‘I never pulled a gun on these women’

A JUDGE has ruled that prosecutors in the murder trial of Phil Spector can present evidence involving four incidents in which the music producer allegedly pulled guns on women.

Superior Court Judge Larry P Fidler acknowledged that allowing the evidence was “a dangerous path to go down,” but he concluded the incidents seemed to illustrate the state’s theory in the case.

A prosecution motion filed in February said the incidents showed Spector had a “common plan” of using guns “to intimidate women”.

Spector is charged in the shooting death of B-movie actress Lana Clarkson at his Alhambra mansion in early 2003. He has pleaded not guilty and is free on €794,000 bail.

Fidler refused to allow six other incidents to be introduced as evidence.

The ruling came after prosecutor Doug Sortino argued that Spector used guns to threaten people in “an ongoing course of conduct that happens again and again and again.”

Outside the courthouse, Spector insisted he “never pulled a gun on these women”.

The producer is known for creating rock music’s “wall of sound” recording technique in the 1960s.

The four incidents allowed by the judge occurred between 1988 and 1995 and involved women who claimed to have dated Spector and accused him of waving or pointing a gun at them. In a 1991 incident, one woman said she was visiting Spector and was forced to spend the night in a chair.

Spector pointed a gun at her head and began to yell and swear, prosecutors allege. Defence attorney Bruce Cutler argued none of the allegations were true and dismissed the women as celebrity-chasing “acolytes and gold diggers” out for publicity.