Don't Forget Lana

This is an unfinished draft entry.
It will be completed over the next several days.

It was a Court TV poster LegalViewer, who said in an email to me, something that brought me back to one of the reasons that I dedicated four months of my life to this trial.

Remember, you, Dini and the others are their "community support." Keep up your support for the Clarkson's.

As much as I'm enjoying all the participation by the Court TV members in the caption contest, (the entries I've received so far will be posted soon for everyone to enjoy) I myself needed to be brought back to why we are here in the first place. Lana.

On that note, I thought I would remind everyone who Lana was, through the words of her friend that she had for over 20 years, Nili Hudson, and her print ad agent, Nick Terzian. This is not a verbatim, exact transcript of highlights of their testimony, but it's very close.

Nili's friendship with Lana began when they were both in their late teens, and continued until Lana's death.

Nili Hudson
During the summer of 1981, Lana and her friend Gwendolyn, were young beautiful aspiring actresses, who moved in, I believe at the house next door. And then, immediately Lana and I connected, and that's when our friendship began.

(We were) As close and as intimate and as best of friends as anybody could imagine being. Over twenty-one years we traveled, we lived together as roommates, on three or four occasions in different homes. We celebrated each others birthdays. I used to spend Christmas with her family because I'm Jewish. So, I didn't have much to do on Christmas Day, or we'd go to the movies. And, so through the 20 some odd years that we were friends we spent a significant amount of our time together.

The parallels between our businesses (Nili has been in real estate since she was 21), were far more than anyone would imagine. We had to get out there every day and pound the pavement. I was selling myself as a realtor, and selling homes; she was selling herself as an actress and a performer. And, we both got rejection, and we both lived check to check. And, neither of us got a salary in between those checks. When we hit it big, it was big. We would be each other's cheering section. She's just call and say, "I booked a commercial," and I'd sold a house and we'd scream on the phone. It was just, the parallels were quite remarkable. It was remarkable how similar our lives, as a result of being in those careers were.

She would book something, and I'd be one of the first people she would call. "I got it! I got the commercial!" And I'd be screaming for her, "YEAH!" And I'd call her and say, "I got a great client! We sold a house today, three million dollars," and she would scream for me. Same thing. We'd meet a great guy, we'd call each other and say, "I met the most wonderful guy." I mean, that's what we did. We were each others cheering section. We had this mutual admiration society. For twenty years it was like that. It never really changed.

Was Lana close with my mother? Absolutely. She even lived with my mother, when I no longer lived in the house. She was my family, and I believe I was a part of her family.

In the more recent years, prior to Lana passing away, she started booking some remarkable national commercials. K-Mart. She became the spokesperson for Route 66 jeans. I would guess in '97, '98 (she got that campaign). It was phenomenal. It launched a new era for her. (An image is put up on the Elmo.) That's Lana any myself with Paul Newman at Ontario Raceway, Speedway (for a K-Mart campaign).

Lana landed some other national commercials for Budwiser, Playtex and Mercedes. There was an enormous shift in her career around '97-'98. I watched and experienced this shift with her. Lana understood that what was making her successful in her earlier years, was her beauty....coupled with her talent. She was, an ingenue. She was, the gorgeous arm candy. Those were the kind of roles she was getting. She acknowledged that at some point in her mid thirties, that she wasn't booking as many as those types of parts. She started exploring, and discovered she had a talent for comedy. She started pursuing this, comedic avenue. And this is where the shift came. And it was, brilliant, what she started doing. What I observed, was this remarkable, shift from, "Okay, I'm not going to be the cute, gorgeous blond ingenue, ~in terms of my career and not getting those roles~ where can I take, what level can I take my career now to?" She started exploring comedy, and she started performing at the comedy store.

I saw her perform at The Comedy Store. I was astounded, that she had the....courage....to do this. It takes years to build up that kind of repertoire. She did it day one. She just said, "I'm going to do it." She got on stage, and started performing comedy, and that's when she started booking comedic roles. This K-Mart commercial was a comedic role. The Budwiser commercial was a comedic role. And it was just this unbelievable new avenue for her. The Budwiser commercial was the one where they meet another couple... and there was some animal that talked.

Was she driven with respect to her career? Did she care about it deeply? Remarkably. Astoundingly. (As Nili was with her real estate career.) And we shared that and talked about that. About the same time, there was a big shift in her personal life. Lana was, from the day she came to Los Angeles, a part of this community. She was in love with the idea of, doing what she did, and being a part of the community, and networking, and socializing.....and for many, many years, this is what she did. She was a member of the Hollywood community in that sense. The lifestyle she had, in addition to pursuing her career, was, a social lifestyle. At some point, around this same time, she decided that she really wanted to...take it down a notch. And she kind of wanted to go inward a little bit, and, slow down. She pursued.....she became more spiritual. She started going to church. She was going to Self Realization Center every Sunday. She had decided to just sort of, um, kind of refresh, and regroup. And that's where this shift happened and she stopped drinking for a while. She stopped eating meat. She was just getting super healthy.

During the period of time that you knew Lana, was networking for want of a better term in the Hollywood community important to her? Overwhelmingly. And prior to this shift, that networking included going to parties. Her change in focus and how she networked happened around '97, '98. She wasn't doing the evening, party scene the way she used to. It doesn't mean she never did. She would dip her toes in the water from time to time, but it wasn't something she was doing on a regular basis. And these were things that we talked about all the time.

A photo is put up on the Elmo of Lana and Nili, and Lana is still in those "halos" from breaking her wrists. Nili explains the photo. That's Lana and myself. It's on the canals, the Venice canals, out in front of her house. It would be....I know the halos are still on, so I would say it was in, uh, 2002, the spring of 2002, early 2002. When Nili heard about Lana's accident. I was skiing. I was away on vacation, so I don't know if I heard about it the next day, or a day later. Or if I heard about it shortly there after, and then returned home of course. But I was out of town when it happened.

I heard that she was at a Christmas party, celebrating, and that she was dancing with some kids. A carpet went out from under her, and she fell back. And when she went to support herself, she crushed her wrists. This totally affected her career. For six months, she had a day nurse, and she was relegated to her house. She couldn't drive. It did have a significant affect on her ability to function as a human being, in addition to working. (Nili visited her often.) About the same time, right before this time, Lana worked on a video.

The Lighter Side: Part II

Thanks to Court TV poster bchand, we have some new fun videos to watch at JibJab.

Linda & Bruce's Mexican Hat Dance

Jennifer & The Pie Dance Around the Truth

Enjoy!

Sucked into the Vortex of a Murder Trial: Attend at your own risk.

Updated!
Before I get into my story, I need to make some acknowledgements. Harriet Ryan, the Court TV blogger inside the courtroom got engaged over this past weekend. I would like to extend "Best Wishes" to Harriet and her fiance. Next, a belated shout out to Anthony Samuelson for concentrating his entire Saturday, August 25th entry on me. Thank You, Anthony. And, another very belated Thank You to Mick Brown of the UK Daily Telegraph, for mentioning me in his August 21st piece. I've tried and tried to get a direct link to the article to work, but Blogger is frustrating me at every turn. I'm using the same link that Kim, of The Darwin Exception used for her piece, and I just can't get it to work for me. However, you can go to Kim's entry I've linked above, and get to the article from there.

Second, a big thank you to all the Court TV posters who have been emailing me and sending me private messages (PM's) about my decision to walk away from the trial. Your support has been heartfelt and wonderful to hear, and I apologize that I am now a week behind in answering all my messages you have sent. Please know that I'm not ignoring you, and as soon as I can, I will write back.

Third, a shout out to a great Court TV poster, Dig, who shared with us this oh-my-gawd image of Linda Kenney Baden and Spector at the trial. Kudos to the pool photographer who captured this image. I challenge my readers to come up with the best caption for this photo. There will be a prize: Acknowledgement on the blog as "Best Caption Writer" for the week.

I've been gathering my thoughts for over a week now, to write about what has happened to other public individuals like me, who have attended high profile trials and written about them, either on blogs or the Court TV message board. I found some common themes, and I thought it would be interesting to point them out. I have to say that, unfortunately, not one individual wanted to have their Court TV member name used in this story, much less their real names. I agreed to protect all identities as best I could, just to get this story out there. Please understand that if you decide to leave a comment on the blog about this entry, and you identify a Court TV member hat name or real life name involved, your comment will not be published.

The Scott Peterson Trial
Scott Peterson wasn't any one famous, but the sudden disappearance of his very pregnant wife, Laci Peterson, created a media frenzy that continued long after he was convicted of first degree murder. During the Peterson trial, the Internet crime forums swelled with new members wanting to learn more about this case and talk about it with other interested people. Because the trial was not televised and under a gag order, the pubic could only rely on the media, and other public individuals who vied for one of the coveted seats, and took the extra step to write about what they observed. Many people waited anxiously for any report on the proceedings inside the courtroom, specifically wanting information on how the jurors were responding to testimony as well as what went on in the gallery. The interest that the general public had was so intense, that many people across various crime forums pooled their financial resources to purchase a daily transcript of the trial. It was offered to anyone willing to pay the $10.00 a month subscription. Users were given their own password to read the transcripts on a web site as they became available. The publics' demand for information inside the courtroom, ignited this new and unprecedented form of information gathering and sharing.

At the time, I was not a regular poster on the Court TV forums. There were however, several Court TV posters and a blogger or two, who made the trip to Redwood City several times to try to get a public seat at the trial. From what I've been told, there was a lottery everyday for the public, and there were always more people wanting to get in to see the trial than there were available seats. Interestingly, it was at the Redwood City Courthouse that a regular trial attendee named Valerie Harris, initially met Daniel Horowitz, who first came to prominence as a frequent Court TV legal analyst covering the trial. Harris, who had no legal training whatsoever, later volunteered her services to Horowitz when he was Susan Polk's defense attorney. When Horowitz's wife Pamela Vitale was brutally murdered, Harris stayed on to assist Susan Polk after a mistrial was called in the first proceeding.

There were two beloved Court TV women posters, who went to Redwood City several times to attend this trial and write about it on the Court TV message boards. Whenever they got a seat at the trial, they wrote about what they observed on their laptops from inside the courtroom. They had lots of fans, which in turn brought out many detractors. Both women got sucked into the vortex of that trial, although it was never their intention to be dragged into it. Here's what happened.

In August of 2004, on one trip to Redwood City, neither one of the women got a seat in the public lottery. Instead of a wasted trip, they decided to drive around to the various points of interest in the trial, such as the San Francisco Bay, Scott Peterson's warehouse, and the Peterson home in Modesto. From the comfort of their car, one of the women took many photographs of these points of interest, including several of the house and the driveway. When they got back home from their trip, the 50 plus images were put up on the Internet using a photobucket account, and a link posted on the Court TV forums for everyone to see the photos. In a few of the last images taken, one could clearly see in the driveway, a half used bag of cement. For those of you who think the DA's office or the local Sheriff's don't have the time or the staff to read the message boards, think again. The local Sheriff's office saw the photos and realized that these images were potential evidence that could be used to refute the defense's expert who testified on the cement. This information was passed onto the DA's office. The woman who actually took the photos was subpoenaed for the State's rebuttal case to authenticate the photographs. Gloria Alred, who was covering the trial as a legal analyst, offered to assist her and her friend as their legal counsel pro bono. Alred has made a name for herself by only performing pro bono work.

The women traveled together back to Redwood City for the photo taker's day in court. At the last minute, Mark Geragos, Peterson's lead defense attorney stipulated that the photographs were authentic and taken on the specific date the women said they were taken, thus alleviating the photographer from having to take the stand. Both women were, at times, harassed and threatened by other trial attendees throughout the trial. There were many unfounded accusations that were publicly made about them too, all of which I will not dignify by repeating them. They were completely outrageous. It should also be noted that ever since they were thrust into the limelight of this trial, they were also harassed on the Court TV message boards, and eventually stopped participating there altogether.

The Susan Polk Trial
In the Susan Polk trial, there were several Court TV forum members (collectively known as the "gavel groupies") who attended that trial on a regular basis and posted about it on the Court TV Susan Polk Forum. Once Polk decided to defend herself, Valerie Harris actually sat at the defense table with her. As part of the Polk defense, Harris was continually reading the Court TV message boards and bringing Court TV members post's to Susan. These posts were quoted throughout the trial as part of the defense strategy or, to make accusations towards some of the trial attendees in open court, clearly trying to intimidate them. Harris also participated on the Court TV message boards, posing as an impartial trial watcher trying to sway public opinion.

At one point in the trial, Polk pointed out one of the gavel groupies who had written something in jest about her. Judge Brady permanently ejected the Court TV poster from the courtroom. Brady then informed Polk and Harris that she could not control what the media, the newspapers or what someone writes on a message board. Still, that Court TV poster was just as embarrassed as I was when I was singled out in the Spector trial and falsely accused. Even more outrageous, Harris threatened the Court TV poster personally. Harris also gave a tour of the Polk house to some individuals who attended the trial, some of whom were posters on the Court TV message boards.

The Scott Dyleski Trial
At this time I have only received evidence that a few Court TV posters attended the Dyleski trial, but there may be more. Scott Dyleski was convicted of murdering Pamela Vitale, the wife of Daniel Horowitz. It should also be noted that Daniel Horowitz's current wife, who was almost a juror on the Polk trial, attended at least one of the Dyleski pretrial hearings with Harris. It's been verified by Esther Fielding that there was a public attendee at her son's trial who caused so much of an uproar in the gallery that they were actually called into the Judge's chambers. The consensus is, the individual was admonished for their behavior in chambers, verses publicly in the courtroom.

The Phil Spector Trial
Just in case anyone skipped over the fact, Roger Rosen made the following statement in open court, in a further attempt to try to get the Judge to eject me from the courtroom or, as many believe, intimidate me. This occurred right at the morning break, on Thursday, August 16, after I had already been publicly admonished by the Judge as the first order of business of the day. Special thanks to Court TV poster, kellabeck for the transcription.

RR: 15 seconds, your honor. It's been brought to my attention that some of the individuals who are covering the trial uh have directed some derogatory comments toward Mrs. Spector. And the family has asked me to bring this to the court's attention. The court can handle it any way it seems fit but it just seems to me-- you used a phrase a moment ago, we've got to get beyond this and I think there's just no room for that in this situation.

JF: I think I handled it. I wasn't told what the nature of the comments was. I was simply told that some people were expressing their opinions and that the jurors could overhear it and that's why I made the admonition I did so I think I have dealt with it.

RR: Thank you very much.

JF: If there's anything else, you let me know. We're in recess.

In Summation
I'm sure you can easily see the common thread running through most of these trials that was similar to the situation I experienced. Just like me, Court TV posters attended these high profile trials, wrote about them on the Court TV message boards and were somehow sucked into the vortex of the trial they attended through various means. There is another common thread that connects all of these trials that is not readily apparent to most people. And that is, W attended every single one of these trials. Yep. That's correct. While I was at the Spector trial, it was verified to me by two Court TV employees that W was at both the Peterson and Polk trials. I also received confirmation vial email, that W also attended parts of the Dyleski trial.

It has also been confirmed to me by various Court TV members, that W was a big presence on the Court TV forums that covered each trial, using several different member names on each board. In private messages to dini, W professed to be a personal friend of Valerie Harris. Who knows if that is true, or just W's perception of the relationship, or if this is a total invention to inflate W's self importance in the eyes of others. There are varying opinions as to how this individual was perceived on each one of the Court TV forums that discussed a case. It's also been confirmed to me that W's behavior at these other trials, mirrored precisely the behavior that I observed at the Spector trial. W consistently approached major players in each case, as well as those reporting on the trial. I think I need to point out that I found obvious evidence that under various member names on the Court TV message board, W often adopted the majority's position as to guilt or innocence of a particular defendant. Yet behind the scenes, unbeknownst to some members, there appears to be some evidence that W's allegiance was just the opposite. One has to wonder about the ultimate intent of this type of subterfuge.

You need to look no further than TV, the film industry and the best seller lists to understand that the general public will continue to have a fascination with murder, and murder trials. Like anything else that is reported on by the media, there will be the slightly bizarre characters who will also be drawn to these trials, desperately seeking their own 15 minutes, or gathering material, hoping to write a book and increase their tax bracket. My question would be, how can the courts balance the general publics' right to attend these trials, and at the same time, prevent the fringe element from using a murder trial to possibly disrupt the proceedings for their own self serving agenda.

Special thanks to my dear friend houdini, who helped extensively with the research and writing of this entry.

Update: Friday, August 31, 2:30pm
I was contacted via pm today by a Court TV poster who attended the Dyleski trial, who disagrees with Ms. Fielding about what happened in the courtroom during Scott Dyleski's trial. Thank you very much for contacting me. I received permission to quote the poster:

Quote:
I attended all three weeks of the Scott Dyleski trial in Martinez. The judge did publicly chastise a court attendee (a retired schoolteacher) for talking too loudly. However, I know of no incident that "caused so much of an uproar in the gallery that they were actually called into the judge's chambers." You should not take anything that Esther Fielding says as the truth. She is the mother of the convicted murderer Scott Dyleski. More than that, she outright lied in court during her testimony. She also destroyed evidence by burning Scott's possessions, instead of turning them to the police.

The retired schoolteacher who was publicly admonished by Judge Barbara Zuniga (a magnificent judge; you would have liked her) did not post on CTV, as far as I know. Also, she was admonished NOT for speaking too loudly in court, but for talking loudly about the trial during lunch in a small restaurant near the courthouse WITHIN EARSHOT OF 2 JURY MEMBERS, both women, who then reported the incident to the sheriff deputy posted to the courtroom.

Press Release!

What a shame. I didn't receive an email press release from Rachelle Short, wife of the defendant last night, but several individuals at Court TV did. (Beth Karas, Lisa Bloom, Vinnie Politan) Does anyone else out there find it absolutely hysterical, that this 26-year-old former playboy model and wanna be actress/singer is the one who is sending out (not one, but TWO!) press releases as to the status of the attorneys working on her husband's MURDER TRIAL?

From the way the Court TV personalities were talking about it this morning, they could barely contain themselves. I've always been quite impressed with Beth Karas's professionalism. If it was me, I'd be, like I am now, rolling on the floor laughing my arse off!

Court TV's Harriet Ryan's reporting on the emails.

The Lighter Side

Court TV Spector Forum poster bchand was having fun over at the web site JibJab, and created this little video. Thank you bchand, for letting me post the link.

Enjoy everyone!

The Origin of Dr. Baden's AHA Moment

As I was trying to work on an entry that ties together several high profile trials in recent years, I was leisurely reading the Court TV message board and came across a recent post by LegalViewer, a relatively new poster to the Court TV message board. In subsequent postings, they identified themselves as ".. a litigation expert who has just graduated from law school," and also revealed "I have attended as much of the trial as possible. Mainly to try to figure out how one of my musical heroes finds himself in this situation." I think I have an idea who this individual might have been in court, however, since I haven't actually been in court for a week, faces that were not there on a regular basis ~or actually "in my face" with drama~ have become a blur. Regardless, here is the post by LegalViewer on August 20th, that caught my eye. (I did not correct the spelling errors in this post; just copied it verbatim.)

The "AHA" Moment came from the Sabow Case

Dr. Baden has made a living in filling in the blanks needed by a defense team in order to convince a jury that the science supports who ever hired the Dr. Actually, it is my view that Baden and the defense team actually replicated a case including a marine called Sabow. Sabow's death was claimed to be a suicide based on an intraoral gun shot, while Sabow's brother, a doctor, argued vigoursly that Sabow was killed by another person. That defense was borrowed from a case in Alabama were a defendant was found guilty of murder after claiming the victim killed themselves with a gun shot. IN the Alabama case, the defense claimed not enough blood spatter, no GSM on the hands and clothes, the body had too much blood in the lungs, etc.

In the Sabow case, there was a slumped body with heavily filled lungs, a competely cut spinal cord, blood spatter where was not expected to be, no real GMS on the defendant's hands, etc. Dr. Sabow eventually filled a report to the US Government claiming "cover up". I believe some member of the defense team found that case, and "scripted" the "aha" moment. It matches almost word for word what was included in Dr. Sabow's report about his brother's death.

Strange thing, an expert, Dr. Norby was the defense expert in both cases.

This post really got my brain going this morning, so I thank you for that LegalViewer. I kept thinking, Sabow, Sabow, I know I've seen this before on the Court TV forum. I immediately got dini on the phone, and she confirmed to me, that something about the Sabow case was mentioned on one of the daily threads, but she couldn't remember when. My own searching only pulled up a single post back on June 4th, referencing the Sabow case, but it was specific to gunshot residue. Even though the reference was there early on, the post didn't have what I was looking for, in reference to the timing of events in this case. I then contacted two of the best case researchers I know on the Court TV forums, Lynn Gweeny and kellabeck, who have both helped me more times than I can count with information, sources, links, as well as transcriptions of testimony. The prize goes to Lynn Gweeny, who found what I was looking for. It's on the July 30th daily thread, page three, 9:47am PT, and it's by Court TV poster, hockeymomof5.

here are two murder cases that involve intra oral gunshot:

http://www.aopc.org/OpPosting/Superior/out/s54033_06.pdf

http://meixatech.com/EVALNORDBYREPORT-SABOW.pdf

The first one I found to be quite interesting considering the boyfriend pulled the gun and put it to the girl's mouth two weeks previous.

