New Defense Theory Riles Spector Judge

So, it turns out the Phil Spector jury had not heard everything yet.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler cleared the jury from the courtroom Wednesday after a defense witness unexpectedly introduced a new theory of the circumstances surrounding Lana Clarkson's death.

"There is a deliberate, knowing violation of the discovery statute," the judge said, agreeing with the prosecution's objections, after noted forensics expert Dr. Michael Baden suggested that Clarkson may not have been killed immediately when she was shot in the mouth on Feb. 3, 2003, but instead may have lived long enough to spew blood onto Spector's jacket as she took her last breaths.

The defense has argued, based largely on the blood spatter found on Spector's jacket, that the Wall of Sound creator was standing at least six feet away from Clarkson when the gun went off, too far away to have wedged the weapon into her mouth and shot her, as the prosecution contends.

Previous witnesses have testified that Clarkson's spinal cord was shattered on impact and death came barely a second later. Retired pathologist Dr. Werner Spitz testified for the defense, however, that Clarkson could have breathed that blood onto Spector in the seconds before she died.

"My opinion in this case is there was an incomplete transection of the spinal cord and the rest was torn during transportation [to the coroner's office]," Baden, chief forensic pathologist for the New York State Police and the husband of defense attorney Linda Kenney Baden, said. "After Ms. Clarkson was shot through the spine there were still some nerve fibers that allowed her to breathe for a few minutes," explaining why blood was found in her lungs' microscopic air sacs.

"As we breathe out, some of that blood will come out of the mouth or nose," he said.

Fidler dismissed the jury following Baden's statements and Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson immediately complained that the defense had "sandbagged and blindsided" him by obscuring "the centerpiece of Dr. Baden's testimony."

"This is what they wanted out of Dr. Baden," Jackson said. "Now they've brought Lana Clarkson back to life. They were getting nothing about Lana Clarkson coughing blood on Phil Spector. And now they have Dr. Baden on the stand and I'm staring into a report that doesn't mention it."

Trying to explain the discrepancy, Baden said that he'd an epiphany, "an 'aha!' moment," on Sunday while going over the testimony of L.A. County coroner Dr. Louis Pena, who performed the autopsy and ruled Clarkson's death a homicide, and then shared his opinion with defense attorney Christopher Plourd.

Baden said that he reevaluated the weight of Clarkson's lungs—1,830 grams, with blood and other bodily fluids constituting about two-thirds of that amount.

"That's a huge abnormality and I missed it initially," he said, adding that he did not discuss his new findings with his wife, who has been absent from court due to an illness.

"You had to know how important this testimony was, so why wasn't the prosecution notified?" Fidler asked Plourd, who denied purposely withholding the information.

"As testimony develops, this is a natural evolution, especially when there are complex issues," defense lawyer Bradley Brunon added.

But Fidler ruled that Spector's camp had violated evidence rules by presenting surprise testimony.

"The reason prosecutors weren't told was to have the effect that the prosecution would be unable to rebut it," he said. "You had to know this testimony would come out."

"Can I say you are lying? I cannot say that," Fidler continued. "But it is clear to me there was a knowing, tactical decision made not to reveal [the new info] to the prosecution."

Fidler refused Jackson's request to have Baden's statements regarding the blood be stricken from the record, but he ordered the defense to cease that line of questioning.

After the jury was reseated, Baden also testified that he believed Clarkson's gunshot wound was self-inflicted and that her judgment may have been affected by alcohol and Vicodin, which was found in her system at the time.

"I think she may have been playing with the weapon...An injury in the mouth is almost always self-inflicted," Baden said. "And the injury to the acrylic on the thumbnail is consistent with other injuries to thumbs in persons I have seen who use the thumb to discharge a weapon." (A close-up picture of Clarkson's hand has shown a broken thumbnail.)

The defense also read two more emails that Clarkson wrote to friends in which she expressed some darker thoughts.

"I was just so depressed about my car, my life, my career, I just couldn't stay in my house for another [minute]," read one, while she wrote in another, "I have more serious addictions…like pain pills!"

Baden concurred with previous defense witnesses who have said that Clarkson was depressed about her career in the months leading up to her death.

"It fits in that she's unhappy and it's been one of the worst years of her life," the pathologist said.

Baden later testified on cross-examination that he had billed the Spector camp about $80,000 for his work on the case but had no incentive to cater his testimony for the defense, despite being married to a defense team member.  

Before Tuesday's bloody testimony, the week got off to an emotional start with Clarkson's mother, Donna Clarkson, taking the stand Monday to testify about some letters that were found in her daughter's apartment that appeared to be from network executives but which turned out to be forgeries.

In her desperate state, the defense alleged, Clarkson faked letters from honchos at NBC, Fox and Showtime praising her skills to better her chances of getting a loan from her friend, Charles Schwab founder Hugo Quackenbush. (The investment banker died in March.)

Fidler admitted the letters into evidence, over the prosecution's objections that they were irrelevant with regard to who pulled the trigger that night.

NBC casting executive Marc Hirschfeld testified that although he didn't write the letter bearing his signature that was found in Clarkson's apartment, he did think she was a talented actress and had corresponded with her in the past.

Bolstering the prosecution's claim that Clarkson was a hopeful, vibrant person despite her career frustrations, Donna Clarkson testified on cross-examination about a shopping trip she took with her daughter the afternoon before she died.

Donna said that she and Lana went shopping for comfortable shoes that the actress could wear for her new job as a hostess at the West Hollywood House of Blues, where she met Spector later that night.

Instead of just one pair, Lana ended up buying seven, the elder Clarkson recalled.

Spector, meanwhile, may be sitting through the trial with his eyes closed because he's resting up for his day job, which, because of the trial, he's been doing on nights and weekends.

Spector has managed to cobble enough time together to produce a new song, "Crying for John Lennon," by 20-year-old singer-songwriter Hargo. The track, which utilizes Spector's signature Wall of Sound technique, will be used in Strawberry Fields, an upcoming documentary about the late Beatle.