Remembering Lana: 4/5/1962 - 2/3/2003

Lana's niche at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery

Photo courtesy Lana's friend, Cathy Byrd

Fourteen years ago today Lana Clarkson was murdered in the foyer of music producer Phil Spector's Alhambra, California home.

After two trials, Spector was convicted of second degree murder in her death on April 13, 2009. He was sentenced to 19 years to life about six weeks later. Spector's first trial in 2007 that ended in a mistrial, was the first case covered on Trials & Tribulations.

Today I'm remembering Lana Clarkson on the anniversary of her tragic murder. Beautiful, talented, funny, she was adored by her mother Donna, extended family and friends.

Lana is interned at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in the columbarium. During the first trial, Vanity Fair writer Dominick Dunne encouraged me to visit Lana's niche. I wrote about my visit in September 2007.

Lana's Website
Wikipedia on Lana
 Lana at iMDB

Lana Clarkson 4/5/1962 - 2/3/2003

Lana Clarkson

In the early morning hours of February 3, 2003, Lana Clarkson was murdered by Phil Spector in his Alhambra mansion. It took two trials for Spector to be convicted on April 13, 2009. Spector was sentenced on May 29, 2009 to 19 years to life for Lana's murder.

This was the case that launched Trials & Tribulations. It's where I met Dominick Dunne, former DDA Alan Jackson and Beth Karas, all of whom became long time friends. 

To this day, when I see pictures of this beautiful, vibrant woman, I'm instantly back in front of her niche at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, and the peaceful place where she is laid to rest. Saying a prayer today, for Lana and her family.

Here's What Happened to "Punkin Pie," Lana Clarkson's Former "Friend"

 Punkin Irene Elizabeth Laughlin, aka "Pie"

testifying for the defense in Spector 1, 2007.

Back in 2007, over a period of about six months, I attended the first Phil Spector murder trial. It's also when I started Trials & Tribulations. 

Spector was on trial for second degree murder in the death of Lana Clarkson. Clarkson died in the early morning hours of February 3, 2003. Clarkson had met Spector at the House of Blues on Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles, where she was working security in the exclusive V.I.P. Foundation Room. After the club closed, Spector convinced Clarkson to come back to his Alhambra mansion for a drink. Just a few hours later, she ended up dead. She was shot through the mouth while sitting in a chair in the foyer, her purse on her shoulder, as if she was waiting to leave.

Clarkson, an actress and model in the 80s, was just starting to get back on her feet after breaking both her wrists in a freak accident a year earlier when her life tragically intersected Spector's.

Witnesses testified that Lana had a "best friend" who called herself Punkin' Pie, or just Pie, although her legal name was Irene Elizabeth Laughlin.  In December 2000, the LA Weekly featured a story about Pie, a self-made music promoter who helped struggling artists get their start.

Lana's "best friend" didn't testify for the prosecution. She did what any best friend would do. She testified for the defense, telling the jury that best friend Lana was so despondent, that days before her murder, Lana told Pie she was going to get a gun and kill herself.

I'll never forget the above image of "Pie" on the witness stand, with that big gold necklace bouncing back and forth between her large ta-ta's. 

The first trial ended in a hung jury. Pie was conspicuously absent from the second trial, although many witnesses did talk about Pie and how she and Lana were "best friends." At the end of the retrial, Spector was convicted of Clarkson's murder on April 13, 2009.

A couple of years ago, there was a short blurb in Screen Daily that a company, Vesuvio Entertainment was making a movie All Six Feet, about the relationship between Pie and Lana Clarkson. A few days later, The Daily Beast had a longer piece about the upcoming movie and Pie's spin on her friend's death.

It's interesting that Vesuvio Entertainment was started by Greg H. Sims, another supposed "friend" of Lana Clarkson who also testified for the defense.  Back in March 2013, Sims spoke with radio host Larry Elder about the film project that was coming out in six weeks. If the film was ever released under that name, I can't find it at IMDb.

Fast forward to December 10, 2014. I'm on Facebook, and I get an instant message from my friend Toni, who tells me that Pie is on the Dr. Phil show, presenting herself as a "cougar." Although the show had already started, I immediately hit record on my DVR. 

I watched the episode a few days later. It was quite sad. There was 58 year old Pie, her plump body splayed out on her bed like ... (words escape me), extolling the benefits of being a "cougar" and dating a man 34 years her junior. 'Nuff said. 

Phil Spector Wikipedia Page
Lana Clarkson Website
Lana Jean Clarkson Wikipedia Page
Punkin Pie Facebook Page

Roger Rosen, Former Phil Spector Attorney's Law Career is Over

 Roger Rosen in 2007,

During the first Phil Spector murder trial.

UPDATE 8/16:
Rosen appeared in a Brooklyn federal courtroom on Wednesday and agreed to give up his law practice and return $22,500.00 in client fees.  Rosen made the deal to avoid prosecution on obstruction of justice charges. The New York Post reported:

Rosen asked the court to permit him to take a honeymoon abroad because he was married just five months ago.

August 2nd, 2013
Roger Rosen, who represented Phil Spector in his first murder trial in the death of Lana Clarkson, has agreed to never practice law again in order to avoid federal obstruction of justice charges.