A few pages later, dini quoted hockeymomof5's post, urging everyone to read the links. Here is her post.

WHOA HOH!!! man, everyone needs to go and read the second link. VDM is mentioned.

HOWEVER, the entire report is textbook for this case. it involves an intraoral 12 gauge shotgun "suicide" that will freak you out!!

i swear whole passages have been lifted from this report and superimposed onto this case.

the guy who is refuting the bogus conclusions is a doctor and the brother of the guy who supposedly killed himself.

it is a long read, but very, very worthwhile.

"the shotgun blast destroyed the brain stem. it was severed. All functions below the level of destruction from the spinal cord were immediately lost. every nerve to every muscle fiber that could expand the lungs were immediately paralyzed."

"not a gasp could occur. heart function, breathing and blood pressure control were immediately lost."

dini

I then started to think about the timing of the post by hockeymomof5 to the actual trial. Were there any links? The post was made on July 30th and dini quoted it a few hours later. The very next day, Monday July 31st, during the afternoon session, the defense announces it will be resting it's CIC, without calling Dr. Baden! We are all stunned that the defense may be wrapping up their case sooner than expected. Dr. Baden was in Los Angeles over the weekend, why are they not calling him? Although the defense is going to bring on a few more witnesses, they don't have any more for the day. This move forces the prosecution to start their rebuttal case earlier than expected, and without the defense resting their CIC. At the end of the week, Thursday, August 2nd, Linda Kenney Baden is not in court at the defense table. Spector stands up in court to address the Judge and ask the Judge to delay the trial because his "point person" Linda Kenney Baden is ill. Spector goes on to say that "she explains everything that goes on strategically, and that she handles all the defense. Her position is unique among the defense," and that he needs her. The Judge denies Spector's request saying, "Sorry. We will go forward." Also on that day, it appeared to me that the defense was trying everything it could to delay or even abort all together the prosecution's rebuttal witness, Nili Hudson, who was flying out of Los Angeles that evening, to start her vacation in Fiji.

Fast forward two weeks later, and Dr. Baden is back in California, to testify as part of the defense's CIC. Like a child who is holding back on some mischievous revelation to be brought forth, Chris Plourd gets Dr. Baden's AHA moment, revealed to everyone in the courtroom while he is on the stand. For the first time ever, the Judge and the prosecution hears his new theory on how Lana could have been breathing after the spinal transection, explaining to the court that he "just had this epiphany" a few days ago. No one really believes him, and no one, not even the Judge buys the excuses the defense gives for this blatant discovery violation. Later, the rest of the defense team appears to throw Chris Plourd under the proverbial bus, by trying to distance themselves from any involvement in this latest violation.

My question is this. What caused the defense to change their minds and bring Dr. Baden back to California? What? Could it be, that someone who was getting lots and lots of rest in their hotel room, have been up reading the Internet for any details they could find on intra-oral gunshot wound cases? Hum? Don't kid yourself. Defense and prosecutors (or at least their clerks and representatives) read the Court TV message boards when their case is ongoing. I may just be chasing wabbits here seeing connections where there are none, but I found the coincidence of the sequence of events striking, taking into consideration the fact that LegalViewer feels that Dr. Baden's AHA moment came directly from the Sabow case. It certainly is something to think about.

An Apology to Mrs. Clarkson & Fawn

Friday, August 24, 2007

First off, I want to say that there are a few more entries yet to come covering the trial. I still have to finish my entry on the jury's visit to the Castle, as well as my trial coverage for August 13th through the 15h. Hopefully, I plan to get up at some time, a detailed comparison of Ms. Caplan's testimony the first time she was on the stand at the evidentiary hearing, to when she finally testified in front of the jury. I think having those two events typed out in written form for comparison would be interesting. Last, there are some days back in July that I totally missed getting an entry up. That will happen now that I am, as Kim of The Darwin Exception would say, "...a lady of leisure..." again. So please watch for these entries over the next coming weeks. Additionally, CCA is still attending the trial and if he gets in, I will ask him to do a guest entry on the days events if he's feeling up to it.

Although I've received a ton of emails at my blog and posts of support on the Court TV message board for my decision to leave the courtroom, ~and I'm still trying to respond to it all~ the professional reporters who sort of adopted me and treated me like a colleague are quite dismayed with my decision to stop attending the trial. Seeing as how even my husband had difficulty understanding my decision ~no husband is perfect, lol, as much as their wives would like them to be~ I thought that I would try to shed a little bit more light on my decision making process, and the goals and values I had and still do, regarding attending this trial.

From the very onset, my goal was to attend as much of the trial as my work schedule would permit. As attending the trial became more interesting, and the various players in the well and behind the scenes in the gallery more fascinating, I altered my work schedule even more so that I wouldn't miss seeing Alan Jackson perform a brilliant cross examination. From the very beginning, I never had any expectation that I would get to observe closing arguments or even the verdict. At the Blake trial, it was the luck of the public lottery that I got in for both events, and I fully expected it to be the same for this case. I wanted to write about attending this trial because I'm part of an increasing community of crime forum users (and now bloggers), that discuss true crime, current trials and past unsolved crimes on the Internet. I wanted to share my experience with my fellow true crime followers, because this is a normal part of my day and life long interests. I never thought in a million years that writing about my experiences at this trial would get any notice outside of this select community.

Much to my surprise, it did. I never asked Steven Mikulan to include me in any of his articles. Certainly I was flattered when he told me he wanted to include a little blurb about me, and I told my immediate family when it came out online. Understand, that was his decision alone to include my blogging about the trial in one of his weekly pieces. Additionally, I never asked Mr. Dunne to mention me in Vanity Fair. He called me, wanting to get the details correct about when Louis Spector came to court, and how I "knew" him. I also helped him to remember what exactly happened right after I introduced him to Louis at the morning break. When he talked to me, I thought my name might be mentioned, but he never told me it would. When Mick Brown came to court on August 13th, he introduced himself to me, told me he read my blog, and asked for my email address. I believed I blushed a bit, and it was all I could do to shake his hand and say, "It's an honor to meet you." The man is So Dreamy. He was thinking of writing an article on the bloggers covering the trial. Unlike W, I did not go up to him the minute he arrived on the 9th floor, and attempt to glue myself to him for the rest of the morning. Truth is, I didn't know what he looked like. For the longest time I had him confused with Carlton Smith, another Spector book author who has often been in court. It was Mr. Dunne who had to correct my ignorance, informing me that Mick was a personal friend of his. Although I don't know for sure, I bet Dominick passed on more than a few words about W to Mick when they had lunch together that day.

I have had several critics on the Court TV Phil Spector Forum boards. You can read this thread, (hopefully it will still be there, by the time this entry gets up) to get a flavor of some of my critics, and what they complain about. From the very start, I tried my best to ignore them at court and on the message boards, and rarely if ever, engaged in any posting exchange with them. I would put their member names on "ignore," which meant that when I would read the boards, their posts would not appear for me. I had no interest in reading their negativity towards me. It became obvious to me that jealousy was fueling these attacks, because they coveted the relationship that Mr. Dunne had developed with me, and were envious of the attention I was getting on the Court TV Phil Spector message board, and in the press.

Every since I had the experience of attending the Blake trial, I have always been cognizant of where I sat, in relation to the jury. It was during Blake that I learned how important being silent around them was, because a People Magazine reporter almost caused a mistrial. That's one of the things I vividly remember, was the Judge having this woman dragged into the courtroom and admonished. In the beginning of this trial, I actually was sitting closer to the jury than I did months later. If I wanted to ask a question, I passed a written note, or once in a great while, turned my head to whisper directly into the ear of the person sitting next to me. Even out in the hallway when the jury would come back from their lunch time smoke break, as soon as they appeared in the hallway, I would go silent. One of the last things I ever wanted was to be dragged into the legal proceedings of this trial, in any way, shape or form. But one of my detractors purposefully tried to get me ejected from observing the trial, jealous of where I was sitting. I took umbrage at the sheer audacity, that someone would take their personal agenda, and try to hijack something as serious as a murder trial.

The humiliation and embarrassment of that event was too much for me, and I left the courtroom for the rest of the day. I am a sensitive person. I freely admit I don't have the required "thick skin," which one of the accredited reporters reminded me, is a necessary component of being an objective journalist. Early on in the trial, I lost all sense of an accredited writer's journalistic objectivity, and began to identify with Mrs. Clarkson and Lana's sister, Fawn. Seeing those horrible images of Lana in the chair, dead in Spector's foyer, there were times when I found it difficult to control my emotions, and I'd start to cry. Dominick told me that a similar situation happened to him when he was covering the O.J. Simpson trial, although he never said that he got emotional in the way that I did. What's more likely, is that he got angry, because he has been in Fred Goldman's, the Brown family, and Mrs. Clarkson's shoes. I remind everyone, he is the father of a murdered child.

After the false accusation by the Judge, outside the courthouse and walking down the ramp to the parking lot, Mrs. Clarkson said to me (and I'm paraphrasing here because I can't remember her words exactly), "You must come back to court. We need you. We have endured much worse in that courtroom from this defendant and his defense team. If we can sit there and endure it, so can you." Her plea to me welled my eyes up with tears again, and gave me the courage to return to 106 the following week.

And that brings me now to why I left the courtroom completely, and have ignored the urgings of my husband and friends in the courtroom to go back. It no longer was a positive experience for me. I did not enjoy being there anymore. The atmosphere was too toxic for me, and I needed to separate myself from that. Whether it was intentional or not, I sat in that back row right beside AlanParachini, and I felt humiliated, again. No one told W when they entered the courtroom that they had to sit in the third or fourth rows, so it didn't appear that this assignment to the back row applied to all general public. I was in direct line of sight of Judge Fidler . I could not see the witnesses. I could barely see a third of the jurors. I could only see the back of the attorneys during direct and cross. It seemed to me, like I was being singled out and forced to sit in the worst reporting area of the courtroom. Like a child who is being punished and is no longer able to sit with their seat mates. Whether my perception was right or wrong, that's what I felt. I felt miserable. I was starting to cry again. And that's what did it for me. I did not want to be in that courtroom, crying again. For me, I felt the best decision was to walk away from the toxic atmosphere in the room, with my dignity and sense of self intact. I am so grateful for the experience of getting to see the majority of a high profile case up close and personal. For virtually all of it, I did get to have a great seat in the room, and I will never forget all the amazing reporters and other players I got to meet and talk to.

And that's why this is an apology to Mrs. Clarkson and Fawn. I'm sorry that I did not stay like you asked me to do, and that I will no longer be one of the windows to the world on all the behind the scenes manipulating drama, that has taken place outside the view of the general public in this trial. Please know, that there thousands of people out there that are keeping both of you in their hearts, while that cesspool of a defense team tries with every underhanded trick they can, to drag Lana's memory through the mud. Your strength, to be able to sit there and listen to the lies and smear campaign is amazing to me. Unfortunately, you can't leave that murky atmosphere. You have to stay to the bitter end, to show these jurors that Lana had a family who loved her, and that you have been waiting over four-and-a-half years, for her justice to finally be served. It's time.

Guest Entry by CCA: Being Followed

Thursday, August 23rd.

At the end of the day today, I was delayed inside the courtroom a few minutes, so by the time I did get down to the first floor I was rushing to catch the Red Line. Only then did I realize a tall white-haired man carrying a back-pack I have seen in the courtroom hugging Phil Spector, had been watching me much of the afternoon. He came down to the subway platform at Civic Center and appeared to be checking out the other people, as if looking for someone in particular. I think it's possible he did not see me behind two men also wearing suits.

I got on my subway car near the back end, so I could see the others getting on my car. The whited haired man was not there.

When I got off my car at Hollywood and Highland, as I walked back a few feet to get on the up escalator, I noticed the man rushing toward me. He pushed past several folks behind me, until he was touching me. It was just noisy enough on the lower escalator that I was not sure what he said. Since I am recovering from a recent surgery, I walked as fast as I could toward the next up escalator, and this man followed. Now it was quiet enough I could hear him asking me why I attend the trial.

Not knowing for sure who he is or what his interest is in the outcome, I only told him I follow the science and provide my impressions to people who want it. Up on the Hollywood Boulevard sidewalk, as I waited for the westbound 312/212 bus, he told me his name and asked mine.

The funny thing is this afternoon another trial watcher seemed to follow me to the Red Line, too. This person did get on the same subway car, but continued past Hollywood and Highland. While we were waiting for the correct train they keep looking at me, but said very little. Maybe they actually do routinely take the North Hollywood Red Line, and had, up to now, just been on a different one than me.

CCA

What a frightening situation CCA! Sounds like the Zodiac Singer to me.
Sprockey

P.S. And Kim of The Darwin Exception has a new entry up. It's rip-roaring hysterical!

Conspicuous only by one's absence

Update 4!
At approximately 11:55 am today, I walked out of 106 for the last time. No one asked me to leave. I left of my own volition. I gave this trial, just a few days shy of four long months of my life. I came to a realization that it was time to pull the plug. Unfortunately for him, Spector will continue to have to show up in Judge Larry Paul Fidler's courtroom every day, supported by his bodyguards and other plastic Barbie® sized props. The verdict people, isn't very far away. But let me back up a little bit to yesterday, and tell you about a few details that I left out.

I told you in my last entry that I specifically was asked to return to court. Although I choose not to name who that was, I can tell you that it was several individuals who asked me to come back. When I was let into the courtroom ahead of the general public, I went over and took my seat by Dominick. Meredith from the court's public liaison's office immediately came over to me and said, "You've been at the trial every day, and we acknowledge that." She then handed me an official court press badge and said, "Now, you can't blog about this." I told her I understood, and wouldn't say anything. And, if you read my prior entry, I didn't mention anything about it. I wrote my entry in such a way, that I made it appear that I was still being treated as part of the public. I was ecstatic. I no longer had to worry about whether or not I would get a seat into court during the final days, or whether or not I would get to observe closing arguments. I had Mr. Willy Wonka's golden ticket. (LOL! I know. It's actually a laminated piece of yellow paper, but I wasn't quibbling at that point.) Once K saw what had happened, she corralled Meredith and tried to get onto the media list. I recommend reading my entry Vindicated! to get the full flavor of what K did the rest of the day.

This morning, I could not get onto my blog for over an hour. I was panicking, because I could get to other blogger web pages but not mine. I immediately thought that someone had shut my blog down. This was not an unreasonable assumption, since K had tried her best to get me ejected from the courtroom and Kim, of The Darwin Exception sent me this email on Sunday:

I know the defense reads mine because I've gotten emails from some lady named "Karen" (something - I forget her last name) purporting to be from Brunon's firm several times telling me that I have "misconstrued" something or "reported something inaccurately." I hadn't been writing on the trial a week when I got a "cease and desist" letter from them telling me that I needed to stop reporting "false and libelous information". It was very official looking and, of course, wasn't worth the bandwidth it was sent on, but it certainly could have intimidated a novice blogger. I sent them back a note referencing my ABA number, and I haven't heard from them since regarding "cease and desist".

Fortunately, my blog came back on line after about an hour, but it did cause me to be late for court. I arrived in 106 a little after 10:00 am. As I entered the courtroom, Alan Parachini, who is the head of the court's public relation's office, stood up and touched my arm. He directed me to sit beside him in the back row. I looked around the room and saw that K was not there, nor was W. At the first break, I got up to go over and sit beside Dominick, but Alan stopped me. He told me I would be sitting in the back row from now on. No explanation was given, and I didn't ask why. And, for the rest of the morning, that's where I sat. Right beside Alan Parachini.

After he told me that at the break, I went over to tell Dominick about this latest turn of events. The look he gave me said it all. Harriet Ryan was kind enough to point out to me, that I still had attached to my new jeans, the manufacturer's size sticker on the side of my leg. Oh boy. What total embarrassment that was lol, and I reached down to remove the sticker. I stepped outside the courtroom to go to the 13th floor to get a snack, and ran into Steven, who had just recently arrived. I told him about being relegated to the back row for the remainder of the trial. He couldn't believe it, and kept trying to figure out why. What happened, he kept wondering, offering up a possible innocent explanation that didn't make sense to me, seeing as how I had just been handed a press pass the day before. Back inside the courtroom Linda Deutsch turned around and said, "You changed seats." I replied, "I was told where to sit." Sometime in between the morning break and the noon hour, W entered the courtroom. No one told W where to sit, and they moved in to sit beside Linda in the second row. The smile on W's face was evident as to how gleeful they were about seeing me in the back row.

But I want to get back to that question: Why. In my spiritual belief system, the ultimate goal is to let go of needing to know why something happens in one's life journey. Ever since I first heard Caroline Myss talk about the David Chetlahay Paladin story, I've come to accept the fact that everything that happens in our lives happens for us, instead of to us. That every single person we meet in life and crosses our path, is there to teach us a lesson. That there is good and bad in every one's life, but how one chooses to let those events define their life is of the most importance. So, having obtained the golden ticket, I came to the realization sitting in that back row, that the cost of it was not worth the price, and I could easily walk away from it at any time. I had given enough of my time to this trial, and I made the decision to leave. I could watch Spector get convicted of second degree murder from the comfort of my living room. I could be in my jammies, getting caught up on sewing.

Unlike many other trial watchers who showed up on a daily basis to experience the proceedings, I have always maintained that I've never sought any fame or publicity off the tragic death of Lana Clarkson; it just happened to find me. I never went up to individuals at this trial, and passed out my business card to let them know who I was. Nor did I force myself on anyone I could latch onto, or offer to drive them around town to "see the Castle," or use my trial notes to eventually write a book. I have consistently made it clear, that once this trial was over, I would be immersing myself back into sewing, and my regular, comfortable life. I decided to let that start, a little sooner rather than later.

Once I got home, I packaged up the press badge, and sent it FedEx to Alan Parachini's office. I included a typewritten note with the single line, "Thank you very much." As I drove away from the FedEx office, a huge weight lifted from my shoulders. It felt great.

Up until this point, I've been silent as to the identity of K and W. Although the business card I have for K says "Investor, Actress, Motivational Speaker, Singer" the only information I've ever found on the web about K, is a PDF format court of appeals ruling where a contestant was ordered to reimburse court costs. And W? Well readers, I can't be absolutely positive, but it sure seems like one of the ladies on this web site completely resembles W. I could easily be wrong, of course.

I still have quite a few trial notes I haven't published that I will attempt to put up over the next several days, and dini I'm sure will continue to blog here until the end of the trial.

Update: 7:15 pm
The web link should be working now.

Update: 11:10 pm
I took a peecture before I mailed The Golden Ticket back. Just for the whole momento effect.

Update: Thursday, August 23rd, 10:40 am
There will be a guest entry up late tonight or early tomorrow by CCA. I am overwhelmed by the outpouring of support for me. Thank you one and all, very much. I will try to answer everyone's private messages at CTV as well as the mail and comments I've been getting on my blog, as soon as I am able.

Update: Thursday, August 23rd 4:17 pm
The David Chetlahay Paladin link is fixed.

Vindicated!

Tuesday, August 21st.

I had not slept well all weekend. Even though I was specifically asked to come to court on Tuesday, I still felt a little queasy in the stomach returning to 106. I was going to take the bus and train, but splurged today on driving. Wouldn't you know it, traffic was terrible, and I was worried I wouldn't get into downtown LA in time. But at the last two miles, traffic did ease up, and I was able to get on the 9th floor near my usual arrival time.

All during my drive into downtown, my stomach was in knots and my nerves were on edge, and I kept concentrating on my personal belief system, for it has never steered me wrong. I'm a strong believer in the teachings of medical intuitive Caroline Myss, Ph.D, and her philosophy on Energy Anatomy. And one of the lessons I know that I work through on a daily basis is forgiveness, and what it really means, to forgive. Caroline teaches that, one of the best things we can do for ourselves, one of the most selfish things, is, to forgive. Once we forgive, our whole life can change in an instant, because we're no longer draining, or losing our vital life force engergy, into that sad past/event.

Taking deep breaths, I focused all my thoughts on sending K and W energy prayers. Any my prayer was, for the universe to give them the energy they need, to continue on their journey's, on their paths. For them to go forward, toward learning the life lessons they were put here on this planet to learn. And my energy prayer for myself was, I hand it all over to the universe. Whatever happens, happens, and I will be fine with that. I will have no expectations. I have to tell you that, I kept saying these prayers the entire trip, but it didn't lessen the anxiety I still felt in my body or mind lol! Rome wasn't built in a day.

I get through the first floor security checkpoint and head on over to the elevators. Finally getting into an elevator, I'm dismayed that K gets on in the elevator right in front of me. When you tell the universe you're ready to forgive, well, the universe just plops more things down in front of you to forgive. Up on the 9th floor hallway, I see the cast of MEAN GIRLS all grouped together near the door. K & W have two other friends standing with them. One of them I recognize from the Blake trial, the other I recognize from being at court months earlier with W.

