Prospective jurors interviewed for selection in Spector murder trial

JURY selection began yesterday in the murder trial of legendary music producer Phil Spector — four years after an actress who starred in a cult movie was shot to death in the foyer of his castle-like home.

Jurors will be asked to decide if Spector was responsible for the death of Lana Clarkson, who was shot in the face on February 3, 2003.

They will consider conflicting evidence about what happened before police found Clarkson, 40, slumped dead in a chair, her teeth blown out by a gunshot to her mouth. She was best known as the star of Roger Corman’s cult film Barbarian Queen. She was working as a hostess at the House of Blues when she went home with Spector that night.

The coroner’s office called it a homicide — “death by the hand of another” — but also noted that Clarkson had gunshot residue on both of her hands and might have pulled the trigger.

In an email to friends, Spector, 66, called the death “an accidental suicide”.

Spector, who created the “wall of sound” that revolutionised the recording of rock music, was present as the first members of a prospective jury pool of 300 people entered the downtown courtroom. He produced the Beatles’ Let It Be album and George Harrison’s Concert for Bangladesh.

Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler has ordered that the trial can be televised, but cameras will not be present for jury selection. Lawyers will take a one-month break — interrupted only by a pre-trial hearing on April 9 — to read the prospective jurors’ answers and hone their jury selection strategy.

The trial is expected to last three months.