The New York Daily News reports:

Brooklyn, N.Y., federal prosecutors agreed to defer indicting Roger Rosen for obstructing justice because he is seriously ill, according to documents filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Apparently, Rosen informed alleged drug dealers that his client was singing to the federal government.

In December 2010, when Rosen's then-client Henry Butler started singing to the feds about the drug operation, Rosen sent notes from Butler's talks with prosecutors to Rosemond and his brother Mario Rosemond and crew member Darron Lamont Bennett.

I recently saw Rosen in Judge Ohta's courtroom during a Michael Thomas Gargiulo hearing, but we didn't speak.

I'll never forget Rosen. Back in 2007, he made a complaint to Judge Fidler about my trial coverage.  Apparently, Spector and his new wife didn't like the fact that I was describing in detail the outfits that the trial bride was wearing to court. Rosen made his complaint immediately after Judge Fidler accused me of being the individual who spoke so loudly in court the jury heard me.  I received an apology from Judge Fidler the following week.

HBO & David Mamet's Tele-Play on Phil Spector History

 Phil Spector prison booking photo.  

This is how Spector really looks.

UPDATE: 4/3
If you think that, the disclaimer that was placed at the beginning of Mamet's film is all that's needed to inform the public that the movie is totally a piece of fiction,  you are mistaken. A few moments ago, the following Google® search hit my blog:

"how did the prosecution deal with the bloodless white dinner jacket in the second Phil Spector trial"

Do you see how this film twists the facts regarding the evidence presented at both trials?

There was backspatter found on the front of Spector's jacket.  There was also a tiny spot of backspatter that was found on the edge fold of the end of the right jacket sleeve, indicating that fold was pointed directly at the source of the spatter.

During the first and second trial, the defense tried to tell the jury that if Spector had been in the vicinity of when Lana Clarkson was shot through the mouth, his white jacket would have been covered in blood.  The truth is, bloodstain analysis experts testified that backspatter from a high velocity event (gunshot wound) does not travel very far at all.  Backspatter droplets will be tiny, mist like.  And because of their size, they rarely travel more than 2-3 feet from the source (injury).  Sprocket.

UPDATE: 3/26 Corrected link to Harriet Ryan's article.

I had hoped to get this post up last week, but alas, real life responsibilities to Mr. Sprocket’s business kept me from writing.  HBO’s Spector movie aired Sunday, March 24th, 2013. My apologies. Sprocket.

It began over a week and a half ago. It seemed like every other email, tweet and Facebook posting I received, was about the upcoming release of David Mamet’s Phil Spector movie on HBO.  Sprocket!  Did you hear about the movie?  Rachelle is going to be on CNN’s Piers Morgan!  Are you going to see the movie?  Did you see Rachelle?  What do you think?  You have to write about it and tell the truth. The film totally trashes Lana.

Lana being Lana Clarkson, the tall, strikingly stunning woman who was murdered in Spector’s mansion in the early morning hours of February 3rd, 2003.  She had been shot through the mouth while sitting in a foyer chair, her purse on her shoulder, waiting to be driven home.  Spector was convicted of second degree murder on April 13th, 2009.  He is serving 19 years to life.

Some people consider me an authority on the Phil Spector case because I'm the only journalist who attended most of the first trial and every single day of the second.  It's the case that launched T&T and started me on my journey of attending murder trials and writing about them.

For me, the movie is old news.  I’ve known about the HBO film since it was announced that Al Pacino would play Spector back in October 2010. That’s how long it’s been.

I first reported on Mamet's film  when it was announced that Bette Midler had joined the cast. Midler had to drop out six days into filming due to an injury and Helen Mirren took over the role of defense attorney Linda Kenney Baden. As you can see, Mamet’s film has been in production for a long time.  Since the film was announced, I covered two first degree murder trials, Casey Anthony was acquitted of murder and Los Angeles County elected a new District Attorney.
 
Mamet has given interviews discussing the focus of his film as far back as June 2011.  I wrote about Mamet’s comments that he gave in a Slate.com article not long after that.

I’ve known from the very beginning that Mamet --who never followed the trial-- based his movie entirely on watching filmmaker Vikram Jayanti’s documentary, The Agony and the Estacy of Phil Spector, which was basically a love-letter account of Spector’s life and the murder charge, from Spector’s point of view.  (If you read any of the reviews of Mamet's film, most don’t mention this important fact.)

Although there are archival clips of other people in the documentary, Jayanti interviewed a single subject for his film, Spector --which begs the question, how objective could Jayanti’s ‘documentary’ be? Jayanti spent several months with Spector, much of it during the first trial.  Jayanti would come into court and hug Spector in the gallery.  Everyone who was there saw the public displays of affection. It was all part of the “show” if you ask me.  Jayanti was courting Spector, even during his murder trial.

So, if you can keep all that in context --that the film is not based on any of the facts presented at the trial-- then tune in to watch Al Pacino give an over the top performance as the maniacal Spector, and Helen Mirren in the role of sickly, mothering defense attorney, Linda Kenney Baden.