I walk over and stand next to Dominick, and to my delightful surprise, Richard and Ron are back again. I find out that the court's liaison officers are handing out public tickets. We will be on the lottery system today, and supposedly for the rest of the trial. Richard and Ron both tell me, that if either of their numbers are called first, they will just hand their ticket to me. What great guys, and I thank them for their generosity. The accredited press is finally called into the courtroom. After the last person enters, Meredith pokes her head around the corner of the door and says, "Any other media?" After she sees where I'm sitting, she motions with her finger for me to enter the courtroom.

Last Thursday, before court started, I had gone up to the head of the department, Alan, and asked if there was any way that I could be let in after the accredited press. I was told at that time that I had already been put on the waiting list. This is better than not being on, and just part of the regular public, so I thanked Alan. What it means is, if there are accredited press that don't show up, then I'm on the "waiting list" to possibly get one of those seats. It's still a toss up whether or not I'll get in or not, because that waiting list is long. Once inside the courtroom I took my regular seat. Soon afterward, all the rest of the public was let in and CCA was able to get his regular seat beside me. Most of the public was moved to the third row and the fourth row of individual seats against the back wall near the door, but no one made CCA move back. There were at least three or four spaces left in the second row, and K and a friend moved up on their own from the third row bench to the second row bench. The bailiff (thank goodness Judge Fidler's regular bailiff is back), told them they would have to move back to the third row, and I believe I overheard K tell the bailiff they were part of the media. That claim didn't last long, because they still had to move back to the third row. I'm almost certain I overheard K talking to Meredith, asking to be put on the media waiting list.

I try to concentrate on taking some notes, and to see who is in the room. I note Rachelle has her hair in a French braid. It's one of the few times that it actually looks nice, and it does go well with the smoke gray sweater dress she has on. I wonder if she paid someone to come to the house to fix it, or if Mommy, who is here again today did it for her. For some time now, gone are the outfits that are more appropriate to a music venue or rave.

The attorneys are in chambers with the Judge, and I think I'm actually starting to stop shaking. Linda Kenny Baden is back, and she looks great. The best I've seen her look in a long time. I've never thought that she wasn't sick. I can't imagine what it must have been like for her, to have been as ill as she supposedly was, and having to be in a hotel room instead of at home. All that time she was without all her comfortable things around her, and access to her personal physician. I am glad that she's better now.

Rachelle and Mommy are already under their fleece blankie. Cutler, who is also back, waves to Rachelle and Mom. When I had entered the courtroom, Fawn and Mrs. Clarkson both gave me smiles, happy to see me back. The attorneys are now out of the in camera meeting, and the defense team is in huddle, standing in back of the defense table. LKB is shaking her head while the group is in an intense discussion. Even their exhibits operator is in on the discussion, while Cutler sits at the defense table, his back to the group. It's 9:50 am, and this big discusion is still going on. Along the back row from left to right is the short lead press: John Spano, Peter Hong, Michael Christensen, Harriet Ryan and Matthew K, all on their laptops. I try to take notes, but I'm not really concentrating on the motions all that well.

Jackson loses on the records coming in. Mona, the sketch artist who covered the Blake trial, enters the courtroom with a friend and sits by Linda Deutsch. She sees me, and gives me a smile. More back and forth by the prosecution and defense, and the defense finally stands up and says that they rest, "provisionally." This means that the Judge now adresses Spector, to make sure he understands that he is giving up his right to testify. "That right is soley yours," Fidler says. And Spector, afirming that he is giving up that right, understand it and answers, "Yes." Right after that, an amazing thing happens. The Judge apologizes to me for accusing me of being the one who was overheard by the jury. A special thanks to Court TV member kellabeck, who transcribed the Judge's statement.

JF's APOLOGY TO SPROCKET

Right after Fidler accepted Spector's statement that he would not be taking the stand, he took up a more pressing matter:

FIDLER: Last week it had been reported to me and an individual was named that they were talking loud enough, that they were expressing opinions. Some of the jurors had indicated that they heard this person and this person was identified to me as the young lady in the white blouse (gesturing towards the gallery) is that correct? She's not the person. So you are not the person I should have been addressing my remarks to. I apologize. You were misidentified to me. You're not the person who was doing it. There was somebody else who has been tentatively ID'd to me and rather than single that person out I will simply reiterate at this point: Whoever's in the audience, keep your opinions to yourself cause if you don't you're gone, it's that simple. Your opinions, you're free to have them but I don't want the jurors to hear them, it's that's simple.

It's perfect, and I breathe a sigh of relief. Special thanks to Court TV member Sedonia Sunset, who put the video clip up on YouTube.

It's 10:15 am, and the jury finally enters the courtroom. At the first break, I really need to get something to drink, but delay on leaving the room to go to another floor. But I decide to get up and stretch my legs anyway. As I pass Rachelle and her Mommy, I overhear Mommy say, "I think something smells." Yep. This child and her Mommy are a wanna be clas act. I walk out towards the elevators, but decide to come back in and retake my seat. I see that K is sitting over on the defense side, chatting it up big time with Rachelle and Mommy. One of my seat mates comments, "I think she belongs over there."

I believe it was Michael Corleone who said (in I can't remember which one of the Godfather movies), "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer." I make sure to keep my eye on K for the rest of the day, because I just have this gut feeling that K is not done here in room 106. At every break, K makes a bee line towards Rachelle and her Mommy to sit with them, and chat it up. At the last break of the day, I observe Rosen going over to speak to K, and from the back row, I see W staring at me. At the end of the day, overhear K speaking to Judge Fidler's Bailiff. K was asking about wanting something. I didn't hear exactly what was said, and I didn't hear all of the Bailiff's reply. I did hear something to the effect of, "You can wait after court to speak to him." I'm not positive if that is what was said, but I know it was something like that. I don't believe this whole event is completely over. I'll just keep sending K some energy prayers, that she continues on her life's journey.

When I was driving home I got on the phone with dini. She told me there were lots of Court TV posters who had posted their support, and that there was a big long thread with many posts on it. When I got home, I read the entire daily thread and evening threads. I want to thank everyone who sent me messages of support, either through emails, private messages, blog posts or posts on the fourm. Please forgive me, if I missed your name. I did try to write down every one who said something positive.

I'd like to thank all my friends at Butterfly. The butterflies are the ones I can always lean on when things get rough. Hey Beaner! That includes you! Thank you, one and all!

I'd also like to thank all the Court TV posters who gave me their words of support today. I read every post. CCA, Lynn Gweeny, CAT TOY, poplife, KatyDid, Dave, barskin&co., pile2000, Shell0724, kennedy06, kindekat, Sherbie, kel, ann10, Wierdsly, Orchid Corsage, gaia, Intrepid, Sedonia Sunset, Howlz, bchand, hockeymomof5, september, Winks, mizpah1, Fallen Angel, Dig, Xspectorant, kipswife, ch.hillmom, spydernweb2006, IObject!, LadyBlue, JustRetired, kellabeck, Kara, angeltab, Daisy, SKelly63, mmt, ritanita, lovelaw, Firefox1, Sea, Becky10, FrankieBones1, cneal, tashi, warhorse46, sylviap, MyrnaTurner, Think About It, windswept, MsTery, witchywoman, Luauna Schmi, lunr99, CarolynNVa, gentleeyes, CakeGirl, Cornblossom, Hollywon't, Fluffnstuff, jscoe, wandering, FloA, 3rdDegre, Kathlb, Jayne, kellabeck, Zeekers, Regina.Lampert, Karrie0317, llylabrat, NEsleuth, TwinMom, carolinablue, sissy, angeltab, CCMSW, jojoTN, Velouria, winteryns, duncan, Tracian, Sagi, NatalieB, Sir RealDeal, roytoy, SusiePMcD, lost indie, DevilWoman, bballgrl, islandgirl, LibbyQ, cish, sissy, MissRunAmuk, tulpje, bluwater, craigtamy, Mort Snerd, oldbluesmith, marabeth, Hecate, Chass, charm7, LinZbee, archangel, joypath, Dunlurken, TellitTrue, Thisbe, chambord1, w_wheeler, True2Blues, CourtsideVue, dmh, cocoloco, Curious Kate, Dennn, Doberman, ritanita, Browneyes, DixieChick, LNL, Kathlb, ScienceFiend, Pinetree, CrimeBuff, SeniorMoments, Zhia.

Again, please forgive me if I missed mentioning anyone. It has been a long day for me.

Trial Notes, 8-8-07 & Decerebrate Posturing

Wednesday, August 8th

I catch a bus but I'm real late. I'm hoping I get into court before 9:30 am. Well, I'm not that late but if the lines are long it may delay me a bit. I'm very tired, mostly from arguing with Mr. Sprocket last night. He wanted to try to install an new printer we got with my new macBook, but it was almost 11 pm, and I had already told him over an hour before that we needed to get to bed early. I'm also irritated because I didn't have time to eat this morning. I'll have to grab a banana in the cafeteria of there's time.

Success! I make the 8:29 am train. However, the car is unbearably hot, more so than usual for the subway cars. I at least manage to get a seat facing the direction we will be traveling. There's a young man already semiconscious next to me with torn jeans and his iPod blaring in his ears.

This trial has been an unbelievable experience for me, but when it ends, it ends. After yesterday's experience at the press meeting, unless Mr. Dunne really would like me to go with him like we panned, then I"m passing on the Castle trip tomorrow. I close my eyes to clear my mind to think. At the Hollywood Highland stop the man next to me asks, "Hollywood and Highland?" "Yes," I reply. "Are you getting off somewhere in Hollywood?" "Wilshire Vermont (station)" he says. "Well then, you have a little ways to go," I tell him.

Up on the 9th floor inside 106, I notice there's a new guy in the room. I have in my notes, "Doesn't that guy have the look of an expert witness?" But I don't have who said it to me. Sitting behind me is another trial watcher named Jon Scott, who owns an Internet music station called All Memphis Music. He's been coming to court for a little while now with a friend of his from Miami, FL. Jon tells me and Dominick about an interview Rolling Stone Magazine did with Michael Bay in 2001. Dominick and I listen while Jon and his friend talk about the highlights of the interview. Dominick mentions that he went to college with John Frakenheimer, who is Michael Bay's biological father. Someone mentions that Bay is 42 years old. Jon is sorry that he didn't bring the article with him today, but tells us how to get to it online at Rolling Stone's web site.

She changed her hair again today. I overhear someone near me whisper, "She's a first rate, third rate person." It's the first time I've seen her wear a conservative, regular suit with hosiery and heels. Juror #6 comes out of the jury room and sits in his seat. Jon asks, "Do you think they can nail them for sleeping?" I don't think so. I've heard of other trials where jurors slept, and nothing happened because of it. Now we hear why Juror #6 is in the courtroom by himself. Bay has a connection to this juror. Two of his films, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Texas Chainsaw Revisited were released by New Line, where the juror works. The juror is asked if this fact will in any way affect his ability to be impartial, and he replies, "No." And that's it.

K returns to the courtroom. This blond woman CCA met outside the courtroom this morning is in hushed conversation, whispering to CCA. Rosen's girlfriend enters, and sits with Rachelle in the second row. The attorneys are at the bench. Rosen and Dixon are off to the side, talking. Judge calls for Alan Parachini, the court's liaison officer. This morning, in the hallway before court started, when Jackson came by with the cart that has all their files, someone said, "You need one of those little bicycle bells." Jackson ran out of the courtroom real quick just a minute ago, and now he comes back in. It is confirmed that Peter Hong will be the other reporter for the Castle visit. One of the camera operators is taping down the microphone cords at the podium.

9:50 am, the jury is finally called. Linda Deutsch strolls into the courtroom. In the front row behind the defense is their expert witness, the clerk who I saw had the print out of my blog, and another young male clerk. We are now back to the Defense's CIC. The next witness is Dr. Jan Edward Leetsma, the 29th defense witness, and the 68th for the entire trial. Plourd conducts the direct examination.

Dr. Leestma is a nuropathologist. This is a sub specialty within the field of pathology. He completed his training in 1968, and has been practicing in that field ever since. Nuropathology is a focus with respect to the nervous system.

We can always tell when the pretty young prosecutor's ADA enters with papers and information because her high heels clack on the tile floor. Looking on over at Rachelle, Dominick leans in to whisper in my ear, "Look at those shoes!" They look like they are white and black patent leather five inch heels. It's a white shoe with black toe tips and black heels. I don't believe they are Christian Louboutin, but I can't see the soles from here to be sure. It's 10:00 am, and the contents of Linda Deutsch's purse drop on the floor. Her cell phone, and a few other items go flying. CCA is talking intently with a woman he met early this morning, and who is sitting in between me and him. I have no idea who she is. She appears to be just someone who showed up at court, and is not a poster on the message boards.

Leestma goes over his work experience, as well as the time he spent learning the electron microscope. Now he talks about having published over 100 articles. CCA writes me a note: He testified in the Michael Peterson case. He also has testified in the Louise Woodward "baby shaking" case. I write these notes in my book and show them to Dominick. A juror picks at their nails. Another juror has their arms crossed. Leestma is a part-time consultant to the Cook County Medical Examiner, which includes the Chicago area. One juror is supporting their head on their hand. Now two jurors have their arms crossed. I'm wondering how could he have performed a comprehensive review of all the medical examiner's medical evidence since we know he was contacted at the last moment. Ah, he focused on the damage to Lana's spinal cord.

Leestma testifies, "After the shot, there is an immediate loss of control by the upper brain. There could have been some reflex movements." Now the pathologist mentions a term that's hard for me to get correctly. Decerebrate posturing. And, he talks about "pithing" which is putting a needle in the back of the head of a frog, and the frog moves after death. "...the legs straighten out; the head is thrown back; the posturing ceases..." This reflex, is a reflex that is called decerebrate posturing which occurs when the lower spinal centers are released from control. It's enabled by the spinal cord being severed. So, the lower spinal cord itself is intact and can respond. The posturing, it could have happened at the moment of the gunshot or a second after.

Q: The heart still beats even though it's lost a connection to the brain?

A: That's correct. The heart has it's own internal pacemaker.

The heart has it's own internal pacemaker. Now Leestma goes onto say, there could be reflex movements that occur in the head so that doesn't tell you what position the head was in at the time of the incident. The woman who is sitting beside me is so cold, she had asked for the pool cameraman's sweater. Just boldly motioned for him to pass it over. Leetstma talks about the videos of people who kill themselves and the body does move afterwards, and these films are shown at conferences.

10:25 am, two distinguished looking gentlemen come in and sit beside Linda Deutsch in the second row. Jackson tries to get in objections to generalized comments. One objection is sustained, another is overruled. I wouldn't be surprised if Spector told the defense attorneys that this happened, that she twitched around. But I doubt he kept his stories straight from expert to expert. Leetstma testifies that the mechanisms our body has for breathing is in the pons and upper cervical cord. There are signals that take care of breathing. The chief one is the diaphragm, the muscle that produces inspiration. Exhalation, to a large degree is passive. Now Leestma mentions the phrenic nerve. Checking my Gray's Anatomy, this is what it says about the phrenic nerve.

The Phrenic Nerve (internal respiratory of Bell) arises chiefly from the fourth cervical nerve, with a few filaments from the third and a commnicating branch from the fifth. It descends to the root of the neck, running obliquely across the front of the Scalenus anticus, and beneath the Sterno-mastoid, the posterior belly of the Omo-hyloid, and the Transversalis colli and the suprascapular vessels. (Believe it or not, I actually understand this.) It next passes over the first part of the subclavian artery, between it and the subclavian vein, and, as it enters the chest, crosses the internal mammary artery near its origin. Within the chest it descends nearly vertically in front of the root of the lung and by the side of the pericardium, between it and the mediastinal portion of the pleura, to the Diaphragm, where it divides into branches, which separately pierce that muscle and are distributed to its under surface. There's more~the nerve that arises on the right is deeper in the body than the left~ but I guess that's enough detailed anatomy for now, lol!

Dr. Leestma states that normal breathing would cease, but it can go on. That would be possible because there are other muscles involved: the external intercostals lift and elevate the ribcage, and the internal intercostals that can contract and squeeze the chest. The abdominal muscles can contract, too. The rest of the spinal column nerves are intact and these could have kept the intercostal muscles going. The force to breathe out is much greater than the one to breathe in. At the time Leestma's testifying about this, I'm trying to keep from rolling my eyes and figure out how in the world the "intact" spinal column is supposed to do this for any reasonable length of time. This appears to me, to be another ridiculous, one in a billion DNA number possibility to try to explain the high velocity spatter on Spector's white ladies dinner jacket.

Leestma goes onto say that there was blood in the main breathway and the air sacks. He's adamant that it can't get there unless through breath, and adds, "It's hard to do without inspiratory action." An alternate crosses their arms, and another juror yawns. Another juror in the back row picks at their nails. Rachelle appears to be quite focused on this witness.

It's 10:35 am and most jurors are not taking notes. A juror in the back row crosses their arms too, and a different juror yawns, too. 10:40 am, Brunon arrives and sits in the front row. Another juror yawns. It's becoming contagious. Another juror sits back in their chair with, what appears to me to be an "I can't believe what I'm hearing," expression on their face. Another juror is stretching their left arm over their head and back behind their neck and resting on it. Another juror has a squinted expression on their face and almost looks like they've compressed their facial muscles. I get really bored with this testimony and put my notebook away for a moment. I then take it out again to note that the well known Jamie Floyd from Court TV is in the back row. Finally, the morning break is called and I escape the boredom to stretch my legs.

Back inside the courtroom, I see that the salt and pepper, barrel chested man is here in court again sitting with the defense. Out in the hallway I chat with Louis Spector and his long time companion. I observe Spector get introduced to Dr. Leestma. Pat Jackson, one of the court's public liaison officers, and I chat about the two temperatures in courtroom 106: uncomfortable and unbelievably uncomfortable. A man with an British sounding voice enters and sits in the back row. We are waiting for the jurors to take their seats and one juror is late and the rest of the jurors smile and have a bit of laughter at their compatriot.

Jackson gets up to conduct the cross of Dr. Leestma.

Dr. Leestma was contacted by the defense about ten days to two weeks ago. He's not sure of the exact date. One defense expert Dr. Michael Baden contact him, and later, he had a conversation with Dr. Werner Spitz. Afterwards, he was contacted by one of the defense attorneys, Linda Kenny Baden. He also had another consultation with Chris Plourd. There were a bunch of emails, telephone calls and more emails. Leestma believes the emails were specific to travel arrangements, and not surprisingly, he didn't take any notes at all during his interviews. We find out that it wasn't until yesterday, around 3:00 pm that Jackson is given the opportunity to talk to Dr. Leetstma on the phone, and Chris Plourd was in the room when that conversation took place.

Regarding the videos that Dr. Leestma mentioned, Jackson gets the witness to admit that not one of those videos shown at conferences duplicate this case, where the victim had a complete transection of the spine. Leestma states that the "body twitchings" are all broken down into fractions of a second. The action would be withing a fraction of a second. The guy with the white hair arrives and sits on the defense side. In his cross, Jacksn focuses on Lana's thighs and even though her legs might be under her, he gets Leestma to agree that her thighs are in basically the same position. Here thighs would be exposed, regardless. More trial watchers enter the room. The nuropathologist now backtracks his testimony, and denies that the decerebrate posturing is instantaneous.

Q: Are there any more mistakes in your testimony?

A: I don't know. Maybe you'll point them out.

Now the doctor hedges his bets and says that it could be three, four, or even five seconds when the decerebrate posturing could occur. The image of Lana in the chair is still up on the Elmo. No one has taken it down. Donna and Fawn are turned away from the screen, and Donna holds a tissue in her hand. Now the witness must have had a blackout on the stand earlier, because he testifies that he doesn't remember saying that it was instantaneously. He doesn't remember saying that on the phone when Jackson spoke to him yesterday, and adds, "You're talking about memories I don't have." Geez doc, I'm so surprised you went into the specialty of NUROpathology!

Q: Would you agree that the best evidence of where that expiration exparate matter went is where it was found?

A: Well, yes.

(Duh!) When Jackson asks where are there accounts of decerabrate rigidity in the medical literature, the witness states that they date back to the French Revolution, where bodies were observed moving "hours later" after death. Wow. I didn't realize that while the French were kicking out their kings and beheading their queens, they were also doing modern scientific experiments on decerebrate posturing and rigidity. Now AJ is trying to describe his demonstration of very shallow breaths, and he's telling the Judge he's having difficulty. The Judge says, "I would say an exhausted chiwowa." And the entire courtroom erupts in laughter at the Judge's description of a short, panting like breath. It was really funny. Leestma won't even go near commenting on gravity being the logical explanation for Dr. Pena finding blood in the alveola. Jackson is finished, and Plourd gets up to redirect by starting with the cough.

Judge Fidler calls the lunch break. In the cafeteria, Dominick gets accosted by K to meet for lunch. He said he promised her so he can't get out of it. I sit with Louis and his companion not far away and we amusedly make commentary on what we observe. Louis brought his portfolio of paintings with him, and I'm in awe of the talent he has as a painter. He needs to be in a gallery. He's that good. There is a very apparent common theme of loneliness that speaks out to you with each image. I'm very thankful that he brought his work to court so that Dominick and I can experience his talent as an artist.

Back on the 9th floor in the courtroom, Steven makes it to the afternoon session. Outside the presence of the jury, the prosecution and defense present arguments as to whether or not Devra Robitalle can testify as part of the prosecution's rebuttal case, and the Judge rules that the prosecution can call this witness. In the gallery, Dominick and I are pleased about this ruling.

