To know Phil Spector is to indict him as far as a Los Angeles grand jury is concerned.

Spector was in court Monday for the unsealing of a grand jury indictment that charges the reclusive rock pioneer with the 2003 shooting death of cult-film actress Lana Clarkson.

By obtaining an indictment, prosecutors signaled that they have enough evidence to send the case directly to trial and forego a preliminary hearing, in which the district attorney would have had to present evidence before a judge.

"He was indicted on one count of murder with the special allegation that he used a handgun," said Jane Robison, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

Spector's lawyer said last week that they were expecting the music man to be indicted. The 64-year-old Spector appeared unfazed as the indictment was read aloud in court, accusing him of killing the 40-year-old star of such B-flicks as Barbarian Queen and Amazon Women on the Moon at his sprawling mansion in suburban Los Angeles on Feb. 3, 2003.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David S. Wesley set Dec. 16 as the earliest potential start date for a trial.

Spector subsequently waived his right to a speedy trial, and the judge agreed to both sides' requests to allow the case to take place in Los Angeles instead of nearby Pasadena. The L.A. courts are better equipped to handle what will no doubt be a media circus.

The legendary music producer, who has collaborated with the likes of the Beatles, the Ronettes and the Righteous Brothers, said little in the courtroom except to respond to questions from the judge with a curt, "Yes, your honor."

Spector was apparently saving it up for a post-hearing tongue-lashing of the prosecution for what he called an end-run around the law.

"The actions of the Hitler-like D.A. and his storm-trooper henchmen are reprehensible, unconscionable and despicable," Spector told reporters. "They have conspired to deny me my California constitutional right to a preliminary hearing."

He said that had he been allowed a prelim, his lawyers would have called on some of the most famed forensic scientists and coroners in the world to testify that Clarkson shot herself. That has been Spector's assertion since a July 2003 interview with Esquire magazine in which he claimed Clarkson "kissed the gun."

"Does this district attorney have something to hide and fear? I think so. [The D.A. fears] the inevitable results that the public and the judge will, after a preliminary hearing is held, see that no crime was committed at my home on Feb. 3, 2003," Spector said. "Instead, he secretly, as fascists would, went to a secret grand jury to seek and get an indictment.

"We have been censored and we have been cut off, and we have no other means of getting our case out now that we have no preliminary hearing," he said.

Spector then called on "fellow artist," Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, to "step in and grant me my California constitutional right and stop this miscarriage of justice" by reinstating the prelim.

Spector needs to bone up on his state law. Under California law, prosecutors can circumvent the preliminary hearing process by taking the case before a grand jury, in which evidence and witnesses are presented in secret. The prosecutors in Michael Jackson's molestation case went a similar route.

Bruce Cutler, Spector's New York-based co-counsel, acknowledged that the move was within the law, but said it was an easy way for the D.A. to get the case to trial.

"We know it's legal, but we thought it was wrong to do it, unconstitutional to do it, un-American to do it," Cutler told reporters. "We wanted the people to see there was no case. We'll have to do that later on in this building at a trial if it comes to that."

"What Mr. Spector said, and what we've always said, is that the forensic experts have indicated to everyone that all the evidence is consistent with a self-inflicted gunshot wound," said Cutler. "That may be an accident, that may be suicide, I don't know. But what we are saying...is it's not a crime."

Spector, an eccentric mastermind who earned a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of fame for his "Wall of Sound" production on jukebox classics like "Be My Baby," "To Know Him Is To Love Him," "Unchained Melody" and "Da Doo Ron Ron," was arrested early last year after police found Clarkson's body splayed across his foyer.

Eight months went by however before they finally brought charges against Spector in November 2003. He has pleaded not guilty and remains free on $1 million bail.

Since then, the case has been delayed several times as Spector shook up his legal team.

Earlier this year, he dropped old pal and former O.J. Simpson attorney Robert Shapiro, then sued him for $1 million for allegedly doing "very little legal work."

Spector then hired Menendez brothers attorney Leslie Abramson, but after a disagreement on his defense, he replaced her with Cutler and Roger J. Rosen, the legal eagles best known for defending late mob boss John Gotti.

The prosecutors got tired of waiting for Spector to get his act together, and opted to expedite the process. Last Monday, a grand jury subsequently handed down an indictment.

If convicted of the murder charge, Spector faces a possible life sentence with the possibility of parole.