LOS ANGELES – Music producer Phil Spector has been given a sentence of 19 years to life in prison for the murder of a Hollywood actor in 2003.
Spector (69), who revolutionised pop music in the 1960s with his layered “Wall of Sound” production technique, was convicted in April of second-degree murder by a Los Angeles jury after a second trial. The first trial ended in a deadlock in 2007.
Lana Clarkson (40), a B-movie actor, died of a shot to the mouth, fired from Spector’s gun in the foyer of his mock castle home outside Los Angeles on February 3rd, 2003. The two had met hours earlier at a Hollywood nightclub.
The sentence means that Spector must spend at least 19 years in prison before being eligible for parole. If not paroled, he will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Spector, who worked with The Ronettes, The Beatles, Cher and Leonard Cohen at the height of his fame, denied murdering Clarkson but did not testify at either trial.
He has been held in custody since his April 13th conviction after being free on bail following his arrest in 2003.
Prosecutors said the shooting of Clarkson was part of a pattern of gun play and violence that Spector displayed toward women over the past 20 years, saying he had a problem with rage and was “a bully”.
Spectors lawyers claimed that Clarkson was depressed about her failing career and had committed suicide.
She worked as a hostess at the House of Blues in Hollywood when she met Spector. Clarkson starred in such little-known movies as Barbarian Queen and Amazon Women on the Moon. Clarkson’s family has also filed a wrongful death civil suit against Spector which has yet to be heard.
Spector had a troubled early life. His father committed suicide, his sister spent time in mental institutions and Spector suffered bouts of severe depression.
Shortly before Clarkson was shot, Spector told a British journalist that he had a bipolar personality and had “devils that fight inside me”. In 2006, he wed for the fourth time, marrying model/ actor Rachelle Short, who is 30 years his junior. – (Reuters)