At 1:50 pm the jury is finally called in and testimony resumes. We are back now on the prosecutions rebuttal case. This is rebuttal witness #5, and the 69th witness overall in the trial. It's Pauline Rosenfield, and she is a the Hospital Care Coordinator, of the Mobile Intensive Care Nurse Unit at Cedars Sinai Hospital. She has been a registered nurse for over 30 years. This unit is responsible for coordinating care between paramedics and emergency room personnel. Nurses learn how to coordinate care with paramedics in the field. This is a specialty within nursing, and is not a job that is performed by just any nurse who happens to be available. These nurses are especially certified, and they have a special assigned number that designates that certification. The form that they use in the hospital to document the call from the paramedics in the field, will reference via a case number the 902M form the paramedics use that contains the patient name.

The form is a County form that all "Base Hospitals" use. The call that came in was a radio transmission, and Rosenfeld explains that "BR" on the form means "blunt fracture." 2:10 pm, the little wife suddenly leaves the courtroom. I write this note to Dominick: Morning sickness? Resenfeld explains that she scored high on the level of alertness/consciousness scale, a 4-6-5 = 15. The patient was "completely awake, alert and oriented." The white haired guy leaves the courtroom. One o the jurors sneaks a snack (or a candy) into their mouth. The prosecution plays a tape for her to answer a question. And on the recording, we can hear Lana's voice in the background again, "Oooowwwwweeee!" Mrs. Spector reenters the courtroom at 2:20 pm.

Rosen steps up to cross this witness. Rosen makes an attempt at a joke. He say that the witness and he have the same last name, she just has a few more letters in her name than he does. No one in the courtroom laughs. Steven gives me looks again on Rosen's cross and I cover my face with my notebook not to laugh.

Q: You're not a paramedic are you?

A: No.

Q: You're not a doctor?

A: No.

Q: Do you know Bruce LIverpool?

A: No

Q: Do you know Mr Stark?

A: No.

Rosen is now crossing the witness on the qualifications of Nurse Lovitt and her employment at Cedars. Then Rosen switches to Rosenfled's qualifications and her formal training, and was she in the same position now back in 2001. In 2001 she states she wasn't the pre hospital care coordinator. She started in that job in 2002. Nurse Lovitt wasn't working under her back in 2001. This is a total WASTE OF TIME. Why couldn't the defense stipulate to all of this? Rosenfeld testifies that an emloyee of the Fire Dept. contacted her back in 2001 to get a copy of the tape recording of the emergency call. Again, I think this is a total waste of time.

To me, the jury looks disgusted with all these stupid questions with the witness, about when she talked to Pat Dixon and who was in the room and that it was in his office. There's a snide comment about the messiness of the DA's office. The jury, what can I say. They appear to be bored to tears. They fidget. They yawn. Rod Lindblom turns to give Ciaran a look. He can't believe it either. Rachelle covers her mouth with a huge yawn. Rosen is going on now that "It's not a 100% foolproof system. You've found forms with mistakes, correct?" Rosenfeld answers, "Yes."

Q: The hospital form doesn't have the paramedics name on it? Nurse Levitt only recorded what she was told?

A: Correct.

The witness tries to explain that paramedics are their (the ER) eyes and ears in the field, but Rosen comes back with, "Oh, but they make mistakes!" Lets talk about the huge blunders this blind leading the blind defense team has made, huh, Roger? Rosen wants to play a section of tape again. Rosen acts like he's uncovering a big conspiracy. We hear the tape again. "She denies any alcohol consumption at this time. She is, uh, does not appear to be under any influence."

Uh...PUHLEEZE! We all exchange eye rolls and tiny head shakes about this riveting line of questioning. The break is finally called. What a relief. At the break, Sandi Gibbons lets me know that the prosecution's exhibit clerk is called "Sudi," so I finally have her name correct on the blog. She also tells me who the tall slender man is whom I've seen in court almost every day. It's Richard Doyle, Director of Special Operations: Major Crimes. Sandi tells me that they recently renamed his department, but she just can't think of the new title at the moment, but that is the prior name of the unit.

All the reporters are up in arms about this visit fiasco, and that's the topic that is whispered about. Break is over, and Rosen continues his cross. The press is handed copies of Pie's letter and the photographs that came with it, and Dominick starts reading his. Mrs. Clarkson sees what is handed out, and appears upset about something in the printout the press was handed. (I later find out it's because the Pie included something from the memorial, that she did not write and didn't have permission to include in her Christmas Cards.) There is a sidebar as Rosen tries to bring in a document. The jurors whisper among themselves. Jurors snicker and laugh, and look on out at the gallery. They periodically change their focus to the Judge and attorneys at the bench. The gallery is actually pretty quiet now. Scratch that. It livens up a bit again. Maybe they are arguing over her actual medical records? Yep. They brought in actual records.

Rosen finally gets in his bombshell. "Significant for migraine headache and some depression. From the victim herself, when giving the ER doctor some medical history/information. And that's it Rosen is done, looking like he just uncovered the biggest conspiracy since Spitz worked on the JFK assassination. Dixon gets up to redirect his witness.

Q: You have no idea how Ms. Clarkson defined social drinking?

A: No, I don't.

Finally the witness is excused and we are done for the day. I rush out to catch the train and totally miss a little confrontation in the hallway between Roger Rosen and John Spano. However, CCA was there to report on the exchange

Testimony we'd love to see

A poster on the Court TV forums asked if Mrs. Spector could be called to the stand to get Phil's story out as to what happened on the night of the murder.

Not everyone is aware that Mrs. Spector has been married to the accused for less than a year, and was not present on the night Lana was killed. However, many of us would love to see how Rachelle would do as a witness, and thanks to Court TV member kellabeck, we have a window into what that direct testimony would be like. This is just a parody readers. Mrs. Spector has not been called to the stand.

ROSEN: How do you wish to be addressed?

CHELLE: Schmoopie.

ROSEN: I can't call you Schmoopie. I'll call you Ms. Spector.

CHELLE: Mrs. Spector.

ROSEN: Mrs. Spector. Just pull the mic toward you like a telephone. And this is not like a normal conversation, Ms. Spector. You have to wait until I finish my questions before you can answer otherwise Diana cannot do her job, okay?

CHELLE: K.

ROSEN: Now, Ms. Spector. You've been married to the defendant for almost a year now?

CHELLE: Since September.

ROSEN: And in all that time, has he pulled a gun on you?

CHELLE: Well, I haven't tried to leave.

ROSEN: And he hasn't killed you, has he?

CHELLE: No.

ROSEN: Pass the witness.

Thank you kellabeck! Priceless!

Rachelle Short's "Ha-ha! fooled-you moment

Updated!
I finally had the chance to fully read Steven Mikulan's latest piece at the LA Weekly. All I can say is, again, Oh mother of God, what goes on in the head of Mrs. Spector? At 26 years of age, this chicky wife must still think she is competing for the junior high prom crown.

I was in the hallway when everyone heard Rachelle invite K to a party, and made it clear by saying in a loud voice that she wasn't going to invite "some people." Mr. Dunne standing right behind K, thought the comment was directed at him and openly said so in the hallway. Back in the courtroom, another reporter told me that they had also been invited to the big event. I asked, "Will you go?" The reporter replied, with a bemused expression on their face, "I can't even accept a cup of coffee from someone I'm interviewing."

It wasn't until I read Steven's piece that I found out Rachelle had sent her husband's bodyguards on this teen aged errand of bogus party invites to selected reporters and trial watchers. Months ago, I had heard from another reporter that the bodyguards hate Rachelle because she sends them on menial errands. I would also add the word "embarrassing" to describe those menial errands. This could all be just some whisperings because I have no idea if the bodyguards like Spector's wife or not. However, I wouldn't be surprised if they really do hate her.

Where in the world does this child think she is every day? I thought some of her outfits were in bad taste and that her hair needed serious attention, but this is just shake your head in disbelief, what in the world behavior. Is there no one on that defense team, or even those that might be directing things behind the scenes, that can get it through Spector's head that his wife's outfits and antics outside the courtroom are not helping his public image? This new wife is looking more like a liability verses an asset. In some ways, I'm not surprised because this defense team has never appeared to work as a cohesive unit, clearly lost without a strong leader or direction. That was never more apparent than when the Judge ruled the defense had intentionally violated California discovery law, again, when Dr. Baden, at the 11th hour, tried to make a hit to first base for the team with his "ah-ha" moment on the stand that it was quite possible Lana Clarkson's spine wasn't completely severed by the fatal shot. Afterwards, in arguments to the Judge, it appeared to me that other members of the team were throwing Chris Plourd under the proverbial bus, trying to disassociate themselves as quickly as possible from this latest, blatant violation. I can't imagine Spector is too happy with Plourd either.

I am eagerly waiting for next Tuesday morning to come, because this defense team never disappoints. With their clown act pratfalls of continually opening the door for the prosecution to present even more damaging evidence against their client, I plan to be there to report on the next "I can't believe they did that" moment.

Update: Saturday, August 18th, 3:20 pm
Steven Mikulen in his latest piece described Dr. Baden on the stand as looking like Captian Kangaroo. One of the Court TV members, Sedonia Sunset, did a side by side comparison. Steven was right on the money with his description!

It's called "FREDOM OF THE PRESS" Mr. Rosen, & Two deadly sins: Sloth and Envy

Thursday, August 16th.

Updated 3!
When I arrived on the 9th floor, ~having driven to court so I can take dini to the airport tonight~ Ciaran, Carlton Smith and Dominick are already there. Dominick was on the phone getting his next story fact checked with his editor. One of the camera operators comes over to where I was sitting next to Ciaran and Carlton to say hello. I then see K, enter my line of vision and ask to speak to the Judge's clerk, Wendy. Two of the people I was with later said they clearly overheard K speaking to Wendy saying, "...it was a conversation among the 'women' sitting near Dominick Dunne." I did not hear this, I just observed K speaking to the clerk, turn and point her finger at me, then turn back to face the clerk. I instinctively knew, this wasn't good. Who knows what else K embellished the story with. Inside the courtroom, dini is already in her seat. When I sat down next to her she told me, "I just overheard K say, I now know what it's like to be a celebrity."

Before the jury is brought in, I am stunned, shocked that the Judge singled me out and admonished me in open court. From what I remember the Judge saying to me, he was accusing me of discussing testimony and the jurors overheard it. He went on to rule that, if it happens again, I will not be allowed back into court, ever. I responded to the Judge with a single word, "Understand."

Throughout the rest of the morning session, I sat there in a frozen daze, trying to keep my tears from running down my face, feeling the sting of an envious, sloven harpy's retaliation. K sat there with an expression on their face, like a cat who just ate the canary.

I wrote a note to Dominick. What can I do? Because folks, it was clearly an outright lie. One of my seat mates ~sitting closer to the jury than I do~ later wondered, how could the jury have ever heard me say anything, when I'm sitting farther away from the jury than they are, and they never heard me say anything. Wendy approached the cameraman who overheard K's comments to her, and asked him if he heard it. He replied, "No." One of the reporters in my row said that there were trial watchers sitting behind us, who were clearly talking louder that I ever was.

Now, we know (because everyone in the hallway heard it yesterday) Rachelle loudly invited K to a party. Is K, Mrs. Spector's new "best, best friend" or did one of Spector's brilliant legal strategist's, (cough, cough) suggest this tactical move to K, of approaching the clerk? Or, could it have been one of K's other new "best, best friends," K has been chatting up with after yesterdays horrible intrusion at lunch. Well, it sure seems like one of these scenarios happened, because as you all know, at the first break Rosen stands up to whine about "someone covering the trial" (That would be ME!) was overheard by the jury making disparaging remarks about Mrs. Spector. Rosen says, "Remarks about Mrs. Spector's clothing were over heard by the jury." The Judge slaps him down saying, "I believe I already ruled on that." I was so upset, still trying to control my sobs, at the break, I left the court building entirely to clear my head. I told dini I was going fabric shopping in the garment district, and I wasn't returning to court. Outside, Rod Lindblum asked me where I was going, and I gave him a brief rundown on the events that happened yesterday and today in the hallway. He was trying to encourage me to stay, but I was too upset. I just needed to walk away and clear my head, and of course, call my attorney and give her the run down. Once she heard the whole story, she started laughing saying, "Betsy! Free speech. Hello? The National Inquirer. People Magazine. There's nothing this defense team can do to you. They can't sue you!"

I can't believe what I'm hearing. I've been in this trial about 90% of the time, and I've never realized that what Mrs. Spector was wearing was actually part of the trial testimony! I'm dumbfounded! What the jury supposedly overheard me say, could actually have an impact on the verdict! Do you want to know what it was, I whispered to dini about Rachelle's outfit yesterday? I asked her, "What would you call the color of that sweater?" dini replied, "It's a greige, hoodie three-quarter sweater." That's it folks. It is what it is. We already know that Rosen is spending Spector's cash like water, having his clerks print out and read my blog. Hellllloooooo Rosen! Have you heard of that little thing called the First Amendment? I would have thought you were aware of it, being an attorney and all. You never cease to amaze me though, with your brilliant trial strategy.

This defense team, unable to get Babydol and Raul Julia Levy on the stand, are now focusing all their high paid efforts on what this tiny little blogger is saying about 'gasp' Mrs. Spector's courtroom couturier, in an effort to get me ejected from court. Because you know, Mrs. Spector's feelings are pretty important as trial strategy goes. I wrote about the attorney's in the Melaine McGuire case, trying to use the writings of a Court TV poster (who attended that trial and wrote about it) as basis for an appeal. It was rejected of course. Bloggers are an easy target I guess, and Rosen, trying to spare the feelings of the delicate Mrs. Spector, made a buffoonish attempt to get me ejected from the courtroom. I would think he would be more concerned with his continually collapsing defense strategy, rather than focusing on the hurt feelings of the Playboy model wife.

K, envious of the friendship I have developed with Dominick Dunne, and unable to get him to drop everything, stop his life and write a BOOK about them, took their jealous rage out on me. It says volumes about who you really are K. I still can't believe this defense team would be so leaderless, that they would be spending their time and Spector's cash on this. With the other blunders this defense team has made, this is just icing on the cake. I mean, when you sit back and think about it, the absurdity of it is absolutely hysterical.

When I got back from shopping, I waited outside the courthouse for dini to come down, but the accused, the chicky wife and Mommy exited the building and walked right past me. As they all walked down the ramp, they each turned their heads and gave me the "death stare." I stared right back. It didn't work. I'm still here, blogging about this great defense team your hired. Soon afterwards, the Clarkson family came down the same ramp and gave me wonderful words of encouragement to return to court on Tuesday. I'll be there, just waiting to see what Rachelle pulls out of her closet next week!

Update: 10:15 pm
While I was driving dini to the airport, she was jogging my memory. Being Jennifer to my "pie" so to speak. dini said, "Sprocket, don't you remember, when you asked me about the sweater, you never mentioned Rachelle's name. You just asked me about the color of the sweater. It was obvious who you were talking about. And, when you spoke to me, you had turned your body so that you were facing the defense side of the room. Your back, was to the jury." I remember now. This is how it happened. What's interesting is, K was sitting on the other side of CCA, who was sitting next to dini, and K would have seen my face, and ask dini the question.

My previous entry has also been updated.

Update: 10:30 pm
When I installed a stat counter, I put it on invisible. I didn't think it was important to show the world how many people (or how few lol!) visited my blog. However, Thank You Defense Team, for pushing up my stat numbers! In my first few weeks of blogging, I had average daily numbers of well under 100 page loads, and even less unique visitors. Slowly, my numbers started to climb. On August 9th, I had my highest numbers so far. 1,039 page loads and 806 unique visitors. I hit a thousand page loads in a single day a few more times, but it wasn't until today that my stats went through the roof. I still have 1.5 hours more to go before the final tally, but today, so far, I've had 1,930 page loads, and 1,384 unique visitors. Not bad for just a little blog about fashion, and a few words here and there about the Spector trial.

Update: Friday, August 17th, 8:44 pm.

I finally had a brain fart, and reviewed my notes for Wednesday. Here are my rough draft notes, from relevant pages, before and after I made the note about what Rachelle was wearing.

Fidler is covering his face! to keep from showing he's laughing!

Sustained! You'd be sleeping on the couch for several months.

Obj! Sust! Calls 4 speculation!

ctroom erupts!

Isn't conflict of interest any intrest that has a conflict?

No, no!

Jury laughs~~

I'm a schmeiel compared to them!

After J asks you opinion competly independent of each other~~

# 8 & 9 look, smile, and whisper to each other

I think, The jury is really enoying AJ's cross

Now Baden states that backspatter in mouth is different than any other part of the body

I'm so rivited, I can't write much. I'm too mesmerized as to how AJ just keeps hammering away

Clerk comes in & hands Brunon a paper.

BREAK!

Towards the end of break, Phil/Rosen/Rachelle chat smile + laugh

smoke <--(I scratch that out) greige

sweater dress + black pants 3/4 length hoody pocketed sweater top

Back from break we wait.

AJ continues cross

Oh mother of God, lol! My question to dini occurred DURING THE BREAK! The sporkin' jury wasn't even THERE! WASN'T ME Judge! WASN'T ME!

Everyone wants their own 15 minutes

Wednesday, August 15th, 2007

Updated!
I've been told that high profile trials bring out the lunatic fringe and the publicity seekers. Over four years later and four months of testimony, this trial is no different. There have been a variety of interesting characters attached to this trial, on the stand as well as back behind the well in the gallery.

Who can forget the Pie, and Jennifer Hayes Riedl, or paramedic Stark for that matter? I have to question the Pie's motives, aligning herself with the defense camp. Something is truly wrong when this individual is presenting themselves as "Lana's best friend," yet, the best they can do is trash Lana. Was all this for a potential reality series or a book deal? Did she sell out her friend that easily?

Edward Lozzi is a somewhat well known person who claims to have been Lana's publicist. As well meaning as Mr. Lozzi is, ~maybe he truly does want justice for Lana~ her family and friends never heard of him before her death, and he has never presented any documentation to substantiate his claim. At lunch on Monday, Mr. Lozzi told me that "he was hostile to both the prosecution and defense." I found that to be an odd statement coming from someone who says they represented Lana, and supposedly had her best interests at heart. As a publicist, one would think his goal would be to protect Lana's memory rather than question it. I also wonder how he could have represented Lana, and at the same time, be associated with Jodi "Babydol" Gibson, who, it appears, thanked him in her book.

Ms. Gibson is another I-need-my-15-minutes-so-I-can-sell-my-book individual who has tried to connected herself to Lana. Judge Fidler ruled that Ms. Gibson could only be called to the stand if Phil Spector took the stand. In the mean time, she was ordered in open court not to discuss Ms. Clarkson in any way, shape or form for the duration of the case. It still remains to be seen if the entries in her "trick book" are proven to be altered. It's been alleged that the trick book has been altered, by either Babydol or the defense investigator Tawni Tyndall, who both accessed it while it resides in police custody. There is an entry that appears to have been changed from Ana to LAna, and a 'Cl.' written after it.

Raul Julia Levy is another I-need-my 15-minutes-so-I-can-get-noticed character who has tried in insert himself into the case, claiming to have had a past association with Lana. When Judge Fidler ruled that he would not be permitted to testify, then someone spammed the Court TV Spector forum with tons of links to a web site that appeared to show a document where Raul Julia Levy filed a complaint with the California State Bar Association against Alan Jackson. No where have I found a reputable news organization that has verified the documents as being an authentic filing with the State Bar.

There are other trial watchers in the room who I believe are there to write a book on the case or, in the case of one attention seeking person, trying to get a famous diarist to stop what he's doing and write a book about them. You may recall that back in June, I wrote an entry titled "The back finally gives out," and mentioned someone who's cell phone went off in court. Well, during the morning session ccarrolladams (CCA) was whispering to someone sitting next to him ~I'll call that person "K,"~ and the cell phone person, "W" leaned forward and I clearly saw W mouth the words to CCA, "SHUT UP!" It was rude and uncalled for. In response, CCA told W where they could go. Well, the K person (whose real name I know but will NOT give them the satisfaction of seeing their name in print), who also felt they were in charge of telling others to "shush!" was ~ for the moment ~ apparently outraged that CCA responded with the words he did. During the rest of the morning session I observed W intensly chatting it up with K, probably giving K a greatly embellished account of what they thought of CCA.

During the morning session, after hearing the email testimony about coffee and cigs, within earshot of the family K was complaining to dini that Lana was a drug addict. (When I heard that I was dumbfounded!) dini replied, "Well then, most people are addicts with something."

A little background here. I've seen K at court several times. The first time K came, they sat in Linda Deutch's regular spot she likes to sit in. When I politely told K that that is a reporter's regular seat and they would have to move, K got a bit ruffled and said that "..'they' were part of the media, too." At the time, I found that doubtful because K did not have a yellow "Media" badge handed out by the court's liaison office, that all accredited press have. Not long after Linda made K move, K leaned into the first row and tried to talk to Fawn. I was quite surprised by this because, whether or not K truly is media or not, the family attorney made if very clear in their press releases early on, that the family would not speak to the press, and that the press was not to approach them.