The Trial Bride
I can’t write a piece about Spector without mentioning his gold lamme-clad supporter and spouse. Phil Spector’s trial bride (Rachelle) recently appeared on CNN’s Piers Morgan talking about the film.  From what I read on Gary and Louis Spector’s Facebook pages, she was not invited to the start-studded premiere (although former prosecutor Alan Jackson was).  According to Rachelle, the trial bride and Spector were not consulted for the film.  As far as catching the Morgan show, I saw enough of the convicted murderer and the ‘screech she tries to pass as singing’ misses during two trials to last me ten lifetimes, which is why I took a pass on watching.

Reviews
Back when I first heard about the film I thought for certain I’d watch it, just to see what Mamet would do with his limited knowledge of the trial that convicted Spector.  But as more information came out about the film (Linda Kenney Baden inaccurately presented as Spector's lead attorney, Lana Clarkson’s character trashed, etc.) I decided it wasn’t worth my time.

Alan Jackson, who prosecuted both cases appeared on CNN 7AM weekend show on March 16th to talk about the overwhelming evidence that convicted Spector.  Unfortunately, I missed seeing Alan talk about the case of his career.

The LA Times’ Harriet Ryan wrote a very good piece  on the film.  During the first trial, Ryan worked for CourtTV and was in the courtroom every day that I was there.  She knows exactly what evidence was presented at trial.  She dropped in on the second trial a little over a dozen times.

Ken Levine’s review hit the nail on the head. It is a must read for the comparisons he makes and how Levine puts the film in context. Levine starts off his piece by stating: “If David Mamet had made LINCOLN, the official cause of the president’s death would be boating accident.”

My friend, historian and lecturer Barry Bradford saw the film and wrote a review titled, David Mamet Is A Murderer.  In Bradford’s view, Mamet committed two murders. Mamet “murdered the truth” and then “murdered the reputation of Lana Clarkson.”

All I can say now is, I’m glad it’s finally aired and reviews about the film are informing people about the incredible amount of creative license Mamet took in telling this story. If you would like to know more about the film, here are a list of reviews.

Robert Lloyd, LA Times TV critic
Robert Bianco in USA Today
Mail Online 
Ed Siegel in The Artery 
Tim Appelo in The Hollywood Reporter 
Matt Zoller Seitz on Vulture
Vikram Jayanti in The Daily Beast “My Dark Days With Phil”

Alan Jackson Says Goodbye to the DA's Office

UPDATE Jan 21st, 2013 Alan Jackson will be on Headline News (HLN) at 6PM PST with Dr Drew discussing the Jodi Arias case.

On February 6th, 2013, the Los Angeles Times reported:

Alan Jackson, a veteran Los Angeles County prosecutor whose bid to become district attorney ended in defeat in November, is leaving the district attorney's office to join a private, downtown firm that practices civil law.

Jackson, 47, said his last day in the office he sought to lead will be Feb. 15. He will pursue a career as a civil litigator with Palmer, Lombardi and Donohue, whose three partners were political supporters of his election campaign.

I was quite sad to read the news.

I'll never forget the first time I spoke to Jackson.  It was in the evening, August 16th, 2007, months into the first Phil Spector murder trial. Spector was on trial for the murder of Lana Clarkson and it was being televised on CourtTV.

 That day and the day before had been two exceptionally stressful days for me in Judge Fidler's courtroom.  When I left the trial that day, I swore I wouldn't go back.  I was in my kitchen and I got a call from Dominick Dunne, who tells me he's at the Dodger game in a private box.  He's with the entire prosecution team on the Spector case and having the time of his life.  Dominick tells me the topic everyone is talking about at the game is the admonishment Judge Fidler gave me on the record. (I was accused of being the individual who spoke so loud in court that the jury heard me.) Dominick then tells me he has someone who wants to speak to me. The next voice I hear is DDA Alan Jackson.

I don't remember everything he said in that first conversation, but I do remember him telling me that he would talk to the judge. That this judge was a fair judge and he would like for me to come back to court on the next scheduled court day, which was a Tuesday.  Because Jackson took it upon himself to go to the judge, I got an apology from Judge Fidler on the record. Because of Jackson, I was vindicated.  That event was the catalyst that eventually developed into a friendship with Alan.

After the debacle of the first Spector trial, Jackson and I stayed in touch.  T&T got it's start during the first Spector trial and, I made a point to try to cover cases that Jackson was assigned.  Jackson was a brilliant prosecutor, a charismatic orator, and I wanted to follow his career. I wanted to experience first hand, his skills in the courtroom and write about the cases he prosecuted.

When Kazuyoshi Miura was arrested in Saipan,  I started to go to the hearings.

Robbery Homicide Detective Rick Jackson, left, 

Kazuyoshi Miura, right

Kazuyoshi Miura was convicted of the 1981 shooting death of his wife, Kazumi, on a downtown Los Angeles street in his native country, Japan. Ten years later, a higher court overturned the verdict and he was released. In February 2008 Miura traveled to Saipan, a US territory, where was arrested on an outstanding 1988 warrant. He was held in Saipan while attorneys in Los Angeles argued whether he could be brought back to the US and tried for murder, again.

It was a complicated legal issue.  Miura's defense attorney, Mark Geragos, argued that bringing him back to the US and prosecuting him again would be double jeopardy. The court transcripts from Japan had to be obtained and translated. A expert witness in the Japanese language testified to the accuracy of the translation and the meaning of specific words. It was difficult to follow each side's arguments as to which aspect of the Penal Code should apply.

