Phil Spector is a guilty, guilty man!

[GlamourNoir]

I searched for this and couldn't find a thread anywhere, hope I'm not double posting.

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A jury has found music legend Phil Spector guilty of secnd-degree murder in the 2003 shooting death of an actress at his home in Alahambra, California.

The jury returned the verdict in a Los Angeles courtroom shortly after 5 p.m. ET on Monday.

The six men and six women began their deliberations on March 26. They deliberated for about 30 hours.

Jurors had to decide whether Spector, 69 was guilty of second-degree murder or a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter.

Spector, 69, was charged in the death of Lana Clarkson, 40, who was found dead, slumped in a chair in the foyer of Spector's home with a gunshot wound through the roof of her mouth.

A mistrial was declared in Spector's first trial in September 2007. After deliberating 15 days, jurors told Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler that they were unable to reach a verdict. Spector was also charged with second-degree murder in that trial.

In closing arguments at the retrial, prosecutor Truc Do called Spector "a very dangerous man" who "has a history of playing Russian roulette with women -- six women. Lana just happened to be the sixth."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/04/13/phil.spector.verdict/index.html



I can't even express how ecstatic I am at this verdict. I've been following this case for so long, and I couldn't believe that he might actually get away with it. From the first trial through this one I've been on the edge of my seat, obsessed. I was so worried about the outcome of this trial because the jury had been deliberating so long, but I am SO SO SOOOOOO incredibly happy that they saw through the bullshit and convicted him of second degree murder, involuntary manslaughter is a joke.

Lana was an amazing woman, from all accounts she wasn't just gorgeous on the outside, she had wicked personality and plenty of heart to go with it. You should look her up if you haven't already, there's a lot of great reading to do about the kind of person she was and what she accomplished. I hope she can finally be at peace now.

[penelopejo]

Yeah, i didn't believe he was innocent either. Especially when I began to read about the blood splatter, gun powder residue and all that other good stuff. In a way, I am quite happy it wasn't as "showy" as his first trial.

[sherrz]

Yeah, i didn't believe he was innocent either. Especially when I began to read about the blood splatter, gun powder residue and all that other good stuff. In a way, I am quite happy it wasn't as "showy" as his first trial.

Yeah no kidding, I didn't even know they had started the 2nd trial lol!!

[DarkPrincess]

HA!

[Kalehue]

Yeah no kidding, I didn't even know they had started the 2nd trial lol!!

Me neither. I sure am glad they finally got a conviction. It's certainly taken long enough!

[donegaveup]

I'm glad he was found guilty although I had my doubts that he would be. I personally thought he was guilty but with these celebrity types you just never know which way the jury will go.

[Unamused Cat]

:cheers:

[RaVen Blackehart]

He had threatened other women in the past with guns just like that! What the hell else did the jury need to know??

[Wicked Doll]

Finally! Did they happen to find him guilty of really atrocious hair too? I'm glad for Lana Clarkson's family that they may get some closure now.

[Nell]

Wonder what his "wife" thinks now?

[Thinkgoat]

Poor Phil Spector was sentenced today to 19 years to life.

Spector, 69, looked straight forward and showed no emotion as Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler ordered a term of 15 years to life for second-degree murder plus four years for personal use of a gun.


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-ap-us-phil-spector,0,2328402.story

[Amazon]

The fiance and I were discussing this.
Specter is going to die in prison.

But since he's a celebrity, does he go to general pop or does he get the solitary cell where he only gets to leave an hour every other day.

[akika666]

The fiance and I were discussing this.
Specter is going to die in prison.

But since he's a celebrity, does he go to general pop or does he get the solitary cell where he only gets to leave an hour every other day.

i don't see how he could stay in general population. he's way too famous and eccentric. but why would he go straight to "solitary?"

i might be missing something - i am not up on this particular case, but when i worked in state prison in PA there were different "pods" where they housed SO's and other people who would be a problem in general population, like felonious ex-cops and other high profile inmates. it was different from the dispiplinary "hole" where naughty inmates had individual cells and an hour a day in their little caged yard. and there was yet another building where inmates that were just impossible (assaultive to staff, completely disorganized behavior) were housed; i never even saw them outside their big metal cell doors.

i'd assume they would have an appropriate housing for high profile felons like this, since it's California?

