The Phil Spector Trial: We Watch Court TV So You Don’t Have To (08/02)
WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY? ? Nicole Spector took the stand in her father’s defense and reminisced about Phil playing guitar to her as a child. The testimony was meant to prove that the producer is right-handed; instead, it painted the famed music producer in a fatherly light, a man distant from the prosecution’s portrayal of him as a gun-wielding maniac. And then suddenly, we neared the end of the trial. The defense proclaimed that, barring the recall of previous witnesses or the reemergence of Dr. Henry Lee, they were out of witnesses. The prosecution quickly countered with a list of thirteen rebuttal witnesses, and a similarly effective emotional moment. First up was paramedic Bruce Liverpool, who played an audiotape of Lana Clarkson receiving medical attention after breaking both her wrists in 2001. It was the first time the jury had heard Clarkson’s voice.
IS THIS GOOD OR BAD FOR SPECTOR? Bad. While questioning Nicole Spector was a smart move, the defense rested its case without having famed forensic scientist Michael Baden, infamous Hollywood madam Babydol Gibson or even Phil Spector himself take the stand. The defense closed with a whimper instead of a bombshell.
MEANWHILE, OUTSIDE OF COURT: Michael Bay, the action-movie director extraordinaire whose alleged snub of Clarkson at a party fueled the defense’s suicide claims, was announced as a prosecution rebuttal witness. Bay will testify that he never attended the aforementioned party, nor did he snub Clarkson, which will severely damage the credibility of one of Spector’s most indispensable witnesses, Punkin Pie.