Because of the arguments presented by Jackson and his co-counsels DDA Ricardo Ocampo (now Judge Ocampo) and DDA Phyllis Asayama, Judge Van Sicklen ruled: “Although the murder charge is barred by double jeopardy, the State may proceed on the charge of conspiracy to commit murder because there is no evidence that Miura was previously acquitted or convicted of the same offense in Japan." Unfortunately, the case ended when Miura committed suicide within 24 hours of touching down on US soil.

When Spector's retrial finally came around in November 2008, I knew I would dedicate myself to attending every single day of the case.  I wasn't going to let Spector or his trial bride try to eject me from the courtroom again. There were no cameras this time and Jackson had a new co-counsel, DDA Truc Do (now with Munger Tolles & Olson).  It was during the retrial that Jackson opened up more, and insisted I keep him informed of any intimidation tactics the Spector's or their supporters threw my way.

Alan's strategy for the second trial was tighter, more focused, presenting fewer witnesses than the first trial.  Alan and Truc Do's opponent this time was not a large defense team, but a single counsel, Doron Weinberg, a crafty and difficult adversary. From the very start, Jackson and Weinberg had difficulty getting along.  To me, it appeared that Weinberg used every delay tactic he could not to turn over discovery.   Even Judge Fidler commented outside the presence of the jury that it was "evident" Jackson and Weinberg couldn't stand each other.  Weinberg was able to convince Judge Fidler to let him present an expert on suicide and an expert on memory. Despite these obstacles, Jackson's cross examination of many of the defense witnesses was a pleasure to watch.  The most memorable were doctors Werner Spitz and Vincent DiMaio. Spitz lost his temper more than once on the stand and could not answer the most basic questions about his billing practices.  I remember that defense expert Dr. DiMaio complimented Jackson on an excellent cross examination when he stepped off the stand.

Alan was the first person I asked for advice when a Spector fan posted my personal information online and he willingly gave it.  No matter what the question was, Alan always found the time to respond.  During the second trial there were many times that people in the gallery would ask the prosecution team questions before court started.  At one point, I asked him if he would ever consider going into private practice.  At the time he responded in a very strong tone, "Never!"  Jackson's message was clear. He was a career prosecutor. Prosecuting criminals was his life's work.  But things happen in our lives that we can't always foresee.  As everyone knows, Spector was convicted of second degree murder on April 13th, 2009.

Spector booking photo, post conviction

Over the next several years, I was fortunate to attend many court hearings and one more trial where Alan was involved in the prosecution: the  Lily Burke, preliminary hearing, the James Fayed, trial and pretrial hearings for Kelly Soo Park and Alberd Tersargyan.

No matter the case, attending a trial or a short pretrial hearing where Alan was the prosecutor was always time well spent.

James Fayed, sentenced to death

I'll never forget during the James Fayed case, when Alan brought some of the seized gold bars and gold coins into court.  He passed a $50,000 gold bar to Judge Kennedy and the jurors, so they could feel the weight of it.  After that day in court, I asked him what it was like.  He was astounded at the experience of having over a million dollars in bullion sitting in a box at his desk that morning (with a FBI agent in tow, guarding the bullion), as well as holding a single gold bar, the cost of a brand new Lexus, in his hand.

In May 2010, Alan received his second prosecutor of the year award. By this time he had already been promoted to Assistant Head Deputy of Major Crimes.  Even though my trial coverage took a back seat to my real life responsibilities, I tried to report on the various projects Alan was involved in and keep in touch with him by email. 

When Alan announced in December 2010 that he was making a run for the District Attorney's Office, I immediately signed up on his campaign web site.  I didn't think twice about it. It didn't matter than we were members of opposing political parties because I knew Alan personally.  I felt he had the integrity and skills to lead the DA's office.

Even though the DA's office is non-partisan, politics is still a major factor in this race. I knew Alan would have a tough road to climb in a mostly democratic county. Even though I had never written about this type of subject, in support of Alan, I attended many of the debates for district attorney and blogged about them.

When Alan was defeated on November 6th, I was hoping that things would work out at the DA's office. Sadly, that was not to be.  Back in May 2011 during the Fayed trial, I asked Alan, "What are your plans if you don't win?"  At that time, he told me he didn't have a "Plan B" and I was very worried for him. Fortunately, he did eventually get a plan in place.  Alan joined the civil litigation firm of  Palmer, Lombardi & Donohue.

There's no question that Alan is a brilliant trial strategist, highly respected by his peers.  The clients that chose him, will get a tirelessly dedicated attorney that will fight the hardest for them.  Even though Alan has moved into civil litigation, I hope to continue following his career by dropping in on the cases he takes on.  Best of luck to you Alan.  I hope to see you inside a courtroom again, soon.

Vanity Fair, Domick Dunne 'Legend With A Bullet'

About Alan Jackson, (From Vote Alan Jackson website)

LA Times, DA's Rival Has A New Post

LA Times Opinion, Lacey's Definition of Lateral

Note:
Phil Spector convicted of the murder of Lana Clarkson
James Fayed convicted of the murder for hire of his wife, Pamela
Kelly Soo Park is charged with the first degree murder of Juliana Redding
Alberd Tersargyan is charged with four murders
Kazuyoshi Miura, convicted in Japan of murdering his wife, Kazumi. Verdict overturned.