A week ago Wednesday, K corralled Mr. Dunne and pressed him to have lunch with them. Cornered, he sat down at K's table. Another person tried to sit at the same table with them that day, but K angrily shooed them away. K was trying to convince Mr. Dunne to write their life story. From my understanding, Mr. Dunne was polite but firm, explaining that at this time in his life, he needed to concentrate on himself, and his own memoirs. My thought on the matter was, "Who would care about K's life story?" I've had my own family tragedy and disinheritance. So what? Just because this happened to me, that doesn't mean my sad story is some compelling event the masses would be clamoring to read about. You get over it, move on, and make your own way in the world. It's what I did.

Later that day, it was relayed to me that one of Spector's supporters (I don't know who this man is, but he was in court a few times) came up to K and said something to the effect of, "You're here networking. That's not right." The very next day, even though Mr. Dunne explained at lunch to K, that he could not write a book about K, they still brought a bunch of materials about their sad sob story, pressing the xeroxed pages into his hand, begging him to read it.

Fast forward to the lunch hour today. Dominick, CCA, myself and houdinisback (dini), are sitting at a table by ourselves. All the tables in the lunch room are these three foot square tables, and they barely fit four people, one on each side, comfortably. Standing inbetween CCA and dini, K spoke to CCA, trying to invite themselves to sit at our table! I was shocked silent. I had never seen anyone be so pushy. CCA politely said, "Perhaps tomorrow K, we're having a private conversation." K, not happy with that answer, then moved to the other side of dini, and next to Dominick, and said, "Well! I'm going to go over here and sit next to my FRIEND," insinuating Dominick was her personal friend. My jaw about licked my instep at this.

Totally blown away that this person has no sense of personal boundaries, dini didn't even finish her meal. She immediately got up from the table as fast as she could and CCA followed suit. dini felt that I should leave too, and I said that I needed to stay seated, to protect Dominick. K was oblivious to how rude their behavior was. I was amazed that K seemed unfazed that they had cleared a table faster than a whirling dervish. K made a comment about them leaving then immediately started to talk about the dust up between CCA and W that morning, trying to put their "spin" on the event, totally taking W's side. Dominick, not really understanding what K was talking about, turned to me and said, "Is this about _______?" I replied, "Yes, and I will explain it later." K interrupted me and kept saying something to the effect of, "I'm just telling what I saw!" I had to repeat to K several times, "There's more to this story than you know."

Not long after that, I felt I could not remain silent any longer, and addressed K. I said to K, in a very calm low toned voice, "I've watched you. I've observed you in court. I would not do what you do." And immediately, the rants came. I was "two-faced!" I was a terrible person. I would "never be a good writer!" I replied to that comment, "I never claimed I was." "You're jealous!" K ranted, and on, saying I "would never have the talent! I have the talent!" After a few minutes of K going on like this, I felt I'd stood enough and got up from the table, not even finishing my lunch. As I left I said, "I would never invite myself to a table." As I walked away, I was furious, and had to step outside to walk off some steam. At the same time, I was flabbergasted that K had no clue how absolutely rude and pushy their behavior was.

Upstairs in the hallway, I was still quite upset about what happened, and dini informed me what Dominick said to K after I left the table and how dini gave K a piece of her mind. Everyone was packed at the door, waiting for the deputy's to let us in for the afternoon session. Rachelle was there with her Mommy, and K made a point to cozy up to Rachelle. By this time, Dominick was standing with the rest of the group crowding the door, and was almost exactly behind K. Rachelle announced in a very loud voice, addressing K (and obviously everyone else listening), "Oh, I'm going to invite you to the Castle for the big party! " Then looking directly at Dominick Rachelle said, "There are some here who won't be invited!" Dominick immediately said, "I guess that remark was directed at me." You have to wonder about someone who would want to go to a party at an accused murder's house, with the accused present.

Dini writes about the afternoon session better than I do, so I'll let her take over this part.
"K has appointed themselves the gallery monitor, admonishing us to be quiet, hissing at me this afternoon when the jury hadn't even entered. 'Course, it's okay that K entertained the entire courtroom with their American Idol vocalizing that the cameramen were howling over.

I had to laugh out loud as K was pursuing all kinds of people up on the 9th floor before glomming onto Chelle and wangling that Castle invite.

For someone who was so vehement about LC's addictions, all I can observe is she's addicted to negative attention. Toni home perms and calories....if you know what I mean, and I think you do.

After the lunch break and before the jury came back in, K started talking in a very loud tone about how lame bloggers are.

K was seated with some people who I had never seen before who were about a notch above the street sleepers I pass on the way to the courthouse every morning.

They were all taking in absolutes about how bloggers can't spell "that's how you know they are bloggers"....according to them, "they all want to be *reporters* but can't make the cut," and "nobody reads them anyway".... Now, how they've come to these conclusions without having read them, I don't know, but dang, those libraries have computers, so guess they ran over there at lunch."

So now it comes to me, and whether or not I've "pursued" my own 15-minutes at this trial. I've had my critics very early on in writing about my trial experiences. I'm sure some have said I'm doing this for the attention, or to become a writer or wanna be reporter or even to write a book. The truth is much more simple. I've never claimed to be a writer, or even aspired to be one. Well, let me rephrase that, lol! Back when I was in high school, over thirty years ago, the English department put together a little mimeographed copied phamplet called The Kaleidoscope. The editors thought my poetry was pretty hot, because during my Junior and Senior year, I had just about the most entries ever published in their little compilation. So, for the longest time, I wrote poetry, and considered my self a "wanna be" poet, but never in a million years did I ever think that I would actually get my poetry published. It was something I did for me, and not for a gazillion people to read.

Personally, I prefer the format of message boards, also known as "forums." I've participated on quite a few crime forums for over four-and-a-half years. I really enjoy the dialog and the interaction between a variety of viewpoints that a message board ofers. It's quite different than a blog format. For the entire time that I've been posting on crime forums with the moniker of "Sprocket" (which happens to be the name of my oldest cat), I never had any interest in starting a blog. The only reason I did start one, was because it was becoming quite cumbersome and time consuming to share my Trial Notes on so many different message boards. Previously, I had gone to each board that had a discussion on Spector, and posted the same notes. I thought it would be much easier for me if I just started a blog, and linked to it at each crime forum.

That's it people. That's the only reason I started a blog. It was just to make it easy on myself. In fact, if you go to several of the crime forums in my "Places To Go" links, you will find on every crime forum my early Trial Notes. It was never to somehow "promote" my sewing or get a job as a writer. As far as continung to blog in general, once this trial is completely over, there isn't another trial that I will be covering anytime in the near future. I go back to my regular life, and kick my sewing into high gear. I find getting an entry up every day, or even every other day very difficult for me to do. That's because I am still seeing clients in the evenings and on the weekends, and I do have a husband to take care of and a house to maintain. I'm always amazed that Kim, of The Darwin Exception does it as well as she does. She's a much more consistent blogger, and she's actually quite funny to read. Kim, I've always been a big fan ever since I read my first entry.

She recognized "us"

"Are you Sprocket?" she asked. We were stunned. "Yes, I'm Sprocket," I replied. "I love your blog and read it all the time!, she said excitedly. Addressing houdinisback (dini), she exclaimed, "I recognized your photo with Beth Karas! And you, (addressing CCA) must be Dr. Adams! I thought it might be you when I read the reservation book."

But let me back up to earlier in the day before I spoil the surprise. dini told me that a Court TV poster, KatyDid, wanted to treat me, dini and CCA to a complimentary dinner. I was very skeptical at first. I just didn't feel right accepting an expensive dinner from someone I did not know. dini assured me that KatyDid was planning on coming to Los Angeles to attend the trial, but since real life issues kept her from traveling, she wanted to treat us to a special meal. It was then that I said okay. dini wanted to know where I wanted to go to eat. Since Mr. Sprocket and I don't eat out at fancy restaurants that much (that special diet ya know), I told dini that as long as I can get a steak and some green vegetables, you and CCA pick the place we're going to eat.

I drove to court so that it would be easy to just take my car into West Hollywood to CCA's condo, and depending on who took dini back to her hotel, I could easily drive home from the restaurant. It wasn't until court was almost over that dini told me where we were going to eat. We drove back to CCA's place, and were very lucky to find parking on his street. dini and I hung out on the Court TV Phil Spector forum for a couple of hours, joint posting about the testimony today.

CCA still wasn't feeling that well, so I drove to the restaurant. When we got seated at our table, we didn't know for sure but we were hoping that she still worked there, and that we might see her, or even a bigger secret wish of mine, that she would be our waiter. We were disappointed when our waiter was a totally different person. However, after our order had been taken and we had been served our table bread and wine, I spied her walking past. I immediately alerted dini. She was here! When she walked close to the table, we made sure to stop our conversation about the trial testimony. At the same time, we were amazed at how tiny and petite she is. Myself, I couldn't believe how naturally beautiful she was in person. Way prettier than what she looked like on TV. We were quite excited when she first brought our salad dressing to our table, and then came back with our salads. It was after she brought our salads that she totally shocked us by asking me if I was Sprocket. We were dining at The Grill on the Alley, and our waiter was Kathy Sullivan.

Kathy said she reads the message board and the blogs. She also asked about what happened with testimony today, because Court TV was having trouble with the online feed, and she wasn't able to watch as much as she liked. She wanted to know how Mrs. Clarkson held up on the stand, because she really thought it was terrible that Donna was called by the defense to the stand. Kathy told us that she has worked at The Grill for over sixteen years, and she really likes her job as a professional waiter. We asked her what she recommended for dessert. "The Key Lime pie," she said. Since she had just gotten off shift when she stopped by, we had a wonderful time visiting with her, and answering her questions about the trial.

We got Kathy to take some photos of us all sitting together at the table, as well as autograph a menu for us to send back to KatyDid as a big "Thank You" for treating us all to the wonderful meal.

Michael Bay & Lunch at the Chateau Marmont

Monday, August 6th, 2007

The first time I went to the Chateau Marmont ~to drop off some printed materials for Mr. Dunne~ my husband and I were driving around shopping and running errands, and at first we didn't realize that the short driveway was actually how you enter. It looks like it's just the entrance to the parking garage. We drove past it up to the top of the hill and had to turn around when we realized our error.

This time, I knew right were to go. I had offered weeks ago to show Dominick how to find the various blogs on the Internet that were covering the trial as well as the Court TV message boards, but this was the first day that worked out for both of us. Court was not in session until the afternoon since Judge Fidler and counsel were to visit the Castle to see if the scene of Lana Clarkson's death had changed enough to prevent the jurors from seeing it.

The Chateau Marmont is often identified as "Hollywood's Castle." It sits on the north side of Sunset Blvd., a little over a short block west of Crescent Heights Drive. The old hotel is built into the Hollywood hillside and has six floors as well as various bungalows and suites with patios. Once you enter the glass double doors beside the parking garage, you need to take the stairs or one of the two tiny elevators to what is considered the first floor to reach the lobby. Walking into the Chateau Marmont is like taking a trip back in time into old Hollywood. There's so much rich history here, and the Spanish influences are striking. Naturally lighted spaces contrast against the dark wood antiques and upholstered fabrics via the highly arched windows and walkways, and the overall feel is that you have stepped back into a different era. I have always been drawn to old wood antiques of virtually every style, and have collected a few myself since I was eighteen. There are other writers who have described the place much better than I ever could, so I encourage you to click on the link to read about the place and see some images of Chateau Marmont for yourself.

After I showed Dominick how to get to the various blogs and message boards, I signed onto Court TV and made a post with a quote from him. This caused quite a flurry of postings on the Spector Forum daily thread, mostly from posters sending hellos and kind words to Dominick. I know that later that evening, he did read the greetings. Afterwards, Dominick treated me to lunch on the patio where we both chose the same salad, except I ordered mine without the crutons and the dressing. Sitting on the patio is like being in a small intimate garden, where you can look up and see the balconies of the upper suites. Dominick was kind enough to again autograph the latest issue of Vanity Fair for my sister, Jane. I know she will be thrilled when she gets the August and September issues.

Driving back to court, I get hung up in some traffic and Dominick gets there before me. At first I hear rumors that the reason there is no court on Tuesday is because Spector has a doctor's appointment. (Later, we learn that Judge Fidler had two doctor's appointments that day.) Inside the courtroom and in my regular seat I see that Lisa Sweetingham has finally made it to the trial. She had told me months ago that she was going to stop by. I met Lisa during the Blake trial, when she was the Court TV corespondent and blogger covering the trial. A tiny, pixie of a woman, she is a delightful person to spend time with, and I really enjoyed hanging out with her at the Van Nuys courthouse. Lisa sat all the way at the end of the second bench row so she could turn around and get caught up with Beth Karas.

Sitting in the front row is the family attorney Rod Lindblum's cute young girlfriend, as well as several other friends to support Donna Clarkson and Fawn. Miriam Hernandez is in the back row on her laptop. Looking on over at Rachelle I see she has on a loose fitting black top. Keep wearing black, Mrs. Spector. You'll need to get used to it with where your husband is going. I see Spector talking to the white haired guy. I know Ciaran McEvoy found out his name and I wrote it down in my notebooks but I can't seem to find it now. According to Ciaran, white haired guy never worked with Spector, but he is a friend and has come by the courthouse for support. Spector's son Dante is here again, and there are a few other people on the defense side today, showing their support for the accused. The back row is packed with press and trial watchers.

1:45 pm the attorneys come out of an in camera meeting with the Judge. Nick Terzian is back on the stand under cross by Roger Rosen. CCA and I are struggling with the correct spelling of his last name, and Donna Clarkson, turns around and corrects my attempt with the correct first few letters and gives me a smile. Rosen crosses Terzian on Lana's income for 2002-2003. Rosen asks Terzian about a word he thought he called Lana on Thursday. "Bible." Terzian gets this look on his face that almost says, I can't believe you actually passed the CA bar Rosen. Terzian says, "I said she was extremely marketable. She was "viable," not "bible." Rosen asks the witness what research he's done to support his percentages of working actors, and Terzian responds that the SAG (Screen Actors Guild) puts out newsletters with this information. Terzian is clear that it's not just one issue, but a compilation, but Rosen wants the exact issue.

Rosen asks the witness about the Brentwood Blondes production and her firing, and Terzian states that he didn't know anything about it. Two court interns enter and sit in the third row. Rosen asks more questions about the firing, trying to get him to say that her getting fired from this tiny, tiny theater production would have affected her career. Talk about "reaching" Rosen, lol. This is a ridiculous insinuation. When the witness gives a different answer than Rosen wants, he responds with, "I didn't ask you that." Immediately, the Judge slaps him down reminding him "It was unnecessary to say, "I didn't ask you that.""

A Juror is resting their head on their right hand, slightly slumped over to the side of their chair. Stan Goldman the law professor enters. Terzian says he did not know who Lana's other agents were.

Q: She loved the spotlight and always maintained her passion?

A: Yes. For the time that I represented her.

Terzian saw her about a half a dozen times in 2001 and in 2002.

Q: Were you aware of the fact, well, maybe we should approach. And the attorneys approach the bench for another sidebar. Beth and Lisa Sweetingham chat. CCA talks to Stan Goldman. The gallery starts to get a bit loud with it's whispering. A few of the jurors lean in to talk to each other. Some of the jurors watch us in the gallery. The jury is told they have to step out of the courtroom for a moment. Plourd and the white haired guy talk.

The Judge goes over a few issues regarding the jury visit to the Castle. Someone from the press will be present. There will be no photographer, and the press gets to choose the representative. Then Rosen stands up and says they want to recommend Linda Deutsch. I'm struck dumb. I've never heard of this ever happening before. Then the prosecution says they have no problem with that selection. The Judge makes it clear that the press will be the one who chooses who gets inside the Castle.

Outside the presence of the jury, the defense is printing out off of their computer at this very moment, emails they want the witness to read to himself. The room has cleared a bit. I look around and I don't see Peter Hong, and I could have sworn he was in here a bit earlier. I see that Dante is now sitting in the second row bench on the defense side beside the white haired guy, who keeps getting up to speak to Chris Plourd. Brunon and Spector chat, although Spector is actually slumped in his chair. Another Spector friend I've seen before is in the next row. He's a barrel chested man with salt and pepper hair. Peter Hong comes back in. The bailiff tries to get the room quieted down, and calls out to the gallery, "Quiet! Court is in session!" But the room is still somewhat noisy.

The witness is still reading the emails, and the printer at the defense table is clacking away printing out more documents. CCA leans into me and says that Rosen is purposefully confusing the national SAG numbers with the Southern California stats. Nationally, SAG has approximately 120 thousand members and So. California about 40 thousand members. Most years, about 18% of So. California members qualify for SAG health benefits. According to CCA, about 10-15% actually make a full time living. CCA says nationwide, only 4% don't have to supplement their income.

At 2:30 pm, the witness is finished reading the emails. Scratch that. More documents are presented to him. I see a few of the Court TV staff whisper and stifle laughter in the back row. Dante leaves the room. The courtroom is getting antsy. Rod Lindblom exits the courtroom and comes back in a few minutes later. The white haired guy gets up again to speak to Plourd. Spector is being animated again, talking to Brunon. He often uses his hands to talk. Beth Karas reads the paper, and Lisa Sweetingham and Steven Mikulan appear to be talking about the case.

I over hear a conversation near me. A gentleman whom I've seen in the courtroom quite a bit is talking to a regular trial watcher in the room. I don't know who he is, but I can guess. In a voice I can barely hear, he says, "Rosen is nice to your face, but he will easily stab you in the back. With Cutler, at least you know what you're getting."

Dixon leans into someone from the DA's office and says in a joking manner, "Is there any trouble going on? I just wonder the reason you're here." Meredith from the court's liaison's office, calls out my name from the back row. Several pieces of paper are passed up to me. It's the Media Advisory about the press meeting tomorrow morning. She has passed up four pages, so I keep one and hand the rest on down to my seat mates in my row.

Dante comes back into the courtroom. It appears Terzian has finally finished reading the emails he was given by the defense, and Rosen is going to cross him on the material in the emails. Rosen asks if after reading those emails, did it change his opinion about Lana's "marketability." Terzian answers in a firm voice, "No." The jury is brought back in the room. It looks like the defense will not get to enter these emails through this witness.

Q: Are you aware of Ms. Clarkson having training with weapons?

A: No.

Q: Did you know Jennifer Hayes Reidl?

A: No.

Q: Did you know Punkin Pie?

A: No.

Rosen gets the witness to admit that Lana's only booking in 2003 was the Chesterfield piece.

Jackson stands up to redirect his witness. The reel wasn't marketed by him because that wasn't what he did. He didn't need it to promote her. It's a 30 minute video. It was a work in progress, and she had been working on it for many months. This was a video that was only supposed to be viewed by industry executives. It was never meant to be shown to the public. Jackson asks Terzian, about what is "early" in Hollywood, regarding when he gets up in the morning. The witness replies, "Eleven to 12 noon." And the courtroom erupts in laughter.

Q: When you were trying to give that information to Lana (about a booking), she had already been shot, correct?

A: Yes.

The witness explains about the print advertising, and why it is commissioned at 20 percent. They are not SAG related work. SAG work is an industry standard of ten percent. Jackson gets the witness to explain about the play. Since it was a smaller showcase, with a small budget, and probably a small, under 99 seat theater, it wouldn't make an impact on her career. The witness goes onto explain that, if you're talking about a play that can't afford costumes, I think you're talking about a low budget play.

Q: What if I told you the playwright was now a bartender?

Objection! Sustained!

Terzian explains that in his work, his communication with his clients is mostly done over the phone verses meeting them in person on a regular basis.

Q: As you sit here today, do you still feel that in 2003, she was a viable, upbeat actress.

A: Yes.

Jackson is done with his redirect and Rosen gets up to recross. Like a dog with a bone, he can't let go of the video. He keeps going over it. This whole attack dog line of questioning is not the right tactic to take here.

Q: What if she had an alcohol problem?

The Judge steps in after this question and says, "I've already ruled on this."

Rosen: Can we approach?

Judge: We don't need to approach. I've already ruled."

There's no more redirect and we are all excited because we know Michael Bay is up next. One of the jurors is smiling at Michael Bay's name being called. Michael Bay states his profession is film director. He directed the following movies. The Island, The Rock, Bad Boys, Bad Boys II, and Transformers. He also has a commercial company where he directs commercials, from Victoria's Secret to car commercials. Bay met Lana in his early years around October, 1989, when he directed commercials for Mercedes. He was responsible for hiring at that time. Mercedes would look for a "type." He knew Lana. He would see her at Propaganda Films events, parties as well as auditions she would come in for. He invited her to a party at his house once. She was one of the few who would send him chocolates at Christmas.

Q: You would recognize her if she walked into a room?

A: Absolutely. She was six foot two. She was funny.

He is firm about the fact that he knew her. Bay states that in January 2003, he attended a party at Jeff Franklin's house. It was a Saturday, the third weekend of January. He went with Craig Katz, who was not his date. There were about 350 to 400 people at the party, and he was there for about two to three hours. He never saw anyone that looked like Lana Clarkson at that party. When he opened up the paper and saw that Lana Clarkson was dead, he thought, "Oh my God, when was the last time I saw her. It was eight to nine months previous, while he was working on Bad Boys II. Bay says that if he had seen her two or three days before, he would have remembered that. "If I had disrespected her, she probably would have slapped me. She was like that; kind of saucy." Bay says that if he had seen Lana, he would have definitely gone over to her to say hello.

