January 21st, 2009
Prosecution Witnesses:
#31 Dr. Lynne Herold (LA Co. Sheriff's Office senior criminalist, blood spatter analyst and crime scene re constructionist; testimony complete)
Accredited Press inside the courtroom: Harriet Ryan of the Los Angeles Times
I don't even know where to begin. The testimony was so very hard to transcribe today and I may not even attempt to put up a detailed entry on what little notes I did take down. (If I do, it will be over the weekend.) It was the most excruciating day of testimony in the trial so far and it was difficult to sit through. There were times where I don't believe I've ever seen a cross take so long or go through so much convoluted suppositions to try to discredit testimony. It's my personal opinion that in his very detailed and extensive effort to discredit Dr. Herold as a witness (and her conclusions), Weinberg lost the jury. I could easily be wrong, but at times I thought that besides the prosecution and many in the gallery, even Judge Fidler was having a tough time enduring the seemingly endless questions and re questions about what Dr. Herold said in the first trial, what she said in the grand jury, what she said two days ago and the tiny, minute differences between all that testimony.
Two aging rockers came to support Spector today. One of them was Mark Ramone. The other old-rocker-type looking man had strange hair. It was blond, but there were parts of it, like long strings that were dyed black. After they arrived, Rachelle Short got Spector's attention at the defense table to let him know who showed up to support him today. To me, it looked as if it took Spector a while to register who had come to court. Once he did, he smiled at them. There is another supporter in court today. An older bald black man with a goatee. He was here last week. I did notice that Spector had his medium sized, half moon shape, black leather "man bag" with him today. It was sitting on the defense table in front of him.
Court went a little beyond the 12 noon hour to get Dr. Herold's cross, redirect and last cross in before court ended for the day so she did not have to be called back tomorrow. Donna Clarkson, Lana Clarkson's mother will take the stand tomorrow morning and talk about the last days of her daughter's life. I think this will be a very powerful witness for the prosecution to end their case with. I'm already wondering how Weinberg will handle her on cross.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
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11 comments:
Sprocket, as always you make it come alive. Your dedication to this is amazing! Thank you again and again.
I am sure the jury will be glad the tedious stuff is over. Wonder what his experts will be like....
A) I'm very glad to see someone covering the trial on a witness by witness basis.
B) Given that you were present for so much of the first trial, would you say the prosecution has done anything significantly different to help bolster their horribly circumstantial case?
C) I watched the entire first trial and based on what evidence was shown, I would not have convicted Spector. Do you think the defense will have an even easier time refuting the prosecutions loose claims this go around?
Any word how long the defense case in chief is expected to last?
Will Donna Clarkson's testimony be the only state of mind testimony for the prosecution? I agree that her testimony will be a strong note on which to end the prosecution case. I suppose if needed they could bring in someone on rebuttel.
Did it seem as if any jurors were star struck by Marky Ramone? I kind of doubt it, but Jamie Floyd did fall all over herself when she interviewed him during the first trial. LOL, she even brought in a picture of herself at one of the Ramone's shows "in the day" with her afro and all. Marky didn't seem impressed...but he seems to have kind of a flat affect.
I bet Dr. Herold is glad to head back to the lab today!
Have a good day in court today!
Sprocket - thanks so much for your diligence on this trial. I was so disappointed when I learned this trial wouldn't be televised and I kept searching every day for any information about Phil's second trial.
May I ask - does Phil Spector nod off throughout this trial as he did in the last? I thought that alone would show the jury just how emotionally detached he is and what a privileged person he perceives him self to be.
Thanks again for your terrific work.
Pat in Newton, NH
Thank you anon at 10:30 pm
richie in Jersey:
I've already outlined the differences in this trial from the first. It's in my coverage of the trial.
I take it you did not believe what Adriano De Souza told the 911 operator within minutes of the shot being fired that he saw Spector with a gun? How did that happen if Ms. Clarkson shot herself? That 911 call is corroborating evidence Spector manipulated the crime scene.
katfish:
If Mr. Weinberg wasn't even willing to tell the prosecution "who" he was going to call on that extensive witness list, I doubt he would tell me. It will be a "wait and see."
The prosecution in the first trial put on rebuttal witnesses to Lana's state of mind. I'm sure they will do that again.
I have zero idea if any of the jurors knew who Ramone or the blond/black haired individual was.
Sprocket, your response to Richie in Jersey was typically measured and first-class. Let me add the following: (1) Not only did De Souza see Spector with a gun, but Spector also stated to De Souza that he just shot someone as Spector stood in the doorway with the gun, (2) Nearly 40 minutes went by between De Souza's 911 call and the police finally gaining entry into the house. During those 40 minutes there was not a single 911call from any of the 15+ telephones in Spector's house, (3) Spector was so combative with the police when they finally did enter that they had to shoot him with a Taser, (4) Lana's face had been wiped with a diaper, wet and bearing clotted blood, that was found on a bathroom floor, (5) Spector's white jacket bearing mist-like blood spatter, demonstrating he was within 2-3 feet of the spatter event, was found in an upstairs bedroom, (6) Lana was sitting in the chair when she was shot with one of Spector's guns (how did she know he even had a gun so she could shoot herself in his foyer?) with her purse slung over her shoulder as if waiting to leave, (7) Back at the House of Blues Lana made sure to move her car from a lot that would be locked to another location to be certain she would be able to get it when she came back for it after her ride to Spector's house (yeah, just what you might expect her to do if she was planning on killing herself when she got to Spector's place).
I could go on and on but what's the point. The world is full of Richie-like people. John and Ken on KFI here in L.A. have a term for them: broccoli-heads. Unfortunately, they have the right to vote and propogate the species.
I was upset that the retrial wasn't televised, but not since I found this website. Thank you so much for what you are doing. I'm not nearly as bored as when I watched TV. Your descriptions are vivid and can be envisioned by the minds eye. You must love doing this. I love that you do this. Thank you so very much
thank you so much for keeping up with this. i dont hear a peep on the news, not even court tv. :) keep up the good work.
I really liked Steve's summing up of the incriminating evidence thus far. It makes all the little stuff seem very petty, doesn't it? Am dying to hear about the Clarkson testimony of today!
Sprocket:
I have been following your reports as many days as I can--they are phenomenal. Thank you!!
I have a couple of questions:
--does Phil Spector ever look around to see if you are in the courtroom?
--did Pumpkin Pie take the stand this time around?
Mark Ramone and Phil Spector should be on trial together for wearing bad wigs. It makes sense now why Mark Ramone has been denying that Phil Spector didn't pull on gun on the Ramones (even though Joey, Johnny and Dee Dee Ramones said he did) Wonder what is the connection with Phil Spector and Mark Ramone?
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