No Trial for Spector in '06

Tue., Apr. 25, 2006 5:00 PM PDT by Natalie Finn

Phil Spector is now scheduled to ring in the next New Year in court.

Due to yet another timing conflict among the cast of characters planning to bring Spector to trial some day, the famed music producer's now not slated to face the murder charge against him until Jan. 16.

The 66-year-old Spector was in court Tuesday to agree to the latest delay.

His trial date has already been rescheduled a number of times after originally being set for Sept. 16 of last year due to legal wrangling from both the prosecution and the defense. September 2005 turned into January, which turned into Apr. 24, which turned into "no later than 15 days after Sept. 11, 2006."

This time it's Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry P. Fidler who warranted the postponement, having been assigned to oversee another murder trial in September.

The trial was postponed in March because defense attorney Bruce Cutler was involved in a federal trial in New York that was looking to extend past the Apr. 24 start date. September was then decided on, not because everyone would be tanned and well-rested from summer vacation, but because the prosecution team had a double murder case on their docket in May.

Meanwhile, the pioneering creator of the orchestral Wall of Sound has been free on $1 million bail since being charged with one count of murder in November 2003 for the February '03 shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson.

Although police have said that they overheard Spector apologize for accidentally shooting the Barbarian Queen star, whom he had met earlier that night, in the hallway of his Alhambra, California, mansion, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has since denied his involvement, telling police and press that Clarkson killed herself.

In October, Judge Fidler denied the defense's motion to throw out any statements Spector made to police the night of Clarkson's death. The judge also ruled that the defense could only bring up Spector's interview with Esquire in which he elaborated on how the actress allegedly shot herself--saying she had "kissed the gun"--if Spector himself took the stand to testify.

The delay also means the likely postponement of the civil wrongful death case brought against Spector by Clarkson's family. Typically, plaintiff attorneys prefer to have a criminal trial--and the reams of evidence it produces--take place before a related civil case (see: O.J. Simpson and Robert Blake).

Spector's temporary '06 reprieve doesn't necessarily mean his court docket is clear for the year. The producer was hit with a $5 million sexual harassment and breach of contract lawsuit last month by his former personal assistant (if it were his current assistant, things would be really awkward?)

Michelle Blaine, Spector's assistant for nearly five years, filed the suit detailing the inappropriateness she allegedly witnessed around Spector in response to him suing her in September, claiming she had embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from him over the years. Blaine is countering that all of the payments she received from her boss were authorized, including a onetime $700,000 haul, which she claims in her lawsuit was a bonus for not quitting at the time.

Cutler has told reporters that Blaine's accusations are "all a lie."