O.J. Dream Teamer a Nightmare for Spector

Wed., May. 23, 2007 4:29 PM PDT by Joal Ryan

For a change in the Phil Spector trial, it wasn't Phil Spector whose legend took a hit.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry P. Fidler ruled Wednesday that Dr. Henry Lee, the "legendary investigator" who provided key defense testimony in the O.J. Simpson case and others, picked up "an item" from the crime scene at Spector's Alhambra, California house, where B-movie actress Lana Clarkson was shot to death in 2003.

"Dr. Lee did recover an item," Fidler said. "It is flat. It is white. It has irregular edges."

Prosecutors have long maintained that Spector's defense team palmed a fingernail during a walk-through of Spector's house, and then failed to turn over the evidence to them. Fidler said he couldn't say that the item was a fingernail, although, he decided, "it is the size of a fingernail."

In earlier hearings, former Spector attorney Sara Caplan testified she saw Lee put a small white object in a vial. Lee testified he didn't put anything in a vial. Faced with the task of sorting through conflicting stories, Fidler said he thought Caplan was the more credible witness, and the most credible witness of those took the stand on the matter.

Although the unspecified crime-scene fragment at issue is small, the implications in the Fidler ruling could be big.

If Lee takes the stand now for Spector, he can be asked by prosecutors about the "item," a detour that could make Lee more of an issue, and less of an esteemed expert.

"Dr. Lee has a lot of lose if this turns out to be true," Fidler said prior to announcing his findings.

Things could have been worse for Lee: Fidler could have cited Lee in contempt of court for withholding evidence. But Fidler said a contempt charge wouldn't make sense at this point because it doesn't appear Lee has the item anymore to withhold. ("If Dr. Lee has the object, he has to produce it forthwith," the judge reminded.)

As far as the trial goes, the fingernail saga dates back to May 3, when Gregory Diamond, a former clerk for ex-Spector attorney Robert Shapiro, testified that he saw Caplan pick up something small and white at the Spector crime scene, setting off the chain of did-not Lee-did, did-not Caplan's-mistaken statements.

As far back as 2004, prosecutors alleged in court papers that Spector's team failed to hand over a gunpowder-marked fingernail that they believed would show a struggle between the record producer and Clarkson.

Lee took his lumps with jurors outside the courtroom. Wednesday's ruling, as with the previous fingernail hearings, was handed down before an empty jury box.

Fidler rejected a prosecution request that would have had him announce to jurors that Lee withheld evidence.

According to his personal Website, Lee is "the legendary investigator...known for finding the tiniest clues." He has worked on more than 6,000 cases, by his own count, including ones involving JonBenet Ramsey, President Kennedy and Simpson.

In 1995, Lee testified that shoe prints found near the slain bodies of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman did not match the Bruno Maglis the prosecution alleged Simpson donned the night of the double murder.

Post-Simpson, Lee went onto fame as an author, and sought-out forensics expert.

Spector, meanwhile, remains the man officially on trial. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame producer ("Unchained Melody") is accused of shooting Clarkson to death at his home after a night of clubbing. According to the defense, the 40-year-old Clarkson died by her own hand, an "accidental suicide." Spector has pleaded innocent.

In the trial's afternoon session Wednesday, jurors heard testimony from David Riggs, a paramedic who responded to Spector's house on the night of the shooting, and offered testimony of finding "a woman in a chair in a slumped position."

The woman, Clarkson, was determined to be a "DB," Riggs said, jargon for "dead body."