Guns, Booze To Figure In Spector Case

By John Harlow in Los Angeles - March 19, 2007

Hollywood, CA - RECORD producer Phil Spector, who goes on trial for murder in Los Angeles today accused of shooting an actress at his home, will seek the help of his ex-wife Ronnie, whom he turned into a star but later imprisoned in their marital home.

He plans to call Ronnie as a character witness in the most highly publicized trial in California since Michael Jackson's, and the first big case to be televised live since OJ Simpson's in 1995. 

Spector, 68, is accused of killing Lana Clarkson, a B-movie actor, at his $US4million ($5 million) home in Los Angeles after a night of drinking four years ago. The musical prodigy - whose credits include the Righteous Brothers You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' and Tina Turner's River Deep, Mountain High - has described himself as a "bipolar who refuses to take his medicines" with a taste for "girls and guns". 

According to contradictory statements he gave police, a drunken Clarkson seized a Colt.38 from his holster, "kissed the gun" and shot herself in the face. 

But he also allegedly told detectives, "I didn't mean to shoot her. It was an accident", a statement he has since disputed. 

Although his lawyer, former Mafia defender Bruce Cutler, has not yet issued a list of defence witnesses, legal sources say Spector has "reached out" to his ex-wife, who has remarried and lives in Connecticut. 

Ronnie Spector, former lead singer with 1960s girl group the Ronettes, told of her "mixed-up" thoughts on the shooting in a recent book. 

When she heard of the killing in February 2003, she wrote: "I knew this guy who had imprisoned me in his home for years during our marriage to try and control me was capable of real crazy behavior. But cold-blooded murder? To actually pull the trigger on someone?" 

She said there were "two Phil Spectors", one who was charming and "gets everyone laughing ... But I've seen the dark rage that can suddenly rise out of nowhere in the dead of night when the gates to the mansion are closed and locked tight, and that Phil Spector is terrifying". 

When the Ronettes were inducted into the US Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame last week, Ronnie, 63, pointedly did no thank her former husband, who created early hits such as Be My Baby, and ducked questions about him. 

Spector, it emerged, had written to the voting committee suggesting the Ronettes were not good enough to stand alongside the greats. 

Observers say this is typical of his turbulent behavior. As a child he escaped from the tragedy of his father's suicide into music. He had his first hit, To Know Him Is to Love Him, with his school group the Teddy Bears when he was just 18. 

But crippling stage fright turned him into a fierce and egomaniacal record producer. He nearly always carried a gun he called his "peacemaker", even to church, and reportedly threatened many musicians with it. 

Dee Dee Ramone, the late bassist with the Ramones, claimed Spector once held him at gunpoint for two days until he perfected a guitar riff. 

Former girlfriend Deborah Strand alleges he put a gun to her cheek, saying: "What are you going to do now?" Another ex-girlfriend said he demanded she strip at gunpoint. 

Judge Larry Paul Fiddler, who has allowed cameras into the courtroom, has ruled that the jury should not hear about Spector's previous convictions for gun offences. 

Spector, who is free on $US1million bail, has instructed staff to lock up all "unnecessary" guns in his home during the trial, which is expected to last two months.