A contentious effort to expunge Phil Spector’s criminal record is reportedly underway two years after his death. Spector was a music producer who was also convicted of murder.
Spector spent his final years in prison after being found guilty of the murder of actress Lana Clarkson, despite being widely regarded as a musical genius for his work with The Righteous Brothers, Tina Turner, and The Beatles.
In a shocking incident that rocked Hollywood and beyond, the 40-year-old was shot to death in Spector’s sprawling California mansion, the Pyrenees Castle, in February 2003.
Spector always maintained his innocence, claiming Clarkson had “kissed the gun” and shot herself at his property. He died in prison at the age of 81 from COVID.
According to the producers of a new Sky documentary, it is a version of the events that the producer’s daughter still holds to be true.
The four-part series examines Spector and Clarkson’s lives and the notorious murder that took place at his house.
Nicole Spector agreed to be interviewed for the show. In the interview, she says that her father was “easy prey” for the prosecutors and that the evidence at his trial showed that “he couldn’t have pulled the trigger.”
Director Sheena Joyce tells Sky News, “She feels very strongly that Lana took her own life and she believes the forensic evidence supports that.”
“I don’t know if she will ever change her mind about that,” I said.
Joyce asserts that Nicole remains “angry” and “devastated” over the fact that her father served more than a decade in prison for a crime she believes he did not commit.
The creator of the documentary claims that Spector’s daughter is “trying to get the Innocence Project, which works to clear people wrongly convicted of crimes, to get behind the case and exonerate her father.”
Defense attorneys had argued that there was “no physical evidence” that Spector pulled the trigger on the gun that killed Clarkson during Spector’s first trial, which ended with a hung jury, and his subsequent retrial, when he was convicted of murder.
“On the gun, no fingerprints were found.” The gun lacked any DNA. According to the documentary, Spector’s trial lawyer Linda Kenney Baden said, “He had no gunshot residue on him.” She also draws attention to the fact that Spector’s white jacket on the night Clarkson died doesn’t seem to have any blood on it.
Don Argott and Joyce, who made the documentary, say that they “kept an open mind” about Spector’s conviction while reading through the transcripts, documents, and video evidence from his trial.
However, the verdict of the jury in Spector’s retrial, according to both filmmakers, was correct.
According to Joyce, “I think it’s ludicrous to think that (Lana Clarkson) walked into a stranger’s house, rooted around in (Spector’s) things, found a gun, and shot herself in the face.”
Defense attorneys had argued that there was “no physical evidence” that Spector pulled the trigger on the gun that killed Clarkson during Spector’s first trial, which ended with a hung jury, and his subsequent retrial, when he was convicted of murder.
“On the gun, no fingerprints were found.” The gun lacked any DNA. According to the documentary, Spector’s trial lawyer Linda Kenney Baden said, “He had no gunshot residue on him.” She also draws attention to the fact that Spector’s white jacket on the night Clarkson died doesn’t seem to have any blood on it.
Don Argott and Joyce, who made the documentary, say that they “kept an open mind” about Spector’s conviction while reading through the transcripts, documents, and video evidence from his trial.
However, the verdict of the jury in Spector’s retrial, according to both filmmakers, was correct.
According to Joyce, “I think it’s ludicrous to think that (Lana Clarkson) walked into a stranger’s house, rooted around in (Spector’s) things, found a gun, and shot herself in the face.”
label of “B-movie actress”
The documentary examines not only the murder itself, but also the media coverage surrounding Clarkson’s death, which frequently referred to her as a “B-movie actress.”
She appeared in numerous films and television shows, including the cult 1980s film Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Knight Rider alongside David Hasselhoff.
Clarkson was working as a hostess at the House of Blues club on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles at the time she first met Spector.
According to Joyce, Clarkson’s description as a “B-movie actress” was “shorthand for disposable.”
According to the director, “Putting a moniker like ‘B-movie actress’ before her name somehow suggests she was desperate, she had it coming, and she was asking for it.”
It’s a quick and easy way to tell a story about someone.
“We had to make sure that Lana wasn’t just a footnote in the Phil Spector story. This was important for us.”
We wanted her to have a lot of personality.
The documentary includes an interview with Clarkson’s mother Donna, but Joyce acknowledges that she had “quite a few reservations” about participating.
She asserts, “Sometimes it’s hard for people to see the upside of participating in something like this.”
“They are discussing the event that has affected them the most severely.
Additionally, they are putting themselves at risk of ridicule and disappointment. It is severing old wounds.
“It was important to us that she understood that we wanted to really flesh out (Lana) as a real character and not just a footnote in the Phil Spector story.”
“She eventually trusted us, and I do believe we did the right thing by her.”
