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Spector Case Nail Hang-Up
An errant thumbnail has legal eagles on both sides of the Phil Spector murder case pointing fingers.
As the case against the eccentric Rock and Roll Hall of Fame record producer moves forward, his attorneys have refused to hand over a fingernail reportedly found at the scene of the crime.
Prosecutors claim that the Spector team uncovered the evidence following the shooting death of B-movie starlet Lana Clarkson at Spector's estate and need to turn it in. Spector's lawyer, Leslie Abramson, told reporters Wednesday that there is no such evidence and has therefore refused the request.
In a hearing Tuesday, Deputy Los Angeles District Attorney Douglas Sortino told the judge that "if there is a piece of evidence, we're entitled to it."
Abramson told reporters outside the courthouse that there is no fingernail to be found. "I have told the judge and the D.A. that we do not have the piece of nail," she said. "They don't want to hear that...We are not holding any evidence."
The fingernail flap has its roots in a chance conversation at a summertime barbecue. That's when a retired detective hired to help the Wall of Sound producer mentioned that the investigators hired by the defense team had found a broken acrylic thumbnail at the murder site. The nail purportedly showed gunpowder residue, which would support Spector's claim that Clarkson shot herself with his gun on Feb. 2, 2003.
Sortino says that the P.I., Stan White, told the prosecution that "sheriff's detectives had missed an item of physical evidence at the crime scene."
Abramson bristled at the suggestion she was hiding evidence. "If I had a piece of nail, I'd blow it up poster-size and plaster it on every billboard in Los Angeles County," Abramson railed outside the courthouse.
She also claims that forensic guru Henry Lee, who played a key role in the O.J. Simpson case, will be able to clear up the confusion when he takes the stand on behalf of the defense.
"We're going to bring in Dr. Lee who's going to say, 'Nonsense,' and I told them 'Nonsense.' But they are so terrified that we have found this thing that proves our case. That's what this is all about," said Abramson. "They're jumping up and down about a statement made by a very irresponsible person about a 'fingernail' because they are terrified that we actually would have the missing piece of fingernail, acrylic nail from the decedent's right thumb."
For now, the court is withholding judgment on the mystery nail, and an evidentiary hearing has been set for May 21.
Spector is currently free on bail following his arrest for the murder of Clarkson at his Los Angeles-area home.
The 64-year-old music master recently fired lawyer Robert Shapiro, also of O.J. fame, in favor of Abramson, who became famous as the lead defense lawyer in the Menendez brothers murder trial in the mid-1990s.
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