Thursday, September 20, 2007

The Spectacle of the Spector Trial

I cannot believe they cannot come to a decision! I am shocked; stunned; pissed off! Have we really gotten so celebrity obsessed that we can no longer see the forest for the trees when we are standing right there, in the middle of the damn woods? I can understand getting awestruck if you meet a famous person on the street or something. I can even understand feeling some sense of pity for the Britneys and LiLo’s out there, but come on already! Just because a person is called a celebrity does not mean that we should just shut down our minds and try to excuse their actions.

No, I am not talking about O.J. today. I am quite possibly the only person not talking about O.J. today, but I am not. Screw the Juice! I personally think he was set up this time, but screw him anyway. No, I am talking about Phil Spector and Lana Clarkson.

“Who?”

Exactly! You probably could not even tell me which one of those two people are on trial right now and for what?

Phil Spector is a record producer who made his fame in the 60’s by creating a recording process he called “the Wall of Sound.” Basically, as I understand it, he would not place microphones to record individual instruments, but rather would place them to record the room and the echoes of the group playing as a whole. This would have each instrument “bleed” into the mikes of the others and create a “wall of sound” where each instrument’s tones are blended into the entire sound. It was rather unique and he created many of those “one hit wonders” of the era.

Lana Clarkson was a 40 year old actress. Her claim to fame was appearing in the “Barbarian Queen” films of the 80’s. She was also found dead in Phil Spector’s house in 2003 from what is either a suicide or a murder. No one is really sure and that is what the trial is all about: Phil Spector is accused of murdering Lana Clarkson. The jury is currently hung.

Here are a few facts that should help illustrate my confusion on what should have been an open and shut case.

1. Lana Clarkson met Phil Spector for the first time the night she died.
2. Her body was found in his house
3. She was shot with his gun
4. She was shot in the face, the mouth to be exact
5. At least five women testified that Spector had drawn guns on them when they tried to leave his house in the 70’s
6. Spector’s driver testified that after the shooting Spector said to him “I think I just killed someone.”
7. Clarkson’s blood was found on a towel in Spector’s upstairs bathroom
8. Clarkson’s body was found seated, in the foyer, with her purse on her shoulder
9. She just started working at the House of Blues
10. She went shoe shopping the day before and bought seven pairs of shoes for work


Spector’s defense team is claiming that Clarkson was a depressed out of work actress who went home with him and shot herself. That makes no sense to me.

1. Women do not usually shoot themselves as a way of suicide and certainly not in their face.
2. Most people do not go to a stranger’s house to kill themselves and certainly do not use a weapon they could not possibly have known was there.
3. People shot downstairs do not usually have their blood appear in an upstairs bathroom.
4. One would assume a person committing suicide would not place their purse on their right shoulder and enter the foyer of a house, then sit down and blow their brains out.

The jury is stuck right now in a 7-5 split. It is unknown if it is seven who believe he did it or seven caught up in celebrity madness, but there is little doubt he did it. I followed the trial somewhat closely. Lana Clarkson was one of my first crushes and Phil Spector is a legend in Rock and Roll. It is not often there are celebrities on both sides of a case either. I just cannot believe yet another person in Hollywood is going to get away with murder. I am talking to you O.J. and you Robert Blake!

10 comments:

Nessa said...

Isn't he on trial for 1st degree murder, which requires pre-meditation and that's why the jury is deadlocked? And the judge refused to reduce the charges to 2nd degree manslaughter.

Nessa said...

Spector should be convicted for his hair alone; D

rkfinnell said...

This time I agree with Golden. LOL
And BTW, set up or not OJ chose to do what he did. I hope he goes down for it.

Unknown said...

He is on trial for 2nd degree murder which applies. He shot her when she tried to leave his house. Not planned, but he did it. The judge broke it down to one simple question- whose finger was on the trigger when it was pulled?

Unknown said...

The judge was going to introduce a manslaughter charge late in the game.

Serena said...

I'm pretty sure this is going to end in a mistrial because of that manslaughter/lesser charge jury instruction. It's a damn shame, too, because it only reinforces the notion that L.A. is a penalty-free zone for celebrities and they can do anything they please with impunity. That sucks.

I agree with goldennib -- let's see if we can't get that damned abominable hair indicted.:)

Camille Alexa said...

At least his hair is interesting. If you're going to be a crazyperson, do it with a sense of personal flair. I can't get on board with this homogenification programme some of you guys seem to espouse periodically. Convict him, yes, but do it because he's a creepy lying bastard, not because he looks different.

Unknown said...

His hair, I believe, was to remind the jury he was a celebrity. It sends a message that says "I must be important because I dare to come to court like this." Michael Jackson did the same thing.

I have listened to CourtTv every night to get the latest on this one. Lana Clarkson was a childhood crush. Barbarian Queen was one of those "USA Up All Night" movies that were so bad they were awesome to a 14 year old boy.

He should be convicted for killing one of my childhood fantasies.

Nessa said...

I'd convict him for being creepy, too.

Camille Alexa said...

He should be convicted for killing one of my childhood fantasies.

Now that I can get on board with.