[Stella]

He's also on a tremendous amount of meds (psychiatric and seizure types); remember in the first trial how he used to tremble so much and could sometimes barely speak. Maybe for that reason he couldn't be in GP. Oh! And he won't be allowed to wear his wigs, either. Sigh.

I don't think he could even make it just living in the real world, let alone jail. He probably won't last long. Hope his wife has a good pre-nup.

{S}:lollypop:

[akika666]

He's also on a tremendous amount of meds (psychiatric and seizure types); remember in the first trial how he used to tremble so much and could sometimes barely speak. Maybe for that reason he couldn't be in GP. Oh! And he won't be allowed to wear his wigs, either. Sigh.

I don't think he could even make it just living in the real world, let alone jail. He probably won't last long. Hope his wife has a good pre-nup.

{S}:lollypop:

yes that's true, i'm remembering his demeanor now. he'd definitely have to be in the special pod as long as he behaves, it wouldn't be "solitary" per se, although he may not have a "cellie." if he was not functional in taking care of his daily activities/hygeine/eating, then he might have to be placed in SHU.

i wonder if there's any money left for his wife after two trials?

[Thinkgoat]

The Smoking Gun is reporting on California prison's "no wigs" policy. Ah, too bad for Phil Spector. He was fugly enough WITH that wig. Now he's just down-right pathetically fugly.

http://i.cdn.turner.com/trutv/thesmokinggun.com/graphics/art4/0609091inside1.jpg


http://i.cdn.turner.com/trutv/thesmokinggun.com/graphics/art4/0609091philspector1.jpg

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0609091philspector1.html

[buggysmommy]

He should have called Robert Blake and got his attorney's number...:lollypop:

[Dakota Valkyrie]

(Corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton) said Spector was assigned to the sensitive needs facility rather than general population. He doesn't have a cellmate.

As a medium security inmate, Spector can make some requests for items he wants in his cell, and his wife acknowledges her husband is already creating a list.

"He wants a TV and an iPod or something like that for listening to music," Rachelle Spector said Tuesday. "And he would like to be able to receive e-mail."

Prison Lt. Stephen Smith said Spector's notoriety probably got him into the sensitive needs facility. He said the typical inmate there needs protection after dropping out of a gang.
[...]

Rachelle Spector said she was relieved her husband was out of North Kern State Prison, where he has been undergoing evaluation.

She said he wrote a letter alleging abuse at the prison such as being forced to sleep naked on the floor for two nights and to eat out of a bowl with his hands "like a dog."http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ik5pa7VefNfBxsKkfKVQWE9QET4wD990TRAG1
Spector will be permitted to have musical instruments in his cell, and inmates in his unit often sing and play music together, Smith said.

“The facility he is on now, there are a bunch of inmates that have instruments and they all play together on the exercise yard,” Smith said.

The prison is also a frequent assignment for elderly and inmates and those in wheelchairs because it is on flat land and has handicapped-accessible areas, Smith said. Spector has health problems, including precancerous tumors in his throat and a tremor that he has said at least one doctor suspected was Parkinson’s disease.
[...]

The prison, like the entire state system, is seriously overcrowded. Built to accommodate 3,424 inmates, the prison now houses 7,628. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/06/even-in-prison-phil-spector-will-be-allowed-jam-sessions-with-fellow-prisoners.html

[Thinkgoat]

Awww, Phil wants a nicer prison facility. He's scared. He doesn't like the people he's jailed with. He's afraid of Manson. Blah blah blah!


LOS ANGELES -- Convicted murderer Phil Spector is speaking out about his prison experience and now the California Department of Corrections is launching an investigation into his safety.

The 69-year-old music producer said in a letter released Wednesday that he fears for his safety at Corcoran State Prison and wants to be moved to "a better prison" -- far away from cult leader Charles Manson and RFK assassin Sirhan Sirhan.

Spector wrote the letter to his friend Steve Escobar, a musician and journalist.

In it, he said he is working with his attorneys "to get a better prison with people more like myself in it during the appeal process instead of all these lowlife scumbags, gangsters and Manson types.... They'd kill you here for a 39-cent bag of soup!"

Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections, says officials are looking into Mr. Spector's safety concerns. However, she says, Charles Manson and Sirhan Sirhan are not housed in the same facility as Phil Spector, but are actually in another facility a few miles away.