Leonard Cohen's Neverending Drama With Kelley Lynch

Kelley Lynch and her public defender.
Photo Credit: Al Seib, Los Angeles Times

UPDATED April 17th, 2012
Singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen is suing his former manager, Kelley Lynch for harassment and making death threats. Lynch is on trial for making harassing phone calls and sending thousands of E-mails. This case totally escaped my radar because it's being tried by the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office and not the LA County District Attorney. Normally, this is not the type of case I would cover on T&T, but I only mention it because of my peripheral connection to it. Lynch was arrested on March 6th, 2012 by an agency outside of California. Unable to make the $25,000.00 bail, she's been in LA County custody since her arrest.

I first heard from Lynch sometime during my coverage of Phil Spector's murder trials. Not long after, I was included in a very long list of people that Ms. Lynch was E-mailing. She also started to leave comments on T&T. Puzzled as to why I was receiving these long E-mails, I did some research. In 2005, Cohen accused Lynch of misappropriating over five million dollars from his retirement fund leaving him with only $150,000.00. I do not know what she did with the money. In 2006, Cohen won a civil suit against Lynch and was awarded over $9 million dollars. I don't believe Cohen has ever recovered his stolen assets. From my understanding, it's one of the reasons he had to start touring so late in his career again.

Phil Spector produced Leonard Cohen's Death of a Ladies Man (and I hate to say it because I "love" Cohen's work) an absolutely awful album. In some of the early E-mails I have, Lynch claimed to have known Spector for 25 years and worked with him at the same time as one of the prosecution witnesses, Diane Ogden. For some reason only known in Lynch's mind, she connected to the Spector trial and started E-mailing anyone who ever had even a passing connection to Spector. Sources tell me at one point she was E-mailing the LA County DA's office over 100 times a day.

From the beginning, it was pretty clear to me from what I was reading in these E-mails that Lynch was either suffering from a mental illness or had a few screws loose upstairs. When I started getting up to 10 E-mails or more a day, I put a filter on my account for any E-mail address she used and let them go directly into a file labeled "NUTSO". I rarely read them and I never responded to them.

One of the many E-mail's I received from Lynch is dated July 7th, 2009. A total of 35 people were also included the mailing. Besides me, Lynch included Spector's defense attorneys Doron Weinberg, Dennis Riordan; several people in the LA Co. DA's office, including DDA Alan Jackson; employees at the Department of Justice as well as the California State Bar contact E-mail; several people at the LA City Attorney's office including Rocky Delgadillo (former City Attorney); several E-mail contacts for government agencies in the State of Colorado, where I believe Lynch resided for some time.

This single E-mail alone will give you an idea of what the majority of the E-mails contained. Many also included copies of supposed E-mails from others and sometimes excerpts from my T&T entries covering the Spector case. In the E-mail below Lynch is referring to another blogger besides myself. I've xx'd out the rest of the blog name to disassociate T&T from them. I've never communicated with Lynch at any time and I've never published any comments she tried to leave on T&T.

QUOTE:

To the IRS Commissioner's Staff,

What's the most "glaring" comment on Blogxxxxxx's Blog (which is nothing other than evidence of an extortion attempt, coercion, collusion, bribery attempts, blackmail, wire fraud, etc.)?

"albeit from a distance and through intermediaries" - that relates to Leonard Cohen's helping me and this is evidence of how this man functions behind the scenes. Of course, my Mother thought he was "insane" and "nuts" when she recalled that he came into Boulder and filed a fraudulent restraining order against me. Then again, she knows him and sees right through him. Even my "ex-husband" could help. Why? He has destroyed Ray's life and inserted himself - from what I can tell - into the Phil Spector murder fiasco and Cohen's tax fraud that I was told is criminal. I told him I was told this and yet he and his "father" wanted me to make what I was also told would have been an illegal deal.

I think the IRS should be extremely interested in all of Blogoxxxxxx's communications with Cohen, Kory, Rice, and others - including the District Attorney of Los Angeles, Alan Jackson, and the Clarkson family.

Would the IRS Commissioner's Staff mind advising me why you are being copied in on these emails if you never found enough credence in my advisers assertions that Cohen exposed me to criminal tax fraud, used me as an unwitting pawn, etc. How about the evidence I've emailed you? The IRS is not going to file a case against someone who has penalties and interest in the vicinity of $30 million and probable problems in Canada, abandoned green card, numerous social security numbers, etc. I see that my "options" are more visits to jail (all of which demand investigating and can be construed as witness tampering and witness intimidation actually - and should), death, the nut house - no thanks. I was already "committed" because I mentioned the IRS and that made me "bi-polar." Of course, I called Agent Betzer from that nut house and my call to Steven Segal is what led the "nuts" to take me seriously. If I'm so useless to everyone as a witness then how come every single person I talk to thinks Cohen should have been arrested and Phil Spector has been set up? Blogoxxxxx'x probably knows that destruction of evidence is criminal so if he received "communications" from my former con-artist friends in Lost Angeles he should save that information. Boies Schiller was very clear with me about this.

