Spector Attorney's Reality Checkmate

Mon., Aug. 27, 2007 12:37 PM PDT by Gina Serpe

He lasted nearly four-and-a-half years on the case. But one more day of testimony was apparently too much for Phil Spector's main defense attorney to bear.

Bruce Cutler, the so-billed lead attorney on Spector's defense team who was frequently MIA from the criminal proceedings, has resigned his post, citing a difference of opinion on the team's closing-argument strategy in the legendary producer's murder trial.

In Los Angeles Superior Court Monday, the final day of testimony in the long-gestating trial, Cutler told Judge Larry Paul Fidler: "There's nothing I can do for Mr. Spector. I can no longer effectively represent him."

When Fidler asked Spector whether he concurred with Cutler's last-minute stepping down, Spector replied, "That is correct."

It's unclear whether Cutler's bowing out was voluntary or whether he was demoted by his client.

Cutler, who delivered the trial's opening statement earlier this year, in which he alleged actress Lana Clarkson fatally shot herself at the 67-year-old's Alhambra mansion back in February 2003, has been largely missing from the courtroom since the trial's kickoff. He only managed to cross-examine one witness during his tenure, during which he was criticized by Fidler for his overly aggressive questioning style.

Shortly after, Cutler was absent for several weeks of testimony, time he spent participating in a forthcoming syndicated reality show, Jury Duty, filming around Los Angeles.

Fellow defense attorney Roger Rosen has stepped up to fill the lead attorney shoes, though Cutler told the court he may return to deliver the closing arguments for Spector, set to take place next week.

"Hopefully you will get to see me work rather than sit," Cutler said of his forthcoming courtroom duties.

Later today, friends of Clarkson's are expected to take the stand to testify that the actress and House of Blues hostess used cocaine and alcohol during the final year of her life and that she was potentially in a depressed state of mind at the time of her death. The prosecution, meanwhile, has been busy trying to prove that Clarkson was a generally upbeat person who would never have contemplated suicide.

Closing arguments in the trial are expected to kick off Sept. 5.