Phil Spector 'Denied Right to Fair Trial,' Say Lawyers

An appeal against the conviction of murder by Phil Spector has been lodged by the legendary producer's legal team who claim that Spector was denied the right to a fair trial.

Spector was found guilty last April of murdering actress Lana Clarkson in 2003 and was jailed for at least 19 years. He will not be eligible for parole until he is 88 years old.

The appeal claims that prosecution lawyers damaged the producer's reputation in the eyes of the jury by improperly using the testimony of five women, all of whom claimed that Spector had threatened them with a gun in separate incidents in the 1970s. These events, says the legal team, are not comparable to the circumstances of Ms Clarkson's death.

"None of the ... evidence involved events in which Mr Spector put a gun in someone's mouth, much less fired it," the appeal lawyers said.


The 148-page appeal also singles out the actions of Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler who presided over both of the Spector murder trials. In particular, Fidler is accused of influencing the jury by offering his own interpretation of the evidence on offer.

"Under California law, a judge may not offer evidence in a trial over which he presides," reads the appeal.

Fidler is further accused of allowing damaging remarks to be upheld in court after Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson claimed that the defence team's lawyers had paid expert witnesses to give untruthful evidence in favour of Spector.

As a music producer, Spector is most famous for his 1960s Wall of Sound technique and he helmed hits by the Righteous Brothers, the Ronettes and Ike and Tina Turner, among many others.