Well, my Mother wants me to marry Bruce Cutler so I hope a future judge doesn't get too mad at her. She also wondered if the FBI Duty Agent I'm not arguing with is single. If I'm not "delusional" than I'm just obstinate. Why is Belark defending Lana Clarkson? I didn't call her gay but my emails and postings have been "tampered" with - including my "hints" to the FBI which were absolutely satirical and sarcastic because I think these people are positively nuts.

Does the IRS Commissioner's Staff think impersonating Bruce Cutler is a joke? How about if I impersonate a lawyer from the IRS? Is that a joke? What about the death threat to Nat McBride? Is that a joke? Belark, Gianelli, and possibly others have clearly set out to intimidate Rutger and, I believe, engaged in "witness retaliation." So have a number of "law enforcement officers."

Belark's article is wonderful and sober? Why? It is one long lie. Why hasn't my family interceded? My family thinks Boulder PD has targeted me; they are horrified; they believe Phil Spector was set up; cannot understand how Cohen has gotten away with his criminal conduct for so long; believe Cohen perjured himself in Phil Spector's murder trial; and are concerned for my welfare. Why hasn't Cohen been "arrested" for defrauding me of millions. I reported this to the District Attorney's office and they know there is evidence they can review - on public record with the Boulder Municipal Court. I know why - because he's there "witness" against Phil Spector and shows up in their legal documents even though he had to have changed the story he told the detectives I met.

The IRS Commissioner's Staff, or the Department of Justice, should definitely get in touch with Boulder PD to see why I've been reported. Also, because the District Attorney, Police Chief, Attorney General, and others refuse to explain why "Storbeck" rolled into Deneuve Construction perhaps that could be investigated as well.

Ann Diamond's not a sympathetic reporter but she sure sees through Cohen - as all the emails she wrote me (that I supplied to the IRS - with her full knowledge, awareness, understanding, and permission) clearly set forth. In fact, she thinks he's capable of murder from what I could tell.

The feds are onto me and the feds are being used in an intimidation attempt and to threaten me.

What does it mean that if I decide to privately and quietly straighten my life out ... they would leave me alone. That means, to me, that if I stop insisting that I was TOLD Cohen committed criminal tax fraud, and call Cohen for help, they will stop demanding that Boulder PD arrest me and they will stop lying to the FBI in Oakland. My Mother said they went to the FBI because I did. I went to the FBI about conduct that crosses state borders - and, in particular, official misconduct and law enforcement misconduct that crosses state borders. I went to the IRS (much to my eternal dismay) about Cohen and his tax fraud that I was told is criminal. Hey, I could pretty much be back to a normal life. Why? Are they going to rebuild my former house and undo all the damage they've done? Will Ray have a second childhood?

I still think "Samuel" is connected to the Lost Angeles District Attorney of Jackson but can't say for certain. Sounds like Kory also - the "threat" perceived when someone stops by a law office unannounced with a "witness" - albeit naively. Nuff said. It's witness tampering with a minor and big time - because it evolved into a kidnapping. I've never claimed to send Bruce Cutler an email but he didn't send me one authorizing Belark, Gianelli, Blogoxxxxxx, et al., to speak on his behalf or communicate his views about me to me. Fortunately, they now know that Bruce Cutler and I agree - he's not representing me and I'm waiting for Phil Spector. What's so creepy about my possibly wanting to have sex with Bruce Cutler? I know lots of men that want to have sex with me.

Leonard Cohen may not have been the best father. His drug use was for depression. He drank too much. Time for the violin solo. He's not bragging though and he has admitted this to the world who he apparently views as his confessional while his "fans" are his "constituents." If I were an FBI profiler I would say he has delusions of grandeur.

Anyway, not certain what Belark was attempting to prove by posting everyone copied in on my emails - except that he knows who is copied in and understands this is deadly serious. Do you think Betsy Superfon (Note: I do not know who "Betsy Superfon" is. It's not me. Sprocket.) was trying to "help" me when she was negotiating with Cohen/Kory, on my behalf, without my knowledge, permission, awareness, or authorization? I don't. I think it's incredibly sinister. How about Peter/Jacob Falconey? Isn't it funny that he impersonated a federal agent and told me that the battlefield is Rutger's life? I guess he was trying to help me. Of course, I don't know him but Lindsey told Douglas Penick that he really came to my former house to find out what was going on with Cohen's tax fraud matter and I filed a field report with S&MPD about the fact that he was following me. He followed me on more than one occasion and was watching me. Fortunately, they haven't dragged the Gambinos into this yet. Every time someone can't refute a position they bring up John Gotti or the Gambinos from what I can tell. Bruce Cutler's office did not advise me that we were going to have a problem but I did receive a fax in response to the faxes I sent Mr. Cutler - documenting what I had been going through and including certain "evidence" with that.

Does the IRS really believe that Bruce Cutler doesn't know how to handle me? Anyway, do so or "shut up" is fairly fascinating. I hope Blogoxxxxxx doesn't get a restraining order (fraudulent, of course) against the IRS. I saw that Craig's List attempted to get one against the Attorney General and thought it shouldn't be too long before the "government" realizes just how unconstitutional these rotten shabby tactics are because it won't be able to move.

