Showtime for Spector Defense

After nearly two months of testimony about blood spatter, DNA, ballistics and Phil Spector's behavioral patterns...it's time for another two months of testimony about blood spatter, DNA, ballistics and Spector's behavioral patterns.

As told from the point of view of the defense.

Spector's defense team launched its case Monday, calling the former chief medical examiner of Bexar County, Texas (which includes San Antonio), Dr. Vincent DiMaio, to the stand to establish its argument that Lana Clarkson accidentally shot herself on Feb. 3, 2003, in the hallway of Spector's Alhambra mansion.

DiMaio, one in a series of forensic experts on the docket to bolster the defense's side of the story, said today in court that the physical evidence, including gunshot residue and blood spatter found on Clarkson's hands, indicated that the actress pulled the trigger herself.

"That's the objective evidence," DiMaio testified. "There is no objective scientific evidence that anyone else held the gun."

Ninety-nine percent of intra-oral gunshot wounds are suicides, he said, and, contrary to popular belief, many women do in fact shoot themselves in the head. (A prosecution witness had testified that suicidal women were more likely to overdose.)

"People think the most difficult cases are homicides," DiMaio said this morning. "That's not true. It's suicide. People do not want to accept suicides. They will try to make suicides homicides."

DiMaio added that people act rashly when they're under the influence of alcohol, citing Clarkson's 0.12 percent blood-alcohol level at the time of her death and the Vicodin found in her system.

"You've seen drunk people do stupid things," he said.

In the meantime, the prosecution maintains that Spector made a habit of getting liquored up and threatening women with firearms and that he shot Clarkson after a night of drinking at various Los Angeles hot spots, including the West Hollywood House of Blues where Clarkson was working as a hostess the night she died.

The Los Angeles County coroner who performed Clarkson's autopsy, Dr. Louis Pena, ruled the Barbarian Queen star's death a homicide, basing his conclusion on both physical and circumstantial evidence, including his understanding that she was not depressed or otherwise looking to end her life at the time.

DiMaio said that throughout his 38 years as a forensic pathologist, he had seen only three homicides involving a shooting through the mouth.

Looking to refute the testimony of L.A. Sheriff's Department criminalist Lynne Herold, the prosecution's final witness who said that the mist-like blood spatter from the gunshot wound that killed Clarkson wouldn't have traveled more than two or three feet, defense attorney Christopher Plourd questioned DiMaio about how far he thought the blood could have gone.

Farther than three feet, DiMaio asserted, citing a German study that found blood droplets from calves that were shot in the head could travel six or seven feet.

"Depends on the weapon, depends on the velocity," he said, meaning guns with more power can produce more aerodynamic splatter.

The defense is contending that Clarkson's blood flew five or six feet before landing on Spector's jacket, meaning the famed music producer was not standing right in front of Clarkson when she was shot.

Herold admitted yesterday, however, that Spector could have been walking or running toward Clarkson when the blood hit his jacket.

Before DiMaio took the stand today, L.A. Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler reminded the defense that it couldn't use the retired pathologist to bring in statements or documents previously ruled too prejudicial, including a statement Spector made to Alhambra police referring to Clarkson's alleged suicide and a manuscript titled The Story of My Life that was found on the late actress' computer.

If DiMaio brings up either of those things, he will be excused and his testimony will be stricken from the record, Fidler warned.

Additionally, an evidentiary hearing has been tentatively scheduled for July 11 on the admissibility of misogynistic statements Spector allegedly made to retired New York police officer Vincent Tannazzo after some parties in the mid-1990s.

The prosecution is trying to refute the defense's argument that Spector acts the gentleman around women.

Meanwhile, former Spector attorney Sara Caplan filed an appeal with the state Supreme Court to have Fidler's contempt ruling overturned. The judge found her in contempt last week after she continued to refuse to testify, claiming attorney-client privilege, about supposedly seeing defense expert Dr. Henry Lee pick up a flat, white object while investigating Spector's home the day after Clarkson died.

The L.A. District Attorney's Office has accused Lee of picking up a piece of Clarkson's acrylic fingernail and then failing to alert the prosecution of its existence. Despite Lee's vehement denial of any wrongdoing, Fidler ruled that the forensics expert did, in fact, pick up something at the house, although he couldn't say for sure whether it was a nail.

California's 2nd District Court of Appeal upheld Fidler's ruling yesterday and Caplan is looking at jail time if the higher court doesn't see things her way.