Brunon gets up to cross the witness.

Q: Before you were a director, you were an actor, and that got you into directing?

A: No. Photography got me into directing.

Bay recalls when the first time he met Lana. She came into the room dressed like Marilyn Monroe. He's sure he did one Mercedes commercial with Lana. It as in October, 1998. The other one was later, but he's not sure if he used her in another commercial or not. Then Brunon tries to make a big deal about the fact that Lana was only on the screen for six, maybe seven seconds out of the 30 and 60 second pieces, as if this is a reflection of her acting abilities for a non speaking part. Brunon asks if between 1998 and 2003 he made about three movies, and Bay replies "That sounds about right." Brunon wonders why he never offered Lana a part in one of these movies, even a part of an extra, and Bay replies, "I would never offer her an extra part, because that would be demeaning."

Q: You never offered her a speaking part.

A: I never offered Tom Hanks a part either.

That answer seems to stump Brunon and he tries to go for a bit of humor saying, "Maybe he wouldn't accept?" But Brunon's attempt at humor is about as good as Rosen's. So he goes for the tactic that Bay never offered Lana a part in other commercials. Bay states that he knew he was going to be a witness mid week last week, and he testifies about the last time he thinks he saw Lana, which was at a Masquerade party that he gave at his house in 2002. "I know she was there." When asked about Jeff Franklin's party, he says he knows it was in the Hollywood Hills, but he doesn't remember the street or how he got there. Right afterwards he says that a friend took him to the party. From what I can see of Spector, he has this blank stare going. Bay says he stayed outside by the tent area and was there at the party two to three hours. Brunon puts up a photo of the Pie and two unknown men and Bay states that he doesn't recognize anyone in the picture except Lana.

On redirect, Bay is firm. "I did not have contact with that woman. I did not see her. She did not have contact with me." Bay identifies a photo of him and Lana together at the Mercedes shoot. And that's about it. Bay is off the stand. There are no more witnesses.

Once the jury leaves the courtroom, the Judge goes over a bit of business. He has two medical appointments. We hear that after the jury visit to the site, there will be testimony in the afternoon. The Judge orders Paula Rosenfeld back to court for Wednesday. Plourd wants to call as an expert a nuropathologist at this, the eleventh hour and the people object. Discovery was not given until last week. Spitz and DiMaio both testified to these involuntary breaths Jackson states, and to me, it looks like the defense is pulling as much crap out of the outhouse as they can. It's desperate. Two trial watchers behind me, tell me that they read my blog, and I thank them. The defense tries to get the Pie's prior statements in ~that they try to argue are consistent with her later ones~ but the Judge shuts down that motion. And that's all the notes I have for this day.

I already blogged about what happened at the press meeting in my entry titled Reporting on the Reporters...from outside in the hallway.

I'm putting up this entry totally unedited because it's way past my bedtime. I'm really looking forward to seeing houdinisback tomorrow, as well as a few other Court TV posters who say they are going to come.

A special thanks to Court TV member kellabeck for helping me finish the edit on my entry, Mr. Sprocket follows me to court.

Spector Speaks & Nili Hudson, Lana's "real BFF"

Thursday, August 2nd, 2007

I drove to court again today, because I got out of the house very late. When I get inside the courtroom, I see Rachelle is wearing black again for the second day in a row. Maybe she's subconsciously realizing her husband's defense is dead in the water, and she's in pre-mourning. At least she had someone fix her hair today. Her massive split ends are not as prominent.

At 9:55 am we hear that Linda Kenney Baden is ill today, and Spector wants to address the court. It's a quite raspy voiced Spector that addresses Judge Fidler, stating, "She's my point person. I would very much like Ms. Baden to be here. She's my point person. She explains everything that goes on strategically, that handles all the defense. Her position is unique among the defense." He rambles on a bit more about never asking the court for anything ~what would you call those escorts to and from the parking lot~ but the Judge replies, "Sorry. We will go forward."

Court starts a half our later at 10:00 am, and Nick Terzian is back on the stand under direct examination. I notice that a trial watcher brought his young child to court. I wonder about parents who bring their kids to see a murder trial. Linda Deutsch had another coughing fit earlier, and a tall striking beauty, who is a friend of the witness, Nick Terzian, gave Linda something soothing for her throat.

Terzian states that Lana "went that extra mile to look the part" when going on an audition. She had a "reputation in the casting community, with a very high level of being prepared for a role. There was never any negative feedback. Nothing but great things were said about her. In his office, there was a phrase he used to instruct new talent on how to prepare for an audition: "Do The Lana Clarkson."

A sidebar is called by Rosen, and right afterwards, Rosen gets a phone call and the Judge lets him take it. Afterwards he approaches the bench. The best guess is it's about Ms. Baden's health. When the witness is asked what did Lana's accident do to her career, he replies, "It seized it completely." While she was recovering, she stopped in and visited every three months. A photo of Lana with her broken wrists is put up on the screen.

The witness states that Lana was in a transitionary period in her career. She was opening up her spectrum. She was seeking other opportunities. She did a demo voice over tape reel that was sent to several agents. In September/October 2002, no longer in that "dark period" she was ready to pursue jobs again and hit the pavement. In October 2002, out of several hundred applicants she landed a print ad for Chesterfield cigarettes. It was an international ad, and would only air in Spain. Lana was very careful about that, because she didn't want her image in the US to be linked to promoting a tobacco product. Her pay for the booking was $1500.

Q: What was her attitude?

A: Thrilled!

Objection! Move to strike!

Judge: Denied!

Terzian states that the industry is very quiet because of the holidays, and it happens every year. Sometime in December 2002-2003, Lana asked him for his advice about working at the House of Blues. She said, "I think this will be good. I've been out of the loop." It was before she went to the second interview meeting, she stopped by to talk to him, to get his opinion, his intake on taking this job. Once he understood that the position was in the Foundation room, and that she would be "hosting" vs "waitressing" he thought this would be a perfect opportunity for her to network again, and the hours were ideal for her to still go on auditions during the day. The jury takes notes during Terzian's testimony. On January 22, 2003, she went out on a print add audition for Siemen's Mobile. The actors were to "spoof" the cast of the TV show Dynasty.

Q: Did she, "do a Lana Clarkson?"

A: Yes.

Up on the Elmo is a Polaroid of Lana dressed for the part at the casting. She was put on hold for the job sometime after January 22nd, 2003. He notified Lana that she was put on hold. They booked the ad for Sieman's Mobile , and told her about that January 31st, 2003. When she was told, she was ecstatic. The ad was supposed to shoot February 8th, 2003.

Q: She never asked for an advance for this ad?

A: No.

Q: Was Lana in this job for the money?

A: Not totally.

Q: In your opinion, was Lana Clarkson a veteran actress?

A: Yes.

Q: Did she understand the ups and downs of the business?

A: Yes.

A sidebar is now called. The jurors look around, and some look out at the gallery. An email from Lana's web site is read, where she counseled an aspiring actor. Here it is:

Thanks, Carlos

Acting at any age...
Posted by Lana on January 17, 2003 at 20:45:41:
In Reply to: The Acting Biz posted by Carlos on January 17, 2003 at 15:00:10:

Hey Carlos,

Good luck with your studies and good for you that you are doing the smart thing and pursuing a degree. In my opinion, you can be an actor at any age. Actors tell stories and the stories of the world are about human beings of all ages. The best advice I can give you is to study the craft of acting. The more you know about your craft, the more likely you are to succeed. There are millions of hopeful actors out there who have no idea what kind of stamina, courage and self-confidence it takes to pursue acting and handle rejection properly. One mustn't take it personally. I have been working as an actor, studying my craft and continuing to pursue my dreams for many years now. This, contrary to what some would advise. They do not understand my passion and commitment to my art. Don't ever let anyone discourage you, no matter what! Go for it!!!

Good luck!

Terzian testifies that this email represents the Lana that he knew. That's about it for this witness on direct and Rosen gets up to perform the cross.

Terzian states that he is just one of her agents. Lana had more than one.

(Lana herself said on her website that she had an entire team. Here's a quote:)

My Team
Posted by Lana on January 19, 2003 at 14:47:58:
In Reply to: acting Entourage posted by jay on January 17, 2003 at 23:47:26:

Hi Jay,

I have a team of very talented individuals who I can call upon for advice, guidance and legal counsel. This team consists of 5 agents for different categories, a publicist, 3 lawyers and an accountant. I also have a very extensive team of people who help me to look and feel my very best, from hairdressers, to masseuses, to nutritionists to stylists ... all of these people are professionals of the utmost skill. I would not be working with them if they were not the best for me. It has taken me years to build my team and as it is a very personal thing, I can't recommend anyone to you directly. All those who work in the field of entertainment are talented, eager to work and do a good job and will be recommended by those you work with. As you begin to make contacts, these connections will come. As a rule, the percentage given to each varies from 10% to 30%.

Good Luck...

Q: Is this the first time you've ever testified in a court of law?

A: Yes.

Then Rosen asks him if he is a forensic expert in the entertainment industry, and is he being paid for his testimony. Terzian answers, "No."

Rosen then starts asking the witness about Lana's acting abilities and whether or not she had comedic talent. This is all a build up for a huge shocker, to try to show that the witness doesn't even know what he's talking about. The defense wants to play the Lana Unleashed video. Oh mother of God, does this defense team even think? How can any logical defense strategy be, to put a living, breathing, alive and vibrant victim before the jury when you are defending your client for this individuals murder. This validates my opinion that Rosen's defense strategy doesn't even rise to the level of "Defense for Dummies," because with this move, no way in hell did he even pass that basic class. A note is passed down to me. "Roger Rosen is a prick."

Once the video starts to play, Lana's sister Fawn starts crying and she doesn't stop during the entire 25-30 minutes this video is played. I couldn't see her face, but others in the courtroom verified for me that Mrs. Clarkson cried all through it too. I watch Fawn, and I can't take my eyes off her face, and even now as I write this, tears start to well up in my eyes just like they did as I watched Fawn cry. Spector watches the video from his slouched position. I feel unbelievably sad, and I have to break my gaze away from Fawn's sobbing face. I don't have a Kleenex with me to wipe my face and I have to somehow get my act together to pay attention and try to write my notes. It's difficult. I hear Donna clear her nose.

During the playing of the tape, the current Mrs. Spector, Rachelle Short an aspiring actress herself laughed at Lana's comedy sketches. What type of low life human being are you, when you laugh in open court at the woman who died in your home? But let's talk about what's really funny. Rachelle Short adamantly denying that she played the part of a topless dancer in the movie Tigerland. With Rachelle's thinking, just because she removed the credit from her IMDb page, of that non-speaking part of her fondling herself on a stage in the background of a bar scene, it never happened. I finally verified it. I watched Tigerland yesterday afternoon. She did leave the credit up for being an ex-Playboy model, as The Rad Report indicates.

Once this video is over, I feel completely drained. I pass these notes to my seat mates. Rosen is being a bully. This is a terrible tactic by the defense. But a total "win" for the prosecution. A sidebar is called, and I watch a juror and an alternate whisper to each other. Rosen then shows us how totally lacking in comedic talent he has, by trying to make his own joke that falls completely flat when the witness asks for some more water. “Let me give you some advice. Don’t wear out your welcome by asking for too much water here, Mr. Terzian.” The Judge gets this amazed expression on his face and the witness looks like he is totally lost. Rosen then has to explain that he was only making a joke ~a gawd awful one~ and that he can have as much water as he wants.

I'm watching the clock at this time. Three more minutes. Rosen gets the witness to admit that Lana "didn't make a million dollars" she didn't even make half that. It's at lunch that others in the courtroom verified what I thought I had seen for a moment after I was able to tear my eyes away from Fawn's tears. Some of the jurors did appear to be enjoying parts of the video.

Since my husband was late getting started today, he didn't make breakfast for us or fix my lunch, so I have to get some protein, a hamburger patty to go with the romaine lettuce I usually get to add to my homemade lunch. I'm quite depressed still, and I can't even carry on a conversation.

Back in the courtroom from lunch, Rachelle is deeply engrossed in her blackberry, and the defense has an objection to a document the next prosecution witness is going to present. Brunon objects to Pie's 2003 Christmas letter coming in, where she states, "Spector killed Lana." The Judge says he will look at the Pie's testimony and rule, but letting this letter in is how he's leaning. I can't get my game going for taking notes. I'm still quite affected by seeing Fawn crying. I know I have gotten totally emotionally involved in this case, and am lousy at staying objective like the seasoned professionals are. Terzian is back on the stand under cross.

Q: She only had the one booking in 2002?

A: Yes.

Rosen asks about 2001, and Terzian states that they don't hold onto those type of records. How about 2000, Rosen asks. He didn't represent her, so he wouldn't know. How about 1999? Terzian states again that he only represented her for a few months in 1999 an that was at another agency, so he wouldn't have access to those records, either. Rosen does make a small point that the witness only knew how excited she was before she actually got the House of Blues job. He never spoke to her about it after she had it or how happy she might might have been with it.

Then the witness has to step down, because they are going to take a witness out of order, because the next witness is leaving the country. It's Nili Shira Hudson, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker who has known Lana for 21 years, up until the time of her death. We soon find out, this is Lana's "real" very very best friend, whom she's known since she was eighteen years old. A photo is put up on the Elmo of Lana and Nili around 1981-1982 when they first met.

Nili tells the jury that she saw Lana the day before she died on February 2nd, 2003.

Q: How would you describe your friendship?

A: As close as best friends could be. I was friends with the family and spent Christmases with them. We spent quite a bit of time together. She was my family and I felt I was a part of her family.

Nili testifies that around 1997-1998, Lana shifted her focus to try comedy and that change got her the K-Mart and Budwiser advertising campaigns. Photos are put up on the screen of Lana with the K-Mart promotion, and one of her with Paul Newman. At the same time, Lana also had a shift in focus emotionally, becoming more spiritual, and joining a spiritual community. She cut back on her drinking and partying, as well as the amount of time she spent with the Pie. She was no longer doing the evening party scene on a regular basis. When asked about her broken wrists, a photo is put up on the Elmo where we see Lana with Nili, smiling. Her wrists are in halos. For six months she had a day nurse. It affected her ability to function. She had just completed the work on the video, when she had her accident.

It's at this point I realize the cafeteria food didn't agree with me, and I have to run to the restroom. Afraid that I might have a repeat of this scenario of having to leave the courtroom on a moments notice, I decide to call it a day and head home.

Over at the LA Weekly, Steven Mikulan predicts a hung jury.

Getting Noticed

Just a short entry for now, as I dive into working all weekend to get completely caught up on my trial notes before Monday morning.

Imagine my total surprise when I finished working on clients today, to find an email from none other than Edward Lozzi, Lana Clarkson's publicist. Here's an excerpt of his letter to me:

Sprocket Blog,

You deserve to be in all the meetings!

I may have met you. I was in the courtroom for most of June and a few days in July. I was asked to write a 4 part series OP-ED for the Westside Chronicle.

(snip)

I use your blog to catch up on the details. Thank you.

This media advisory below is one of many sent out over these past four years to the media. I consider you media as should Alan.

But now I am just pissed off at the legal process even though I knew for years that our angel Lana was going to be trashed and presented to the jury as responsible for her own death. I hope this jury has a brain and good old fashioned common sense. I'll be in the courtroom next week.
Regards, Edward Lozzi

This past weekend was an even bigger shocker. I picked up the September issue of Vanity Fair, and saw that Mr. Dunne had mentioned me as his "courtroom friend." Thank you, Dominick.

The LAist blogger Carolyn Kellogg, has a great photo essay of the reporters covering the jury field trip. Check it out.

Over on the Court TV Blog by Harriet Ryan, in the entry titled "On the scene," that's my backside in the center of the photo, standing to the left of Carolyn Kellogg. This was a perfect photo of me, since I am so camera shy.

The Castle

Thursday, August 9th.

On Monday, I had asked Dominick if I could ride with him to the Castle for the jury site visit. He said sure. I think it's the only favor I've ever asked of him, besides signing two issues of Vanity Fair for my older sister. I didn't know how to get to Alhambra and didn't want to try to find parking on the correct street. If I hitched a ride, I'd avoid all that. Dominick said he wouldn't know where to have his driver pick me up, and I told him that he didn't need to pick me up at all. I would meet him at his hotel and find local parking nearby, in the structure where Virgin Records is located. I could easily walk to his hotel from there. Dominick says he plans on leaving at around 9:00 am, and I tell him I will be there a little bit before nine.

I get to the Chateau Marmont way early, and wait on the street for a little while before I decide to head up to the hotel, and let him know I'm there. Dominick beats me to it, walking down the driveway looking for me. We take off from the Chateau about 8:45 am. I get introduced to Dominick's driver once I get in the car, but for the life of me I can't remember his name for certain. I think it was Justin. We make great time, and arrive at the press staging area. We're early, but there are a handful of press already there.

Peter Hong of the LA Times is there along with other LA Times staff and Court TV staff. Looking up at a house perched on top of a slight hill, I see the owners out on their front porch with binoculars, watching the reporters down below. Camera operators are already setting up their tripods for when Linda Deutsch comes down to report. I count eight tripods already. Peter brought a table, several chairs, bagels and cream cheese for the reporters. Court TV went in with Peter and brought donuts and coffee. Harriet Ryan is already there and mentions something to the effect of, "Peter, concerned for your heart, brought healthy food, Court TV brought the sugar." I'm offered to grab what I want, but I politely decline. I haven't eaten any commercial wheat or dairy in years. That special diet I've repeatedly mentioned. Beth Karas is there in a stunning short sleeved black dress, matching necklace and heels. I tell her the dress looks fabulos on her. There are several other familiar faces as well. Beth and Dominick grab two of the chairs to sit together and chat, and several of the reporters snap their picture together. I jokingly say, "This is how all the reporters look," and she and Dominick have a little laugh at that. I took one of them with my camera phone, too, and then my phone immediately died afterwards. So much for calling dini from the site to phone in a report. I forgot to charge the battery before I left the house.

The main street up to the front entrance of the house is blocked off, and there is an area off to the side where all the reporters are gathered with the table and chairs. Several of the smart cameramen brought hats. The other blogger, Carolyn Kellogg of LAist was smart enough to bring sun screen and that gets passed around to some forgetful people. The car with the Judge arrives and passes by the pool of the reporters and heads on up to the Castle. More reporters start to arrive. Russ, Ciarian, and Michael Christensen are here, as well as John Spano and Matthew K. (who's last name I know I will butcher if I try to spell it). Everyone is off in groups chatting, trying to get some shade under the Olive trees lining one side of the street. Michael C. and John Spano are reading the paper. The camera guys are checking their angles to try to get the best shot, and several of them brought their own chairs. They know the drill and have been through this before. In hindsight, it would have been nice if I had thought to pack a folding chair, but I don't mind sitting on the edge of the curb under the shade. The Asian looking Court TV reporter is here. I don't know her name and am too shy to go up to her and ask. There are motorcycle cops and cops on foot. More press continue to show up.

I see Sandi Gibbons made it. I look over my shoulder and see her talking to Ciaran. One of the witnesses on the stand, Officer Shawn Heckers is here on his motorcycle. One of the reporters clearly remembers he was the one who testified about plucking the anal hairs for the rape exam kit. Steven arrives. He's prepared because he has on a type of flak vest with lots of pockets. Perfect for the reporter on the go. At 10:11 am, the jurors arrive and pass by the pool of reporters. From this point, the countdown begins as to how long they will be on the site. I try to take a quick count as to how much press is here. I count about 30+ people. Many reporters are on their phones. I see Dominick is already being interviewed by the local Channel 2. In my immediate line of sight, I see four news vans with their antenna towers completely up.

I see Beth Karas and someone else (I forget to write who) walking down from the road that leads to the rear gate. Steven and I decide to walk up to the rear gate ourselves. It's a climb for me, and I'm slightly out of breath trying to keep up with him and not stop to take a rest. When we reach the back gate, one of the court liaison officers is there, along with a pool reporter. Soon after we reach the top, Officer Heckers drives up on his motorcycle and Steven and the photographer both take photos of him. Cathy, the liaison officer gets off the phone with the liaison officer that's at the front door and tells us a bit of news. One of the jurors walked all the way down the front stairs and back up again. It's one of the guys, who is tall, slender and has gray hair. Unfortunately, the other person who observed it doesn't know their juror number.

While at the back gate, I peer in to see if I can see anything. From where we are, I see some people off to the side, but they look like they are near the front of the house. I think one of them is Alan Parachini, but I'm not positive. One gentleman looks rather portly, and the other person is a woman and might be another court liaison officer. They are too far away for me to be sure. At the back gate, Steven and I take each others picture, and with not much visible, we decide to head back down to the street. I pass on the "scoop" to Ciaran about the one juror who walked down the front steps but he is unimpressed with the news. Oh well, lol. What do I know.