Spector said his spirits have been raised because his 29-year-old wife Rachelle has been visiting two days a week. "...All in all, it's like a dream come true having her by my side again."

He said Rachelle brings him packaged food so that he doesn't have to go to the dining hall with other inmates.

Perhaps Spector's desire to be transferred was strengthened after he said he received a personal letter from Manson.

Spector's publicist Hal Lifson told KTLA that: "Phil Spector has been very, very alarmed and scared at the notion of Charles Manson contacting him for any reason."

"Phil mentioned that he used to get phone calls from John Lennon and Tina Turner and now it's Charles Manson calling, so he said, 'Go figure.'"

According to Rachelle, the note was delivered via a guard at California's Corcoran State Prison.

She said: "A guard brought Philip a note from Manson, who said he wanted him to come over. He said he considers Philip the greatest producer who ever lived. It was creepy. Philip didn't respond."

Spector is apparently concerned that Manson, a frustrated musician, wants to collaborate with the famed music producer for a little jailhouse rock.

Lifson told KTLA that will never happen.

As for the note, prison officials tell KTLA that an internal investigation "showed that there was no evidence of official contact between the two inmates."

Corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton said the letter may have been a prank by another inmate.

In the 1960s, Manson befriended the Beach Boys' Dennis Wilson and the group released a reworked version of his track "Cease To Exist" as "Never Learn Not To Love" in 1968.

He has also made several records while in prison.


Source (http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-spector-prison-letter,0,874260.story)

[jus shaking my head]

I will put "Feel sorry for him" on my things to do list.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

:pound: :pound: Prison is driving him crazy(er) :pound: :pound: In a letter that Phil Spector — currently serving 19-years-to-life for murdering Lana Clarkson — wrote to a pen pal, and exclusively obtained by Gawker, the music legend is convinced that he is the true victim of his crime.
[...]

A letter that he wrote in July ... paints a picture of Spector as an angry and bitter man, remorseless about his crime and consumed by a victim complex. Spector, who signs off as the "Wizard of Iz," listed a raft of complaints about life at the Corcoran State Prison where he is locked in a 7 foot by 3 foot cell 23 hours a day, from how the guards intimidate him, to not being able to see his wife, Rachelle, to the "cruel" way that he was sent away before he had a chance to settle his business affairs. "They call this a "civilized" society. Bugs live more civilized beneath their rocks!"

Though it was more than six years between is first indictment for Clarkson's death until his sentencing last May (his first trial resulted in a mistrial), he complains how "cruel" it was for authorities to send him to jail before he had a chance to "tidy up my business affairs." He writes that it's "insane and very dangerous" when guards declare a lockdown six times a day. He accuses prison officials of playing "mind games" and being "jealous" of him when they won't allow him to see his wife Rachelle. And of the judge who sent him away, he writes, "I'm enraged with hate at that ... judge for sending me here and [it's] hate that keeps me going." Perhaps most galling to Clarkson's friends and family, he concludes, "They call this a "civilized" society. Bugs live more civilized beneath their rocks!"
[...]http://gawker.com/5361997/phil-spector-from-prison-im-enraged-with-hate-at-that-judge-for-sending-me-here

More "poor me" and transcript/copies of the letter at link.

[Stella]

Let me go out on a limb here and say that I would just wager that Phillip (gag) always had his affairs "in order" for just about anything and everything, ESPECIALLY after the first mistrial.

If that wasn't reason enough, the fact that he conned some half-decent looking woman into marrying him for a visual aid during the trial (and to fix his wigs), and let her bring along her mom -- that just screams lots and lots of $$$ right there to me. All she has to do is keep her nose clean (ummm .. .. .. ) and she's set for life.

Yeah, his affairs are in order, financially anyway. Now if he can just figure out a way to pay off someone else to put him into one of those country club prisons, he'll be all set. No doubt he'll have his people figure out a way, sooner or later, probably a health-related issue.

Damn, he's gross. I will never, ever figure out why Lana Clarkson went home with him. Shriveled up, alcoholic little man with way too many guns. That doesn't ever mix up well. He could NOT accept the fact that his time in the "industry" was over, and he couldn't gracefully step back. What he did for the music industry way back was/is remarkable and is now overshadowed by what he became (and apparently always was). The alcohol and/or drugs brought out his true colors. Whiny little prick.

And now we have his address -- if only the guards would deliver his mail. :biggrin3:

{S}