Spector defence: Actress had 'classic self-inflicted' wound

The gun that killed actress Lana Clarkson was not forced into her mouth and the manner of her death was “a classic self-inflicted type of injury,” Phil Spector’s lawyers told the murder trial today.

Clarkson’s body was found seated in the foyer of Spector’s suburban mansion early on the morning of February 3, 2003. She had met record producer Spector at the House of Blues, where she was a hostess, and agreed to accompany him on a chauffeur-driven ride to his home.

“The gun was in her mouth, put there by her,” lawyer Bruce Cutler told the court. “There’s no evidence that a gun was forced in her mouth. There were no broken teeth in,” he said, motioning inward.

The prosecution outlined its case on Wednesday, largely previewing testimony that will be given by four women who claim that in the past, Spector threatened them with guns in scenarios similar to the Clarkson case.

In a wide-ranging attack on the case against Spector, Cutler asserted that police immediately had “murder on their mind” and disregarded anything inconsistent with that conclusion.

Cutler attacked the prosecution’s plan to call the women witnesses to testify of being threatened by Spector in the past. He pointed out they never filed charges against Spector or sued him civilly.

“These incidents were not a pattern,” he said. “They were isolated spats over 20 years.”

Cutler’s co-counsel, Linda Kenney-Baden, characterised the fatal shot as a classic self-inflicted wound.

Kenney-Baden said she did not mean to appear callous in discussing Clarkson’s death but that science required details.

The remark appeared to be directed to Clarkson’s mother, Donna, and sister, Fawn, who were seated in the front row of the courtroom.

“The science will tell you that Phil Spector was not holding the gun in the decedant’s mouth, that he was not close enough ... to hold the gun in the decedent’s mouth,” Kenney-Baden said.