Back down at the staging area, I see Dominick is on his second TV interview. Afterwards, Dominick tells me that a woman on the corner was letting the reporters use her restroom. He and his driver took advantage of the generous offer. He said the woman and her son were watching the ball game. Outside, a woman and her young child come by and sell cold drinks to the reporters for .75 cents a piece. I had planned ahead and had gotten something at the gas station at Sunset and Crescent Heights before I walked over the the Chateau.

I talk to Carolyn Kellogg about reading on LAist where two of their top editors/correspondents were hired by mainstream newspapers. One reporter comments, "Internet bloggers are the new trout farm." There are two helicopters overhead the entire time, and at one point I thought there might be three. I notice that Peter has a practical hat on that has sun protector flaps hanging down. As the temperature rises, people are trying to grasp every tiny spot of shade. The jurors have been in the castle for over an hour now, and people are speculating that they will be done anytime now. I spot two officers on bicycles and see that Miriam Hernandez from local Channel 7 is here. At 11:25 am, we get the news that the jurors are finished with the site visit.

The reporters crowd around the microphones, trying to get the best spot. Several reporters are sitting on the ground right in front of the group of microphones, and Harriet goes and gets a chair that she places right next to the one Dominick is sitting in. Steven comments, "I think they wanted to do this when the sun was directly overhead. Cue the sun!" Earlier, while we waited, Ciaran entertained a few of us with limerick poetry. And we wait for Linda Deutsch to arrive. I'm standing, and my back is starting to ache terribly. Finally, someone is coming down the hill. We get a message that the jurors will be done in abut five minutes. So, I guess the earlier report was incorrect.

Linda finally arrives and as she steps up to the group of microphones she gives us a big smile.

more to come....

The Rolling Stone Interview with Michael Bay

One of the trail watchers, Tom Del Bosque (who actually went to the same junior and senior high school I did in Pompano Beach, Florida; small world), brought a print out of a May 29th, 2001 interview Rolling Stone Magazine did with Michael Bay, and shared it with Dominick. Although no mention of Lana, it's pretty interesting.

A few excerpts:
His current girlfriend is named Lisa, and she's a professional golfer, and she is, he says, "Fucking hot!'' Generally, he doesn't like to go out with actresses - "The actress vibe is a little too neurotic for me'' - and he's not big on money-grubbing freaky chicks, either. "This one girl, I went out on two dates with her,'' he says. "She called me up, goes, 'I was wondering if you could help me with my BMW payment.' I said, 'Excuse me?' And she goes, 'Well, like, I'm sure you have a lot of money.' And I go, 'Yeah, I got a lot of money, but you know what? I would never give it to you.' ''

(snip)

Not that Bay really cares who his real parents are, but when he was twenty he thought it might be interesting to learn a little more about them. "I was going away to school,'' he recalls, "and I'm literally thinking, 'OK, gotta pack this, gotta pack that, wouldn't it be cool to find out who my parents are?' ''

He went to the adoption agency, and the agency lady said, "I really think you should try to meet your dad,'' and Bay said, "I just want to meet my mom,'' and when he did meet her, he found the experience "weird, weird'' and "interesting, interesting.'' Eventually, he began wondering about his real father and who he might be. He knew his dad was some sort of Hollywood big shot; for a while, he figured it was either Sydney Pollack or Clint Eastwood. Finally, someone told him it was John Frankenheimer, the legendary director of action movies and thrillers, among them The Manchurian Candidate, Grand Prix, Black Sunday, Ronin and, most recently, Reindeer Games. Who told Bay it was Frankenheimer? "I got it out of my mom, I think,'' he says late one afternoon in his office. "Anyway, it's now this big rumor around Hollywood.'' He drums his fingers on the chair. He drums them some more. He says, "It's interesting, I guess.''

SLANDER! Guest Entry by Dr. C. Carroll Adams, Ph. D.

Update 2
Late breaking news from the courtroom that was observed by Dr. Adams. Sprocket

CCA here. I got delayed leaving the courtroom and Sprocket had dashed, so it is possible she missed the loud confrontation.

On the far side of the hall, just toward the elevators from Dept 108, LA Times senior reporter John Spano was seated on a bench next to Beth Karas, with LA Times reporter Peter Hong standing to their right. Harriet Ryan and Michael Christenson (both of CTV) were standing to their left. I was on the Dept 106 side of the hall walking with the pool still photographer. In the middle of the hall was Roger Rosen, CP and some of the defense staff. John Spano was asking why RR objected to Peter Hong as the second pool reporter on the jury view. RR said something rude, then turned away, taking a few steps. John S remarked that RR is a jerk.

Roger Rosen twirled around, demanding to know what John Spano had said. This opened the door (as often happens when RR asks questions) thus allowing John S to repeat that RR is a jerk. Many of us share that belief. RR got all flustered, then petulantly shouted he would contact his own civil attorney about a slander action.

Immediately several of us pointed out to John that the truth is a valid defense against slander. Two random passing attorneys leaving Dept 108, with no connection to the PS case, assured John that they would defend him if RR is moron enough to file a slander lawsuit.

BTW, RR's beautiful girlfriend was nowhere around late in the trial Wednesday, nor in the hall during the shouting match.

Probably this means that during the Castle view Peter Hong will not be one of the pool reporters.

Funny, because about 9AM a bunch of us, including Robert Shapiro who was waiting to appear in Dept 107, were in the hall when Roger Rosen told all of us LKB is still very ill. This was when Mike C used his laptop to tell Beth Karas downstairs on camera about LKB's medical condition. RR was being friendly then, before he lost so many times before Judge Fidler.

Just reporting the facts as I see 'em.

CCA

Update: August 9th, 5:20 am
Looks like Peter doesn't get to go.

Update: August 9th, 4:30 pm Well, that was interesting how Judge Fidler handled the dust up between Spano & Rosen. Seems Rosen was a bit miffed to hear the specifics of an in camera session the media's First Amendment attorney had with Judge Fidler and counsel.

Revisiting the defense request and the pool reporter selection.
Regardless of what Spector wants, the Judge ruled that the press would choose who would be the selected pool reporter. Yet, have you ever heard, of a defendant requesting a specific reporter be the pool reporter? Where? When? No one I spoke to, could recall an incident. This was a first. From my perspective, that statement made in open court did not help Ms. Deutsch's career at all, and it gave validation to opinions that Ms. Deutsch is biased towards the defense side. It's not good to be aligned with a defense attorney who has such a poor reputation with the press, and at the courthouse. Not good at all.

Did Rosen's statement cast a shadow of suspicion on the voting process at the press advisory meeting? The other questions I would ask again are, how much lobbying was there, and why did so many reporters who had never been inside the courtroom reporting on the trial (or even in the media room on the 12th floor) show up for the voting? What made so many go to the trouble of making a trip to the downtown courthouse to cast a vote?

Reporting on the Reporters...from outside in the hallway

Updated
Well, I thought I was invited, lol! I know I should get caught up on my trial notes, ~so I don't get farther and farther behind again~ but this whole day just made me go, Ah-hummmmmm with it's twists and turns, so I thought I would write about this morning first, and then get caught up on the daily notes.

It was during the morning break on July 31st, that one of the court liaison officers came over to the group of accredited reporters I sit with and discussed with them the logistics of the press attending the jury visit to "The Castle." Next Tuesday, August 7th, there would be a meeting will all the press, at 8:30 am in courtroom 105 next door. I didn't know if I would be allowed to go to this or not. It wasn't clear at the time, if this was only open to accredited press, or if I would be able to attend and just write about what was decided. It was clear that this meeting would be to outline what the procedures would be in place for the press, and that the press would probably have to choose a pool reporter.

When we found out on Thursday that court would be dark on Tuesday due to some unexpected issue, the press was also told that the meeting was moved from 8:30 am to 9:30 am. Monday afternoon, when I got to court, first thing that happened to me was, Linda Deutsch came up to me and asked if I would support her being the person chosen to be the pool reporter for the jury visit. She's done this for a long time, and she's often been the reporter that is chosen for jury viewings. The first thing I said in reply was, "I'm not a part of the accredited press. What I say doesn't count." I was flattered that she had asked for my support, but at the same time I was puzzled by it. Everyone in the room knows I am not a member of the accredited press. It is not a secret. All the reporters know this. All the court liaison staff know it. Why would Linda be lobbying for my support? It didn't make any sense to me. Linda replies with something to the effect of, (and I paraphrase on this here) "You can give your opinion; show your support." And I reply, "Sure." I really didn't know how this whole pool reporter selection thing worked. From the way Linda presented it to me, I thought the reporters in the room had already talked amongst themselves, and this was a done deal, and choosing Linda was just a formality. I also thought with Linda approaching me, that I would be able to attend this meeting.

During one of the times where the Judge has the jury step out of the courtroom, the Judge goes over some of the rules that have already been decided upon regarding the jury visit. "A single indivdual from the press will be present. There will not be a photographer, or cameras since this is a private residence. The press gets to choose who the representative will be." Roger Rosen stands up and says that the Defense would like the individual from the press to be Linda Deutsch. And when that happened, my whole opinion on the issue changed. This does not look good. The defense making the recommendation to the press who they should send? In that instant, I felt that Linda should recuse herself from being in contention. Because in my opinion, no matter if Linda was unanimously chosen, it would still appear as if the defense team influenced the press. At least to me, that's how it would look. It's been widely recognized on every crime form/message board I've ever read for the past four years, that Linda Deutsch's reporting is obviously biased towards the defense side of the case. This is not a new opinion I've developed since attending this trial. I've felt this way for a long time. When I was covering the Robert Blake trial, I read as many of the reporters that I could and back then I often wondered if Linda and I were watching the same trial. Don't get me wrong. I have a ton of admiration for Linda. She is a world famous reporter, and is highly respected among her peers. And, you will not find one of her colleagues who will go on the record and publicly say she is pro defense. I also have to note that I've often seen Linda in very warm conversations with virtually every member of the defense team on this case.

Later in the afternoon session, one of the court liaison officers who was sitting in the back row whispered my name to get my attention. She wanted to hand some notice to the reporters in our little group, about the meeting on Tuesday. She didn't hand me three copies, she handed me four. That made me believe that one copy was for me, further cementing in my mind that I would be able to attend this briefing. Although the paper that I was handed stated at the top that it was a "Media Advisory" and not for publication or broadcast, there was no mention on the announcement that this meeting was limited to accredited press. So, I planned on attending to see who would be selected.

Later, there was a flurry of whispers and conversations among several of the reporter's in the back row. Evidently, Peter Y. Hong had sent out a global email to all the other reporters, (from my understanding) with much the same concern that I had. That Roger Rosen had indicated in open court, who "the defense's" request for the selected pool reporter should be. The message was passed up to the reporter's in the second row. I did not get to see exactly what Peter wrote. It was just conveyed to me in general terms that a vote should be taken; that there was a concern that the press was just rubber stamping the defense's request.

Out in the hallway after court, the reporter's gather and this topic is discussed. The impression I got in listening to the conversation was, that Linda was not happy with Peter's email, and was requesting a vote of some kind right then. Several reporters politely told Linda that not everyone was here. There were on-air reporters in the media room that deserved the courtesy of being included in a vote, even the type of vote that was to be held. I opened my mouth and said something to the effect that the reporter's need to all have a voice as to who gets selected. I must have unintentionally talked over someone, because Carolyn Kellogg grabbed my arm right then, and motioned to me to be quiet. I immediately shut up. That afternoon, nothing was resolved.

Tuesday morning, I get to the 9th floor around 8:45 am. Dominick is already there, but he is by himself. The hallway is empty. I give him a big wave. His driver came early, and he has been at the courthouse since 8:00 am! We discuss the upcoming decision. The next to arrive is Linda Deutsch. She is wearing one of her suits that I just love. It's a dark olive green pantsuit, and I compliment her on it. Right afterwards, Ciaran arrives, then Peter. A reporter from ABC whom I've never seen before arrives. It's a little past 9:00 am, and Linda wants to know where everyone is, and wants to get this thing going. Someone mentions that Ciaran went to law school. Did I hear that correctly? Not only does Ciaran have a journalism degree, he also went to law school. This same person congratulates Ciaran on his new assignment. (When I get home, I email Ciaran and ask him, "Did I over hear correctly? You went to law school? And you also got a promotion?" He emails me back that yes, he did go to law school in Boston, in addition to his journalism degree from Northwestern University. And yes, City News has been so pleased with his coverage of the Spector trial that they are reassigning him to the Federal Courts Beat.) The reporters discuss Anthony Pellacano, and the topic is Dominick's story about him. Dominick hired Pelacano long before he became a household name. It was Pelacano who talked Dominick out of trying to hire a hit man to kill John Sweeney. Sweeney was the man who murdered his daughter, Dominique, and only served a minuscule sentence for the crime. This story is not a secret. Dominick openly talks about this in his book Justice.

Steven Mikulan arrives, and I notice he's wearing this striking color of teal shirt with his leather suit jacket. It's a great look on him. One of the reporter's ask about Linda Kenney Baden, and what's the prognosis. Linda Deutsch says that she has a walking form of viral pneumonia, that can turn into MS. One of the reporters gets a puzzled expression on their face and says, "Wait a minute, how can a viral infection cause a neurological disease?" I speak up and say, "Because they've probably found a link between people who get this, and later go onto develop MS. It makes them more susceptible, more at risk for the MS disease." So, that explains to me, Spector's comments in court, mentioning that Ms. Baden might have MS, when he was asking Fidler for a delay becasue Baden was sick. Finally Alan Parachini, head of the court's liaison's office, comes to open the courtroom and we pile in. The courtroom is a mirror image of Courtroom 106, except there are very long blue cushions on the benches, and one of the reporters complans that 106 doesn't have any. I mention that back in Feburary, 106 did, but they were of a lighter blue color. Steven Mikulan says, "It's like a parallel universe!" That comment immediately makes me think of Alice in Wonderland. The reporter's notice the interesting knick knacks on the desk of the Judge's clerk. I also notice up on the wall a sign that says "Maximum Occupancy 80," but I don't remember seeing a similar sign in Fidler's courtroom. Someone in the room had just watched the 1969 movie Easy Rider, a movie Phil Spector appeared in. I make a mental note to possibly rent it this weekend. Michael Christensen and another Court TV reporter that I've often seen but I don't know her name enter the room. Alan passes out to everyone a map of the streets with an overhead photo of the house, and markings on the map as to which streets would be blocked off, and where the staging area would be.

More reporters I've never seen before arrive. Two reporters are talking about where they are planing to set up to cover the morning shows. These must be cameramen. That's just a guess. I ask Michael Christensen where Harriet is, and moments later, she enters the room. Right after Harriet arrives, Alan comes over to me and asks which news organization I'm with. Hello Alan. You already know I'm not with an accredited news organization. Did that somehow slip your mind? I tell him that I'm a blogger on the Internet. Alan then tells me that this meeting is only for accredited press, to vote on the pool reporter. I leave the room. I never thought that I would get to vote; I just thought I could cover the decision. Out in the hallway, I see the rest of Alan's staff. I don't understand. Why is the other blogger getting to stay? Alan asks me who is the other blogger, and I describe Carolyn Kellogg, and just hope she's not pissed at me later. Carolyn then comes out of the courtroom. She tried to plead our case, to say we are there to find out about the logistics of the staging. We find out we will get to be with the rest of the media, but we don't get to vote. And I'm thinking, OF COURSE we don't get to vote! No one ever led me to believe I did. Alan comes back out a minute later to ask us to bear with them until the voting is over. This leads me and Carolyn to believe that we will be let back into the room after the voting is over.

Out in the hallway in our forced exile, I finally getting a chance to talk to Carolyn and we discuss the case. I find she has a very sharp mind, and I'm intrigued by her opinions and take on the testimony that' she's observed. I won't write about her opinions, because I didn't ask her if I could. Carolyn says she is going to try to get the LAist blog accredited with the court. She says she doesn't mind jumping through the journalistic hoops to get that for the next person who comes along. It's then that she reminds me that, like on her interview on LAist as "Guest Day Editor," at the end of the week she will be returning to Pensylvania to go back to school to work on her masters in Fine Arts. Her new title will be "Editor at Large," reporting from the field.

Time in the hallway goes very slow now. I want to go to get a Vitamin Water on the 13th floor, but I don't want to leave. I want to hear how they voted and I might miss that. Besides, no one from the liaison's office has come out to tell us that the voting is over and we can go in to hear about the logistics of the staging area, and what the procedures will be for the press regarding the reading of the verdict. What is taking so long? Carolyn says, "Are they giving speeches?" We talk about Linda Deutsch and whether or not her reporting is biased. Carolyn is firm. She doesn't believe that Linda's reporting is biased, and says evidently the AP doesn't either. That was an issue we disagreed on. We also talk about the reasons as to why we were not allowed into this meeting. I mention that Carolyn has way more journalistic credibility than I do, but she counter's with that I've been at the trial longer.

The hallway is virtually empty. There are three interesting characters sitting on benches across the hall from us. Two of them are black men, and one I think is a witness for the trial going on in courtroom 108. They are sitting on the same bench and chatting intimately, like they know each other. Another white gentleman is on the next bench over beside them and he's wearing a suit and carrying a shoulder bag valise. I make a guess that the white gentleman is possibly the attorney of one of the black men, possibly the witness, but I just can't be sure. I ask them what type of trial is across the hall that they are waiting for. I tell them, I don't need to know specifics, just what type of trial. "Mayhem case," the suited gentleman responds. Carolyn apologizes, and says she needs to get caught up on reading a book that she is under a deadline to review.

It's almost dead silence in the hallway now, except for the conversations going on across from us. We chat a bit with the two black gentleman, and talk in general terms about Spector, Blake and the OJ case. Not long after that, the hallway at the other end livens up a little bit as jurors from other courtrooms are let out on break, but our end is still virtually silent and empty. A reporter exits courtroom 105 pretty quickly, but it's clear that he's just trying to reach the men's restroom at the other end. When he comes back and passes us, we ask for news but he says that nothing has been decided yet. I see some jurors at the other end walk the hallway with sort of a slow shuffle, reminiscent of Spector, trying to find an empty stone bench to park themselves on. Some open books, others read the paper, and others sit listlessly staring off into space.

Carolyn gets up to peek into the door. She says that Alan is there speaking. It's 9:45 am. Another woman leaves the room but she heads directly to the womens restroom. We wonder why we were kicked from the room for the decision, or at least from even reporting on it. Was it the judge just crossing every "T" and dotting every 'i?' Could it be because of the defense team, or Rosen, because I called him a "moron" in one of my blog entries? Is this some type of retaliation for my opinion of him? And, if it is, why is Rosen reading me to begin with? It's not like I have any type of influential reporting here. I don't have a gazillion readers. And since I already know that the defense is reading my blog, what does that say about Rosen? Could it be someone from the accredited press didn't want the bloggers there? Carolyn said that she saw Alan in the elevator bay on the first floor when she arrived, and he never gave her any impression that she wasn't going to be allowed in the room. She also tells me that she's known Alan for a long time.

Finally after what seems like an eternity, Dominick emerges and says, "They keep saying the same thing over and over." He's heard enough, and is heading back to his hotel. He at least informs us that Linda Deutsch has been chosen as the pool reporter. Carolyn and I still wait. Why hasn't anyone come out to at least let us go in to hear about the logistics? A bit later, when everyone emerges, Carolyn goes up to Alan to talk to him to see if she can find out some answers. After she speaks to him, she heads off down the hallway and just shakes her head at me when she passes. I don't know if she actually got some sort of explaination or not. Out in the hallway, a few of the reporters talk, and I get to hear a little bit about the high drama that occurred inside the meeting. I'm quite perplexed, and I have very mixed feelings about how everything played out. Steven tells me that in the original motion, there was a request for six media representatives to observe the jury visit, with one representative being from the Internet. That initial request was rejected. As I walk back to my car, I seriously consider not going to the media staging area on Thursday at all. I almost don't feel right about even going now, even though Alan did say that Carolyn and I could be at the media staging area. I make a mental note to ask Dominick what he thinks about it, tomorrow.

Update Wednesday, August 8th, 6:13 am
Special thanks to houdinisback and Lynn Gweeny of Court TV forums who did searches on the internet last night and this morning, looking for reported evidence of a link between viral pneumonia and MS. From this link that Lynn Gweeny found, aparently there isn't one.

Quote:
MONDAY, Jan. 10, 2000 (HealthSCOUT) -- Now there may be one less thing to worry about, especially if you're unlucky enough to get pneumonia this nasty flu season. Rebutting earlier research, a new study finds that a common cause of pneumonia doesn't promote multiple sclerosis.

Doctors from Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee made headlines at a neurology meeting last year by saying that chlamydia pneumoniae, a common bacterium that causes respiratory infections such as walking pneumonia, might also cause multiple sclerosis.

Makes me wonder who Linda was talking to about Ms. Baden's illness. And, according to Harriet Ryan on the Court TV Blog, two reporters were chosen, but she doesn't mention who the two reporters are.

Update: August 8th 8:24 pm
When I got to court, I heard that Peter Y. Hong had been added to go along with Linda. I thought that was fantastic. That was decided Tuesday afternoon. Remember, there was high drama in that press only meeting yesterday. Then, when I congratulated Peter at the afternoon break, that's when I heard that he had been rejected, because Spector was not happy with the LA Times reporting. Talk about manipulation. When I got home this evening and read the Court TV boards, I heard that Peter had been reinstated to go. Who knows, something might change by the time I get there tomorrow lol!

