Phil Spector Retrial: Day Thirty-five, Phil Spector Speaks

Phil Spector Speaks; Rachelle Talks Back, Again
Updated!

There was more drama today, but it happened outside the presence of the jury and it involved, yep, you guessed it, Spector's young wife, Rachelle.

Apparently, during the lunch hour or during some other court break, Spector's wife was observed by court staff taking pictures of a woman with blond hair in the hallway of the court building. It's not clear if the individual was posing for the photos or not.

Please understand that I did not take many notes on the following event. I was just sitting back and enjoying the fireworks. I may not have the events in the exact order or have all the statements that everyone said.

The afternoon break is called five minutes early, and Judge Fidler states he has some issues to go over outside the presence of the jury. The jury exits and then Public Information Office (PIO) department head, Allan Parachini and three members of his staff enter the well and face the judge. (The PIO works directly for the LA County Superior Court and are civilians. They are not officers or sheriff's.) Also in the well is a large, black man, Mr. Bowman (sp?) who is the attorney representing Mr. Jenkins (sp?) who must be Spector's bodyguard. (I find out later, that this man is "possibly" the bodyguard's uncle.) Judge Fidler first states that the issue was brought before the residing Superior Court head judge, but that judge kicked the matter back to his court to resolve, so that's why we're here.

A PIO staff member states Mrs. Spector was observed taking photos in the court building by the three staff members. She was approached and informed that she couldn't take photos. I believe the staff member demanded the camera be turned over and at first, Mrs. Spector would not relinquish the camera. I'm not clear about the order of events, but the bodyguard became involved and told the court employee that she had no right to take Mrs. Spector's property. At some point the court employee did obtain the camera from Mrs. Spector and was looking through the photos. During some point in the event, Mrs. Spector grabbed the camera back from the staff member and deleted photos.

Judge Fidler asks if there was any physical contact and the staff member states that "she grabbed the camera out of my hands." Fidler states that, "The fact that the camera was grabbed of the the employee's hands, that could be pursued in another court." He also mentions the possibility of an employee fearing for their safety or being threatened or harmed. Fidler addresses Mrs. Spector and talks about a prior event where she took photos inside the courthouse . "Mrs. Spector, we've had a conversation before, did we not?" Mrs. Spector denies taking the prior photos Fidler refers to. Fidler states she was told that taking photos inside the courthouse was illegal. Sitting in the first row and addressing the judge in a tone that I can only describe as disrespectful, Rachelle says something to the effect of, "She saw me delete ... she saw me delete the photos and she continued to look through my husbands private photos. She continued to look through them! She had NO RIGHT to look through my husband's photos!" Judge Fidler talks about the specific rules they have concerning photography inside the courthouse and why they have them. Rachelle says that they were told that they couldn't take pictures inside the courtroom. Fidler states, "I think a point is being missed." Judge Fidler asks Rachelle if she was here when the rules of the court were gone over. She replies, "No." Filder states, "If there is another incident, someone is going to jail."

Then Phil Spector stands up and wants to address the judge. In a very gravely and raspy voice Spector says, "I've been coming to this courthouse for two years. I've been taking pictures for memorabilia. I've been taking pictures in front of the sheriff's, I've been taking pictures in front of officers, I've been taking pictures in front of judges..." Fidler interrupts this saying, "Not this one." Spector continues, "... and nobody's said a word to me. This is the first time anyone has said anything to me."

Allan Parachini addresses the court and says, "If we had seen Mr. Spector taking any photos before we would have done the same thing."

Don't y'all find it interesting that Spector will stand up in open court and defend his penchant for memorabilia photo taking, but he's yet to take the stand to defend himself on murder charges.

At the end of the day Stuart James's testimony is complete. Look for an update on today's testimony over the weekend.

Update:
I was mistaken! Harriet Ryan has a short entry in the LA Times Blog. It was the bodyguard who was taking the photos! Now it makes sense why the bodyguard had legal representation in front of Judge Fidler. When the court employee confiscated the camera, Rachelle grabbed it out of her hand.

I'm wondering, did Rachelle, knowing she wasn't allowed to take any photos, tell their bodyguard to take the pictures to avoid being accused in the future?