United States:The prosecution in Phil Spector's murder trial has moved into high gear, presenting two witnesses who recounted the music producer's actions on the night that ended in actress Lana Clarkson's death.
The night began with dinner on February 2nd, 2003 at The Grill on the Alley in Beverly Hills, two women testified, one a waitress and another a high school friend of Spector. The prosecution maintains that the evening ended with Spector (67) shooting Clarkson (40) to death. The defence argues that Clarkson killed herself accidentally.
Thursday's witnesses followed days of testimony by four women who told similar stories of Spector drinking heavily, becoming demanding and abusive, then waving a gun in a threatening manner. The prosecution argues that the actions form a pattern similar to what happened between Spector and Clarkson.
At dinner at The Grill, Spector ordered two daiquiris, testified Rommie Davis, a classmate of Spector's from Fairfax High School. It was Sunday night, and the pair had dined together on Friday and Saturday as well, with Spector drinking throughout the weekend.
"I was very concerned about him. He took medication," Ms Davis said of the defendant, whose occasionally violent shaking has marked stressful moments during his murder trial. "He took medication, and I knew that alcohol and medication is a lethal combination," she said.
Like the other female companions who testified, Ms Davis spoke tenderly of Spector and appeared solicitous, especially about the changes they said Spector went through when drinking alcohol.
Defence lawyer Roger Rosen tried to poke holes in Ms Davis's testimony, noting that she had previously given different details to investigators. But under questioning, Ms Davis said she never saw Spector with a gun and she never felt threatened by the music producer, who brought her home after 11pm.
Ms Davis's testimony set the agenda for Kathy Sullivan, a waitress at the Grill who knew Spector as a friend. She said that after she finished dinner with a friend, Spector, through another employee, asked her to go to Trader Vic's, a few blocks away. She went with him and later to another star hangout, Dan Tana's. At both places, Spector drank. Then they went to the House of Blues in west Hollywood, where Spector met Clarkson for the first time. She was working in the VIP area.
Earlier on Thursday morning, Mr Rosen grilled Melissa Grosvenor, one of the four women who have testified that they were terrorised by Spector. Mr Rosen raised questions about details of Ms Grosvenor's Wednesday testimony that were absent in a 2004 interview with investigators.
He also questioned Ms Grosvenor's relationship to her sister, an indication the defence may call the woman to try to impeach Ms Grosvenor's testimony.
On Wednesday, Ms Grosvenor testified that a drunk Spector confronted her in his home in 1992.
"He walked up, held the gun to my face between my eyes and said: 'If you try to leave I'm going to kill you'." During cross-examination, Ms Grosvenor agreed with Mr Rosen that Spector had never allowed her to hold a handgun or forced her to put a weapon in her mouth. She said that she never checked to see if the gun was loaded, but agreed that it had never been fired.
"I wouldn't be sitting here if it was," she told Mr Rosen. "It was never discharged, was it?" Rosen repeated. "I'm sitting here," Ms Grosvenor said.
- (LA Times-Washington Post service)