The defense sorta "Rests" & Bring on the rebuttal

Wednesday, August 1st, 2007

I drive to court today. That's because I will have to get home as fast as possible to get ready for an evening appointment. I go to my regular budget lot, but it's been taken over by a film production crew. There's no public parking today. Fortunately, right across Broadway and halfway towards 3rd Street, I spy another lot. I speed over there, and find out this lot is $1.00 cheaper than the budget lot. Success! I've found a new lot, and it's only about 100 steps more to the courthouse.

Up on the 9th floor, I see most of the regular crew in the hallway. ccarrolladams (CCA) is already there. As I'm waiting, a very pretty and nicely dressed slender woman with great skin comes up to me. She has a long necklace on that catches my eye. I can't remember exactly what she said, but it was something to the effect of, "Are you Sprocket?" She then introduced herself. She is Kel from the Court TV forums. This is not the first time she's been to the criminal court building, but it is the first time that she's actually going to be in the gallery to watch a trial. I make sure that she gets a seat in the second row next to me and CCA, and introduce her to Mr. Dunne.

Inside the courtroom, Ciaran shares a bit of history he's discovered on Bradley Brunon. He's actually been in practice since 1969. He represented Virgina McMartin in the famous McMartin child abuse case, and was instrumental in getting her charges dismissed. He played a big role in bringing to light the way the police and the DA's office in that case, slanted their investigation and conducted improper interviews with the purported victims.

One of the cameramen leans over to tell our little group of reporters some news. Apparently, Chris Plourd has actually said that the defense is chartering a plane to bring Dr. Henry Lee back to the states. The image I get in my mind is of little Herve Villechaise, yelling "The Plane! The Plane!" My own Fantasy Island image if and when Dr. Lee actually lands back on US soil. I find this information interesting, and will be quite surprised if Dr. Lee is here in the States ready to testify before the deadline Judge Fidler has set. I'm still amazed that these clowns didn't bother to subpoena Dr. Lee for his testimony at trial.

I see Miriam Hernandez from the local ABC Ch.7 is in the room. Linda Deutsch comes over to say hello to Dominick and catch up. They go way back, and even though Linda is staunchly pro defense, Dominick just adores Linda. She tells him that she is very disappointed that she will be missing Memphis' Elvis Week, which is held every year in August. I ask her if it's because of her upcoming knee surgery, and she tells me she doesn't have to have the surgery. That's good news I tell her. She says that it's this trial that is preventing her from going. I ask Linda if she is an Elvis fan, and she tells me some information that I did not know about her. She started the first Elvis Fan Club when she was 12 years old. I ask her if I can write about that, and she replied, "Sure! It's on the Internet already." She then gives me the web address to an article on Editor & Publisher that's about her 40 years with the AP and mentions how she first got into reporting while president of that fan club. (The very next day, Linda brings me a print out of the article.)

I look on over and I see Rachelle has worn an all black mannish looking pantsuit today. Finally, when her husband's clown act of a defense team is sinking miserably, she wears something appropriate. Rod Lindblum, one of the attorney's for the family, leans in to me to whisper a message from Donna and Fawn. I smile and nod my head.

The jury hasn't been called yet, and the defense is moaning about names on the people's rebuttal list. Rosen is getting very testy, and I'm trying to write down some of the names as quickly as I can. Bruce Liverpool, Michael Bay, Kim Gregory, Susan Michaelson, ~supposedly flying in this afternoon~ Nick Terzian, Patty Leon...potentially 13 witnesse.. Rosen says he has no background information on these people, and he's really testy about this list, and that the prosecution is springing most of these witnesses on them at the last moment. Then Linda Kenney Baden has a request from the Judge. It seems that their next witness, is unwilling to release a report or some documents to them. The Judge says, "Bring him in. I'll deal with this. Some parts of this job are really enjoyable." The Judge also gives the attorney's time to look over these documents that they have never seen before, and the gallery waits.

Behind me, there is a large group of high school students in the classroom, as part of some type of class trip. It must be a summer school class, or a school that has a schedule on shifts. I see Donna Clarkson lean in and speak at length to the prosecutions exhibits' operator. I still have not quite caught her name. It always sounds like they are saying "Sutzie" when they address her. A blond haired woman (who might be near Lana's age) is in the courtroom sitting with the family. It's 10:10 am, and our little group of reporters chat about trial strategy to pass the time as the attorneys to go over the documents out in the hallway. The attorney's come and go from the courtroom and the gallery is all a chatter while we wait. I write a note to Dominick. I wonder who the heavily made-up woman is behind us. Dominick says she's really nice, and didn't give him any trouble when he asked her to move to another row. When she moved to the front row, he had to tell her that the family sits there, and she moved again.

At 10:15 am the attorneys are back in the courtroom and the jury is called. This is the 26th witness for the defense and the 61st witness overall. Ciaran is the one who is consistently on top of keeping track of all the witness stats, and we rely on him to keep up updated in that regard. One of the Dateline reporter's statements comes back to me. Her comment that the jury doesn't know who Rachelle is, because they don't see Rachelle and Spector together. And the question I ask back in my mind is, "Well what about voi dire? Could they have, then?"

The next witness is detective Tom Fortier, a detective with the LASO I-Tech Task force. It's a multi-agency force (state, local, federal), that investigates CD/DVD fraud as well as investigations on computers. He first received the computer around February 11-12th, 2003. He was asked to look for any correspondence between Spector and Ms. Clarkson, and for any references regarding suicide or depression. He made a copy of the hard drive. He asked for assistance from the Secret Service. (It's not clear in my notes here whether this next statement is referring to him or the SS.) He tried to access the computer several times, but the hard drive kept crashing. The computer's backup battery was bad and kept resetting the date. He did obtain several documents off the laptop hard drive.

Carlton Smith arrives and sits next to Linda Deutsch. There is an email to a Mr. Peter Anderson, and the witness titled it "depression reference." There is a third email (I seem to have missed what the second one was) to a David Shapiro with a reference to "manic depressive." The witness testifies there were hundreds of incoming emails in her in box at AOL. 3,553 in box emails. In the sent file, there were 1,932. However, there were also 1,485 corrupted "sent" files dated from 10-22-2000 to 12-4-2002. Fortier did not find any evidence of Spector's email addy in Ms. Clarkson's computer or vice versa. There were no results from the Secret Service. Dan Haste, also did work on the computer. Direct is finished and Jackson steps up to perform the cross.

Q: You also searched Spector's computer and zip disks, all belonging to Mr. Spector?

A: I searched all media at one time.

Fortier states that the word suicide doesn't even appear in the email he labeled suicide. It was in reference to a SAG email on depression. The word suicide doesn't even appear anywhere on her computer. 10:35 am, Brunon enters and sits with Rosen's girlfriend in the second row of benches behind the defense. The email was sent not Lana specifically, but as a mass mailing to all SAG members in conjunction with Cedar Sinai Hospital about a service they were offering. Then Jackson goes over the manic depressive referenced email, and he asks the witness to read that email to himself. Then the witness testifies that the words are spoke by Lana bout someone else and not herself. I write the following note to Dominick: DESPERATE.

Baden redirects her witness.

Q: Does that email also reference the word depression?

A: Yes.

Baden asks him to read the sentence. I'm thinking this is the same email that was put on the stand when David Schapiro testified, and it's dated October 25th, 2002. Then Baden confuses the witness. She asks, "Was it deleted?" And the witness basically does a "Huh?" He's not getting what Baden is trying to imply, but finally after a few tries he agrees, that the email wasn't deleted and that it was saved in her LivingDoll files.

Q: Did you do a search for key words "hurt myself?"

Dominick leans into me and whispers, "This is pathetic!" The witness reviews his notes, and says, "No." Baden snaps back, "Did you do a key word search for drugs? Did you do a key word search for tequila? Alcohol? Sobriety? And the answer is no, no, no, no. The witness verifies that he never had the hard drive of the desktop to examine. Jackson gets up and asks, "

Q: Is there an expiration date for responding to the email?

A: Yes.

Q: What was it?

A: Must respond by June 9th, 2002.

Q: Were there lots of emails in there?

A: Yes.

Baden redirects.

Q: Did she save her response?

Unfortunately, it's not clear in my notes what the witness answered. Jackson recrosses with, "You can not tell if they did save that (sent email)? "That's correct," he responds.

I don't completely catch what a reporter says, but it is something to the effect of, sheesh, I know I'm going to blow this funny comment. Those who haven't suicided, don't/didn't have Plourd's cross of Louis Pena. There's a sidebar for a few minutes before the next witness.

Witness #27 for the defense, overall #62 is Daniel Haste. We find out that Ms. Baden and the witness just met outside in the hallway. He's a technical information consultant and programmer. He worked on the ibook belonging to Lana Clarkson. He also helped one of the prosecutors work on their blackberry. (I totally miss whether it was Jackson or Dixon.) He first worked on this case in March, 2004. 10:45 am, the high schoolers leave the courtroom. He wrote a final report, but he doesn't recall the date. He didn't date the copy he has in front of him; he just printed it off his computer and brought with him. He agrees that it "sounds correct" that he originally dated his report February 9, 2005. Lana's computer was old and he had to find a similar machine to install the hard drive on. She had documents in a print queue, waiting to print out. I see the jury is in various states of relaxation (stretched out, leaning back in their chairs) and only one alternate, and one juror take notes.

I'm wondering, maybe there's a reference in one of these gazillion emails to Greg Sim's party? Otherwise, what in the world is the defense doing dragging all this out? Now Baden is asking if there is anything on L.B. Moon, or to "black out" drinking. The witness states he was given no search commands for any key words. This is going miserably slow for Mr. Haste, who admits he had never prepared reports of this type. So, he was asking for the DA's input as to whether he was on the right track as to what they wanted. Pathetic, this presentation. He did have some hand notes, but he didn't bring them. He testifies that he was first asked to see if there was a calendar on Lana's computer. And I'm thinking, "We could take a reasonable nap between the questions and the time this witness gets around to answering, and we wouldn't miss anything." Then a miracle happens. The defense is done and the prosecution has no questions!

The next final witness will be 24 year old Nicole Spector, who will testify for her father as defense witness #28 and overall total #63. A sidebar is called, and some of the jurors are watching the gallery. Spector is slumped down in his chair, almost like Lana was. I check in with a look to Louis (since Nicole is going to testify) and his friend, and he gives me a smile. The sidebar is finished and Linda Kenney Baden will direct the witness.

Q: Are you Spector's daughter?

A: Yes, I am.

Q: Have you observed him?

A: Yes.

Nicole testifies that she lived with her father the first eight years of her life, and she's spent a lot of time with him since. During her teen years, Spector picked his daughter up from high school every day. Her and mother would go to dinner with him and watch All In The Family together.

Q: Have you observed him since?

A: Yes.

Q: Have you ever seen him use his left hand to play piano?

A: My dad is right handed.

That's all the testimony from this witness and there is no cross examination. As Nicole exits the courtroom, Dominick leans into me and says, "No smiles from her stepmother." The defense has no more witnesses, and all the attorneys approach the bench. The jurors exchange smiles and fidget, and most focus on the activity at the bench. One juror looks out at the gallery and smiles. A few of the jurors whisper to each other. It's 11:30 am, and they are still at the bench. The gallery and the jury waits. Linda Deutsch has a coughing fit again, and it's a repeat of before with the bailiff bringing her a glass of water. Rachelle leans in to speak to Brunon; Spector talks to Linda Kenney Baden. The sidebar at the bench is over, and the Judge calls the lunch hour early. Spector, standing at the defense table as the jurors exit the courtroom, finally has a smile for his attorneys. Someone (we don't know who the man is) comes into the courtroom and kisses Rachelle on the cheek.

I try to get to the lunchroom as quickly as I can so I can push two tables together. Kel, CCA, Louis and his friend and myself all have lunch together. A bit later, Mr. Dunne joins us, but leaves early to make some calls.

Back on the 9th floor inside the courtroom, everyone is waiting. Beth Karas comes in and she is really upset. Seems the defense is now denying that they said they chartered a plane for Dr. Lee. Chris Plourd is now denying he said it to her. Beth really prides herself on her conservative reporting, to ensure that her facts are verified, and she is 100% accurate as to what she reports on air. I'm guessing she had to go on air and state a retraction, but she made sure to name Chris Plourd as the source of the chartered plane story. I don't have it in my notes, but I could swear I remember overhearing her say something to the effect that she will never believe anything Plourd says again...but don't quote me on that lol! At 1:40 pm, the jury is finally called. I make a mental calculation of how many exhibits each side has presented. The people about 171, and the defense about 250. Nicole is sitting in the front row with the bodyguard. Louis says that she lives in New York, and here all this time I thought she lived in the Alhambra condo that Spector also owns. Rosen's girlfriend is in the courtroom, and there are several Spector supporters sitting on the defense side.

Dixon presents the 1st rebuttal witness, for the prosecution, the very handsome, bald and black firefighter/paramedic, Bruce Liverpool, with 23 years experience. Paramedics function for advanced life support. He took his initial six months program back in 1990-1991, and he outlines for the jury the course work, and what the training entails. He's required to fulfill fourteen hours of community education every two years. The jurors take a few notes. Again, we see the report that was filled out by paramedics for when Lana broke both her wrists. This is the paramedic who was Stark's senior partner on the rig when they responded to the call in the Hollywood Hills, and he was the one who actually filled out the form. The witness states that he treated a patient named Lana Clarkson. She had a slip and fall injury, and she fractured both wrists. This is a much better witness than Stark was for the defense. Liverpool comes to court dressed in his uniform and he is HOT looking. (I bet I'm the only person who notices things like this, lol!) The witness goes over the document and what all the little boxes mean, and what Lana's score was, for alertness.

And the ETOH/DRug area (This is an abbreviation for ethanol. It would be checked if they suspected alcohol or drugs.) on the paramedic's patient form is shown, with no box checked. The prosecution is now going to play a tape of the communication the paramedics had with the hospital. Dixon passes out transcripts of the tape that we're going to hear to the jurors. OMG! In the background, there's a strong "ooooohhhhhwwwwww" It has to be Lana. It's the first time that we actually hear her voice in the courtroom. And we hear the paramedics say, "She does not have any alcohol consumption at this time," which is part of the communication to the hospital. Liverpool recognizes his voice on the tape. Hearing the tape brought back memories to him that even he and his partner Stark, slipped on the same rug at the location!

Now there's a little dust up between the Judge and Brunon, and the Judge gets a bit of irritation in his voice. "It is not hearsay. I have ruled!" The jury appears alert, but to be accurate, they are often stoic in their facial expressions. I see the jurors exchange smiles after the Judge now says, "Good work, Mr. Brunon!" I could have sworn that Brunon brought in all this, as well as the hospital's document on his direct with his paramedic witness. Now the witness is talking about how Tawni Tyndall, an investigator for the defense, came by his fire station and represented herself as a lawyer. He described her as having long blond hair with bright red lipstick and that she appeard to be about 45 years old. (I think I have in my notes here, the "902M"....but I'm not sure if that's the station house or if this is referring to something else.) Liverpool asked her if the person was suing the homeowner, and Tawni Tyndall said, "Yes." (Uh, oh. That doesn't sound good for Ms. Tyndall!)

Liverpool testifies, "I said that at the time, I couldn't remember the event, but now after hearing the tape recording, everything, I remembered both myself and my partner slipping on the rug. She (Tawni Tyndall) never mentioned anything about this being the Phil Spector case." I think there is another question or two, and Rosen steps up to cross.

Q: You don't have any reason to believe that firefighter Stark would be lying now do you?

A: Objection!

Judge: SUSTAINED!

Looking on over at the jury, one juror appears to be asleep, and they appear to be totally ignoring this cross. It appears this witness brought the fire house journal entry with him to court. I write this note to Dominick. They are going to drag this out like salt water taffy. Rosen ---> OILY. Two jurors appear to have their eyes closed! Is Rosen like full of himself? This cross doesn't appear to be going over well. Two jurors are openly trying to take naps. I'm hoping we get a break soon. Rosen's attempts at wit fall totally flat in the courtroom, and I just can't write another note. Maybe Dr. Lee's plane will arrive while this is going on.

Finally the break is called. Dominick and I go up to the 13th floor snack bar. I need something to wake me up and Dominick needs an aspirin. We are both totally disgusted with Rosen's cross. When we step in the elevator, there's Firefighter Liverpool, and we give him a big smile. After we got our purchases in the snack bar, we go back to the elevator lobby, and when we get on the elevator, there's Firefighter Liverpool again! We laugh and give him another greeting. He is so handsome up close! He can help me with a slip and fall anytime!

Back in the courtroom we are back on the record, but I don't have it in my notes that the jury is present. It appears Brunon is still arguing on the admissibility of the hospital document record. I could have sworn that the defense brought this record in already. It's a public record, a county record, but it's prepared by hospital staff, who are not county employees, so it's a "gray" area and the Judge has to now think or research it a bit.

The second rebuttal witness is called. The 65th witness in the trial so far is Nick Terzian. Once he's on the stand, a sidebar is called. A few jurors in the back row laugh amongst themselves. The sidebar quickly over, we learn that Terzian is a SAG franchised talent agent who's been in the business for 18 years. He handles on camera and commercial print industry. He procures models and gets them jobs. Terzian testifies that the relationship between agent and client is very important. It's a very close relationship. Agents advise their clients on potential projects. Terzian currently has approximately 400 clients. In 2003, he had about 250. At the time of Lana's death, he was her agent. He had worked with Lana for about 11 years. There was a short time, about one-and-a-half years, where there was a break in that representation.

In November of 1999, he broke off from the company he was with, and went into business on his own. Lana stayed with the previous company. Back in 1992, when he was first representing Lana, he and another gentleman handled over 700 clients. Lana was considered a "money maker" client, so he and his then partner got to know her very well. "She was bigger than life. She owned the room. She definitely made such an impact. During the actor's strike, she said she was interested in coming over and eventually she did." Sometime in 2001 she came over to the new agency. Lana was extremly marketable. A money maker. 90% of actors that are working actors make a living. Not 50 milling a year, but they make a good living. She was a beautiful, comedic actress.

Q: There was testimony that Lana Clarkson, because she was over 40, she would be competing with 20 year olds. What's your opinion about "B" movie actress label.

A: That was one of the reasons I didn't do many interviews. It makes them sound like they were not an A list actor. Lana was a working actor. There are many working actors.

Her work ethic was extremely professional. She dressed the part and looked the part when she would show up for an audition. She put forth 150%.

Q: During the months and years, did she consistently go out on castings?

A: Yes, she did. Lana showed up to every audition. She never flaked. She always showed up dressed the part. Once, she auditioned as a Vegas showgirl, wearing sequins and the feathers. I don't know how she drove down the street like that but she did.

The Judge calls the recess, and that's all the notes I have for this day. For the reporters I'm sitting with, it's a breath of fresh air, to finally hear some positive words about Lana. I dash out of the courtroom as quickly as the ancient elevators will let me, since I have to get home for an appointment.

Blogs & Crime Forums: A repeat

Crime Forums
Since Court TV's Phil Spector Forum is shut down for the night, (Okay. Who were the guilty parties that went off topic, lol!), I thought I would repeat some links, most of which you can find in my "Places To Go" list of links I like. It's always nice to be prepared with a membership at another place if you want to continue discussing the case.

Crime Library. Crime Library used to be a part of the main Court TV forums. It's been split out into it's own forum with updated software, a fresher look and tons of smilies. When they split it out, they duplicated the Court TV forums member list. So, some Court TV members may be registered there and not even know it. Here's the link to the Phil Spector Forum there.

CrimeShots. I like this little place. It's small and comfortable, and you can really get to know the members. There is a Phil Spector Forum there, too.

Crime&Justice. This is one of my favorite forums because I know the people who run the place are quite dedicated in getting information out there about unsolved cases. There is a Phil Spector thread on the Trials Forum.

Blogs
The Life And Times of Anthony Samuelson

The Darwin Exception

Court TV Blog by Harriet Ryan

LAist blogger Carolyn Kellogg

Raul Julia Levy Complains to the CA. State Bar Assn.

Updated
Raul Julia Levy appears to have filed a formal complaint against Alan Jay Jackson, one of the prosecutors in the Phil Spector Trial. I guess Mr. Levy was not happy that he didn't get to tell is bullshit story about Lana Clarkson to the jury, and has stooped to rebut the accusation that he is a con artist with his own charge against Mr. Jackson.

Still looking for your 15 minutes Mr. Levy?

Update: 11:15 am
The posters on the Court TV Phil Spector forum are under the impression this recent web posting is all a spoof, and that there has not been a formal complaint filing with the State Bar.

The "real" Salvador Alba Fuentes speaks on youtube, to clear up any confusion between him and Raul Julia Levy.

Update: 11:35 am
According the the California State Bar Assn., all complaints are confidential until charges are actually filed. Sandi Gibbons, spokesperson for the DA's office indicated she had never heard of it.

I've removed the link to limit Raul Julia Levy getting a public platform. There's no proof this youtube posting is the "real" Mr. Fuentes either.