Spector Defense Done, without Lee; Rebuttal Begins

Phil Spector's defense team reached the end of the line Wednesday.

After the surprise announcement yesterday from Spector's camp that it would call its final witness as soon as today, the beleaguered music icon's attorneys made good on their plan and closed their case, clearing the way for the prosecution to begin its rebuttal arguments.

The defense will not officially rest its case, however, until after a jury visit to Spector's Alhambra home, planned for Aug. 9, leaving them time to call more witnesses if need be.

In turn, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler told the 12 jurors and six alternates that this trial is almost over. Fidler's going to visit Spector's home Monday and then rule—depending on how much the residence has changed since Lana Clarkson died there Feb. 3, 2003—on whether the jurors might benefit from seeing the place in person.

After a month of testimony, the defense ended up not calling to the stand numerous prominent witnesses, including Spector himself and veteran forensics expert Dr. Henry Lee, whom the prosecution accused of tampering with evidence and who became increasingly embittered by having his name dragged through the mud.

On Tuesday, Fidler denied defense attorney Bradley Brunon's request that Lee, who's currently traveling abroad and won't be back until next week, be declared unavailable and that his testimony from a May 16 evidentiary hearing be read at trial.

"I don't think you've shown me that Dr. Lee is unavailable," Fidler said. "You knew he was leaving the country. Any time you wanted, you could have issued a subpoena. A trial takes precedence over a trip." The defense has until the end of next week to call Lee to the stand, Fidler said.

Lee was going to be one in a series of witnesses who have already testified that Spector was standing at least six feet away from Clarkson when she was shot, and therefore couldn't have shot her through the mouth, as the prosecution claims.

The defense alleges that Clarkson, under the influence of alcohol and pills, accidentally shot herself.

Providing a refreshing change for the jury, who at times has had to listen to the same witness for up to four days, a handful of people testified between Tuesday and Wednesday, with Spector's 24-year-old daughter becoming one of the last to take the stand in her dad's defense.

First off yesterday, DNA analyst Marc Scott Taylor testified that blood flakes found on a Post-It note that Lee turned over to investigators were consistent with Clarkson's blood. He called the sticky notes a good tool for picking up potential crime scene evidence.

The defense then called one of the prosecution's witnesses, L.A. County Coroner's Office criminalist Steven Dowell, who testified that a vial containing a "white fragment of material" collected from the death scene was broken when it arrived at his office.

Lee was accused of removing a piece of acrylic fingernail from the scene and never turning it over to investigators. He has adamantly denied the charge, although Fidler ruled last month that Lee had picked up an object at the scene and failed to turn it over.

Next up was Richard Munisteri, a lawyer who works for House of Blues parent company Live Nation, who testified that Clarkson's typical work hours were from 6 p.m. until about 2:30 a.m. and that she had Tuesdays off.

The Barbarian Queen star, who had been working as a hostess in the club's VIP-area Foundation Room, died early on a Monday morning after accompanying Spector to his home after her Sunday shift. The defense has suggested that Clarkson was depressed by having to take the $9-an-hour job to get by.

During Wednesday's morning session, Nicole Spector testified that her father is right-handed, backing the defense's claim that the music man couldn't have shot Clarkson because blood spatter ended up on the left side of the jacket he was wearing at the time.

Nicole also talked about how, growing up, her dad would drive her home from school and watch All in the Family with her and her mom.

Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson objected to the reminiscence, an attempt to distinguish Spector from the testy, misogynistic gun aficionado the prosecution has depicted.

"Let's get to the point," Fidler agreed.

L.A. Sheriff's homicide detective Tom Fortier and computer consultant Daniel Haste both testified about what was found on Clarkson's laptop hard drive when they searched her belongings.

Previous witnesses have recalled receiving emails from Clarkson in which she sounded depressed and made statements about "ending it all." The defense maintains that Clarkson had been despondent over her career and finances in the weeks leading up to her death, while the prosecution has tried to paint a picture of a hopeful person who had several things in the works when she was killed.

Defense attorney Linda Kenney Baden today singled out an email Clarkson received about a depression and alcohol dependency conference in June 2002 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Jackson then pointed out that there was no proof that she ever attended the conference, and that she may have received the message as part of a mass email from the Screen Actors Guild.

"And the word suicide does not appear anywhere on Lana Clarkson's computer?" Jackson asked Fortier.

"That's correct," Fortier said.

In the afternoon session, the L.A. District Attorney's Office lost no time in launching its rebuttal case.

First up was L.A. city firefighter and paramedic Bruce Liverpool, who testified that Clarkson did not appear to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol when he treated her for two broken wrists after she had fallen down at a Christmas Eve party in 2001.

Liverpool told the same thing to a nurse at Cedars-Sinai, as evidenced by a tape of the call, which was played in court.

His partner, Daniel Stark, had testified for the defense, however, that Clarkson seemed tipsy when he and Liverpool arrived at the scene.

Prosecutors also called Nick Terzian, who was Clarkson's agent when she died, to testify to the actress' vibrancy and strong work ethic.

Repeatedly calling her a "moneymaker," Terzian described his late client as "extremely, extremely marketable and viable."

"Lana was a beautiful, talented, outgoing comedic actress," he said. While his testimony today largely focused on the 1990s, he is expected to testify about Clarkson, as she was in the year leading up to her death, on Thursday.

Also on the prosecution's list of possible rebuttal witnesses is filmmaker Michael Bay, who has already angrily contested testimony that Clarkson was heartbroken a few weeks before she died when Bay, whom she'd worked with on a commercial, gave her the brush-off at a party.

Bay wrote on his Website that he definitely remembered Clarkson and that the so-called run-in at the party never happened.