I think Bill Pavelic is reading my emails because I thought his response about the "Swedish woman" was really frightening - although it does remind me of my matter and the District Attorney's tactics. Of my God - they advised Bruce Cutler that I wanted to have sex with him. "Bait" comes to mind. I'm glad I left him a message giving him a head's up about this "ploy."

I'm not under the impression that Bruce Cutler still represents Phil Spector. He quit the trial and Phillip said the judge targeted him. I am under the impression that people with "motive" want to pierce attorney/client privilege between Phillip and Mr. Cutler and I saw this coming a million miles away and over a year ago. Talking to the police in Boulder is enough to turn into physical abuse (their part) and lies. I don't have a case and I understand that? They obviously haven't heard the last of Kelley Lynch. Now Bruce Cutler has betrayed me? That's why I said he will end up representing Cohen and Clarkson if these nuts keep it up.

Let me advise the IRS of something I witnessed: Leonard Cohen does not have competent legal counsel in Beverly Hills. Kory is insane, told me there is fraud on every entity, they were going after all the advisers, I have a cause of action against every single adviser of Cohen's, the holding periods were illegal, Superfon was communicating with him, they hold Greenberg and Westin primarily responsible, etc. He told the "waitress" that we were there about a "divorce" and discussing the tax consequences. Sound familiar? Do you know what 50% of Cohen's community property is worth? Probably not - he doesn't properly declare anything and disdains ordinary income taxes. Ken Cleveland told me not to even mention Robert Kory and also thought Anjani Thomas was involved with much of what happened to me.

They called my bluff and called Bruce Cutler? Oh no they did not. I actually thought that "call" would end up coming from the District Attorney of Lost Angeles but "Gianelli" beat them to the "punch line.." I see right through these people, I see right through their tactics, and I think they are idiots who underestimate everyone.

Here's my position on my "legal background" - it is evidence that I have been targeted by law enforcement. It is evidence, to me, of witness tampering and worse. I hardly had a parking ticket prior to this bullshit - including the SWAT team. Maybe the IRS can figure out the Inglewood PD angle - particularly now that they are under investigation.

Cohen's views that we were lovers are evidence to me that the man is still obsessed with me and he is delusional. I wasn't his business manager and he won nothing. I have no intention of setting the judgment aside - I am using that as evidence of the lengths Cohen went to in order to cover up what I was told and believe is criminal conduct. Here are the issues raised by John Southard's extremely competent attorneys:

Jurisdiction

Civil Issues - relating to my being defrauded

Custody Matter

The rest of the insanity was a no brainer - particularly to the former Attorney General of New Jersey who absolutely ended up telling me to go get Bruce Cutler.

Bye,

Kelley

END QUOTE

If I had known about this case, I would have scheduled my trip back east another time because it would have been interesting from a voyeuristic point of view to see the evidence against Lynch, not to mention see Cohen testify on the stand. My thoughts and prayers are with Leonard Cohen. I do hope Cohen is successful with the prosecution but I don't know if it will stop Lynch's behavior in the future if she is eventually released from custody.


UPDATE April 10th, 2012
The LA Times has a short update on the trial in their LA Now Blog. Apparently Cohen took the stand again on Monday, going into more detail about Lynch's harassment.

I do know that Lynch also left long rambling voice mail messages at the offices of John Taylor at Taylor & Ring, the Clarkson family attorney, that would use up all the available message time.

There were many others that told me they were harassed, but asked that their names not be mentioned in the off chance that Lynch would read T&T, see their name and start the E-mailing campaign again.

UPDATE APRIL 14th, 2012
Latest news from the Los Angeles Times is, Lynch was convicted an all eight charges. Her next court appearance is April 17th, 2012 when she is expected to be sentenced.

UPDATE APRIL 17th, 2012
Lynch was sentenced to 18 months behind bars. LA Times NOW has the details of the sentence.

Leonard Cohen Wikipedia

New York Times

The Sun, UK

Phil Spector's US Supreme Court Appeal

UPDATED 2-21-2012 Edited for accuracy


Phil Spector conviction booking photo


My wonderful friends in the MSM dropped me some news yesterday. Tomorrow, February 21st, 2012, it is expected the US Supreme Court will decide whether or not to hear Spector's appeal on his murder conviction in the death of Lana Clarkson. If they refuse to hear the appeal, his murder conviction is final. Does anyone want to place any bets on whether or not the Supreme Court will hear his appeal?

But it's not really "over". There still is one last appeal that Spector can file and it's a common one filed by many convicts. Spector can file a writ of habeas corpus in federal court. It's basically a civil suit filed against the warden of a prison with the allegation that the inmate is being wrongly imprisoned. It's an easy wager that Spector will file this writ. However, it rarely (if ever) results in a prisoner being released from custody.

People occasionally ask me how the trial bride, Rachelle Short Spector is doing. I haven't a clue how she's doing, but I expect she's not doing too bad, now that she has "the castle" all to herself (I'm betting she redecorated and tore out that hideous blood red carpeting) and she doesn't have to sleep with her husband any more. (I can't imagine that was ever a pleasant experience.) I mean, the thought of that just makes one go "Ick!" and cringe inside, doesn't it? Last anyone heard, she still visits her murdering hubby on weekends. What a fun trip up the I-5 that must be.

