Phil Spector - Murder of Lana Clarkson

Murder of Lana Clarkson

On February 3, 2003, actress Lana Clarkson was found dead, killed by a firearm, in Spector's mansion (Dupuy's Pyrenees Castle) in Alhambra, California. Spector stated that Clarkson's death was an "accidental suicide" and that she "kissed the gun". The emergency call from Spector's home, made by Spector's driver Adriano de Souza, quotes Spector as saying, "I think I've killed someone." According to some women who were said to have met Spector, there would come a point when they wanted to leave Spector's home, whereupon he would hold them at gunpoint. The prosecution argued that the testimony of the other women was important in order to demonstrate a "common plan or scheme". The defense sought to prevent the women from providing such testimony. Though the law in California and other states generally forbids the introduction of evidence showing a defendant's previous transgressions, the judge sided with the prosecutors and ruled that the testimony of the other women "can be used to show lack of accident or mistake".