Defense Schools Spector Chauffeur in English

The prosecution's star witness didn't think he was going to get off easy, did he?

Phil Spector's defense team continued to chisel away at Adriano De Souza's credibility Monday, getting the music producer's onetime chauffeur to admit that there are inconsistencies between his court testimony and the story he told investigators about the night of Lana Clarkson's death.

De Souza testified last week (and before a grand jury in 2004) that, a moment after a loud noise woke him at 5 a.m. on Feb. 3, 2003, Spector came out of his Alhambra mansion, holding a gun, and said, "I think I shot somebody." Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson also played the driver's 911 call from that morning in which he tells two officers that he saw a woman with blood on her face sprawled on a chair inside the house.

While the Brazilian-born witness told prosecutors that he had no trouble understanding Spector's English, he told defense attorney Bradley Brunon on cross-examination lsat Wednesday that there were, in fact, times when he misunderstood the soft-spoken Wall of Sound creator.

Following that thread, Brunon asked De Souza today whether it's possible that he got Spector's words wrong when he talked to police that morning.

"Your memory now is that Mr. Spector came out and said, 'I think I killed somebody,' " Brunon said.

"Yes," De Souza replied.

Brunon then asked De Souza why he had told an investigator at the scene that Spector had said, "I think I shot somebody." (Not "killed"—"shot.")

"Do you know which version it was? Do you think you might have heard, 'I think somebody was killed'?" Brunon asked.

"No," De Souza responded.

With the fountain in the background, combined with the stressfulness of the situation, "Could you have gotten those words wrong?" Brunon asked.

"No," De Souza insisted. "The words I heard were clear."

"You weren't in the best state of mind the morning after," Brunon said. "You told them you're not sure exactly what was said because of your English, wasn't that the truth?"

"I tried to do my best," De Souza said, admitting that he was tired, hungry and rather frightened at the time.

"It's hard to see and hear exactly when something is so frightening, isn't it?" Brunon continued.

"Yes, a little bit," De Souza said.

Brunon also pointed out that, today in court, De Souza testified that Spector looked to be in shock when he came outside on Feb. 3, and that he told the authorities that his boss was "completely drunk."

The prosecution has been arguing that Spector's longtime pattern of getting drunk and threatening women with firearms finally turned deadly the night he met Clarkson, who was working as a hostess at the House of Blues in West Hollywood. The defense is maintaining that the B-movie actress shot herself.

To date, different witnesses have testified for the prosecution as to the number of alcoholic drinks Spector ordered that night—at least six—but the defense has been able to get several of them to admit that they weren't exactly sure how much booze Spector actually consumed.

De Souza said on the stand last week that Spector, who he says smelled of alcohol and appeared drunk, left the House of Blues with Clarkson at about 2:30 a.m. The driver was asleep in the car, which was parked a few feet away from the back door of Spector's home, when the gunshot that killed Clarkson allegedly rang out.

In his opening statement, defense attorney Bruce Cutler characterized De Souza, who said that he had worked for 13 or 14 times before that night, as a "substitute driver with a language problem who was full of snacks and cookies and sound asleep" before Spector came outside. Spector's purported admission, therefore, was "five words allegedly said to someone taking a siesta," Cutler said.

Brunon suggested today that De Souza's English is better now than it was in 2003. The Brazilian, who is currently in the U.S. illegally because his student visa has expired, said that he had been in this country for about four years before Clarkson's death. (The defense has also suggested that the L.A. District Attorney's Office is helping De Souza with his immigration status in exchange for his testimony.)

"Back in 2003, before you had…four-plus additional years of English, living in an English-speaking country, when you heard English at that time did you first translate it to Portuguese in your own mind and then translate the answer from Portuguese to English and then answer in English?" Brunon inquired.

Admitting that he did that when he was first learning English, De Souza said, "At that time, I was good in both languages."

On redirect, Jackson produced a transcript of De Souza's interview with an investigator, pointing out that De Souza did in fact use the word "killed" repeatedly and that it was the officer who introduced the word "shot," after which De Souza started saying "shot" in reference to Spector's statement.

Jackson also stated that immigration proceedings against De Souza have only been suspended, not stopped.

Looking to prove that De Souza had no trouble communicating with police, the prosecution also played part of a 98-minute videotape of authorities interviewing De Souza about five hours after Clarkson's death. The rest of the tape will be shown tomorrow morning.

De Souza is also expected to return to the stand Tuesday. This week will be a short one, with Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler canceling court on Thursday to allow a lengthier holiday weekend for attorneys who may be traveling to see family on the East Coast.