Spector Gunplay Testimony Allowed

Mon., May. 23, 2005 4:45 PM PDT by Julie Keller

Prosecutors in Phil Spector's upcoming murder trial are bringing out the big guns.

A Los Angeles judge on Monday agreed to allow testimony from four women who claim the eccentric record producer pointed weapons at them at different times between 1988 and 1995.

Spector is on trial for the February 2003 shooting death of B-movie star Lana Clarkson.

In March, prosecutors presented Superior Court Judge Larry P. Fidler with a list of would-be witnesses, including five women who say Spector pointed guns at them on four different occasions.

"The similarities between the uncharged assaults and the Clarkson killing are striking," Deputy District Attorney Douglas Sortino wrote in his motion.

Fidler seemed to agree, for the most part. The judge has decided to allow the testimony of four of the potential witnesses. But, in a ruling benefiting the defense, Fidler ruled that the prosecution cannot explicitly bring up two gun-related convictions Spector had in 1972 and 1975.

Spector's team, of course, was aiming to have all of the prosecution's would-be witnesses removed from testifying. Defense lawyers Roger Rosen and Bruce Cutler told the judge there is "no case here" and that the witnesses should not be allowed to ensure the murder case could be tried in "unfettered, uncluttered, fair manner."

Rosen said that the case "should rise or sink based on what happened" the day of Clarkson's death.

Indeed, the women's testimony could be damning. Two of the women, photographer Stephanie Jennings and Dorothy Melvin, testified in front of a grand jury in September and helped prosecutors secure Spector's indictment.

Jennings said Spector freaked her out in 1995 in a hotel room after the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony when he sat in a chair and allegedly pointed a gun at her.

Melvin said Spector accused her of being a snoop and a thief when they were dating in 1989 or 1990 and chased her out of his house while holding a shotgun. "I heard him running down the drive and then I heard the pump of a shotgun," she told the grand jury.

The other two witnesses, Dianne Ogden and Melissa Grovesnor, did not testify before the grand jury, but both said Spector pointed guns at them in various fits of anger.

Speaking to reporters outside court, the wild-haired producer said, "Phil Spector did not pull guns on any of these women."

The Spector murder trial kicks off Sept. 16.