday 13th April of murdering a small time actress, Lana Clarkson at his Los Angeles mansion in February 2003 following a night of heavy drinking.

This was the second murder trial in the case with the first having ended in a hung jury back in 2007. Phil Spector has been at large albeit on bail for the vast majority of the last 6 years, but as soon as the verdict was reached on Monday, was immediately taken into custody.

Phil Spector came to court looking frail, old and sullen. He wore a long blue overcoat, a bright red tie, and sported a shaggy shoulder-length hairstyle. He did not bother with psychedelic glasses or any of his other eccentric accouterments and the boyish, arrogant swagger that carried him through several decades at the top of the pop music scene was absent. Spector whispered a few words to his lawyers but that was all. He leaned forward intently as the court clerk read the verdict, although throughout the proceeding, his face betrayed little emotion.

The 68 year old Phil Spector will face at least 18 years in jail. The jury reached its decision after 27 hours of deliberating whether he shot the woman in a fit of anger or, as his lawyers argued, merely witnessed her suicide.

In addition to second-degree murder, the jury found Mr. Spector guilty of illegally discharging a firearm. The trial lasted five months and its culmination will certainly send shock waves around the media industry today.

Info source: New York Times

Phil Spector Guilty of Murder