Spector Defense: Clarkson Was Depressed, in Pain

Point by point, Phil Spector's defense team is looking to dismantle the prosecution's case against the famed music producer.

On the stand for the second day Wednesday, retired pathologist Dr. Vincent DiMaio contested multiple arguments made by the opposing side regarding physical evidence and Lana Clarkson's state of mind when she died on Feb. 3, 2003.

For the past two months, the prosecution has maintained that the actress' death was a homicide and that she was not troubled when she was killed by a gunshot wound to the mouth in the foyer of Spector's Alhambra home. The coroner who performed her autopsy classified Clarkson as a "hopeful person" with plans for the future.

After testifying Tuesday that Clarkson's wound was self-inflicted, DiMaio continued to beg to differ today.

The former chief medical examiner for Bexar County, Texas, disputed a sheriff department criminalist's opinion that Spector appeared to have moved the body before police arrived, as well as previous testimony that concluded Clarkson's tongue may have been bruised by a gun being forced into her mouth.

DiMaio said that a spinal reflex—even in the case of an instantaneous death—could have caused Clarkson's head to move from right to left, citing a case in Colorado in which a dead body with the heart already removed "sat up" on the autopsy table.

As for the bruising: "The tongue is solid muscle and it's very difficult to injure solid muscle," DiMaio explained, as jurors were shown graphic photographs of Clarkson's excised tongue. "To injure the tongue requires a tremendous amount of force."

To cause that sort of blunt force trauma, it would require a swinging arc at the mouth, "like swinging a baseball bat," the doctor said.

Pressure caused by the discharge of the revolver that killed her likely caused the bruising, DiMaio continued, comparing the force to "setting off a cherry bomb in your mouth."

He also stated that Clarkson was battling depression and chronic pain in the months leading up to her death.

"She had financial problems. She was afraid of being evicted. In one of the emails she said she had no job skills. She was an actress, was 40 years of age," DiMaio said. "I'm sorry, that's sex discrimination, but that's the way it is."

Guided by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler's previous rulings on what information about Clarkson was admissible and what was irrelevant, DiMaio stated that the Barbarian Queen star was having a rough time in the months leading up to her death.

She was taking Vicodin, which was in her system when she died, and had broken both wrists in an accident in 2002, DiMaio said. Clarkson was also taking medication to treat migraines and had written in a note to one of her doctors that "she was at the end of her rope and could not function."

In her day planner, on Aug. 21, 2002, she had written, "First sober day," DiMaio testified.

None of which sat well with Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson, whose cross-examination turned particularly trenchant at times.

The prosecutor accused DiMaio of relying more on general statistics than specific facts pertaining to the case when concluding that Clarkson killed herself. (DiMaio said yesterday that 99 percent of intra-oral gunshot wound deaths were suicides.)

"That’s an important thing," DiMaio responded, protesting that his finding shouldn't be dismissed because a statistic was involved and that he was basing his opinions on scientific evidence.

If the pressure had been as great as the doctor testified, Jackson proposed, "her head would have been pulverized."

DiMaio disagreed.

"Were her lips split apart?" Jackson asked.

"No," DiMaio answered.

"Were her eyes bulging?"

Again, no.

Jackson then alleged that DiMaio tailored his testimony to mislead the jury when he stated that the gun residue on Clarkson's hands was consistent with her holding the gun and pulling the trigger.

The presence of gunshot residue could also indicate she was merely near the gun when it was fired, Jackson said. "Is there a reason you left that out of your testimony, Dr. DiMaio?"

"I told the jury the truth," DiMaio replied heatedly.

"Actually, you told the jury a half-truth," Jackson countered, adding that there was also gunshot residue found on Spector's hands.

"You didn't tell the jury that, did you?"

DiMaio sighed. "No," he answered.

The former medical examiner also testified that he is charging Spector $400 an hour for his services—a not unusual rate, he said—and that he has billed the defense more than $26,000 for his work on the case to date.

Meanwhile, the state Supreme Court stayed Fidler's contempt ruling against ex-Spector attorney Sara Caplan, who has repeatedly refused to testify for the prosecution about supposedly seeing forensics expert Dr. Henry Lee pick up a piece of evidence at Spector's home.

Prosecutors have alleged that Lee pocketed a piece of acrylic fingernail and that neither he nor the defense turned it over to the L.A. District Attorney's Office. Lee has vehemently denied the charge.