Thankfully, the Clarkson's civil suit was settled on the 9-year anniversary of Lana's death. The details of the settlement are unknown at this time, but it's a good bet that Spector did not admit to anything.

UPDATE 2-21-2012:
The US Supreme Court declined to hear Spector's appeal. They did not give any comment on the decision. I'll report as soon as I hear when Spector has filed the writ.

Lana Clarkson: Nine Years Ago

Lana Clarkson



I happened to see DDA Alan Jackson in Department 104 this morning, who was there on another matter. He reminded me about the date today.

Nine years ago today, the life of this beautiful and vibrant woman was cut short by Phil Spector on a drunken binge rampage. It took six years and two trials for a verdict to be reached and justice served. My new life as a crime blogger began with this case when I started covering it in February, 2007. Back then, I never could have predicted the friendships I've forged or the events I experienced. One of the most memorable that still stays with me today, was visiting Lana's niche at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. I'll be lighting a special candle for her tonight.

Update 9:01 pm:
Spector settled the civil suit against him for Lana's death.

California Supreme Court Denies Phil Spector's Petition

Phil Spector prison booking photo




In a not so surprising move today, the California Supreme Court denies Phil Spector's petition for review of the Appellate Court's decision for his 2nd degree murder conviction in the death of actress Lana Clarkson. It's my understanding that Spector's only recourse is the United States Supreme Court. Good luck with that, Phil. You will have to survive on visits from your Trial Bride for at least the next seventeen years. I wonder how long that will last?

Rest in peace, Lana.

Stephanie Lazarus Pretrial Hearing 7

Updated: 12:30 pm

Today starts a three-day hearing in the Stephanie Lazarus case to hear defense motions to exclude evidence. From my understanding, defense counsel Mark Overland plans to call several prosecution witnesses over the next three days. I will have an updates on today's hearing at the noon lunch break and later this evening. Stephanie Lazarus is charged with the murder of Sherri Rae Rasmussen, the new wife of her former boyfriend in 1986. This cold case was solved 23 years later by DNA evidence. The trial is scheduled to start in mid October, 2011, with DDA's Shannon Presby and Paul Nunez representing the people.

Update: 12:30 pm
Stephanie Lazarus, Kelly Soo Park, Clarkson Family Civil Suit against Phil Spector and that HBO "dramatization" of Spector's legal woes.

What a frustrated morning I had! I got out the door on time, that wasn't a problem. My drive into downtown was perfect; it only took about 25 minutes to get to the budget parking lot. It was right when I was going to pull into the lot. I reached into my purse to get my wallet to pay the attendant when I realized I left my wallet at home. I called Mr. Sprocket, hoping he hadn't left the house yet. He was still home, but not nearly ready to leave for his project in Glendale. His first thought was to just go to a branch of our bank and get some cash. I asked him, "How would I prove who I was?" I had no identification on me. Having worked in the banking industry for over 15 years as an internal auditor, I knew it would be near impossible to withdrawal even twenty dollars out of our checking account. I knew that I was going to miss possible testimony because Judge Robert J. Perry is a stickler for starting right at 8:30 am.

I immediately headed back home and Mr. Sprocket and I planned to meet at a freeway exit. By the time I got back downtown and inside Judge Perry's courtroom, he was already ruling on the second of two motions presented. And that was it. No three day hearing with testimony. The next court date is August 25th, 2011. I had to get most of my information from other people who were there from the beginning.

From my understanding, two motions were heard and ruled on today. I heard the tail end of Judge Perry's ruling on the second motion regarding the prosecution having a forensic expert testify as to whether or not the crime scene was a "staged event."

Judge Perry basically said the expert can testify about what was found at the crime scene and whether or not that was consistent with a burglary. The witness cannot speculate. Judge Perry will allow him to offer an opinion. "He can be your 'pull it together witness' as to how (he believes?) the crime occurred, the number or shots, the sequence of events..."

Judge Perry then talks about something where I'm not fully getting the gist. The expert cannot testify about "...the hand over the mouth or torn septum... (snip) (If? It's?) the medical examiner offers an opinion as to how (that?) occurred....but he can't say it on his own."

Judge Perry continues "...broken nail at the front door.... no (?) at the upper level...he can opine. I don't know what to do about the cordage.... (or?) need for more cordage. (It?) could be an attempt to kidnap..... I thought probably (a?) permissible opinion. (snip) He can offer that as part (of the crime scene that's) not consistent with a burglary..... but not kidnap. (I?) don't think (there's) anything (there) to support kidnap."

Then Judge Perry instructs Mr. Presby what he should say for argument, that the witness cannot say as opinion. The narrow window of time, and that the killer waited until the husband was gone. That's not permissible on speculation (by the expert). "All that you can argue," Perry rules. "How committed the killer was, no financial gain.... pure argument....the level of violence. (snip) The adjustment of the driver's seat on the BMW, I don't know that that's permissible for this witness. The fact of adjusting of the driver's seat goes more to the size of the offender. (snip) (It) points to personal cause....argument."

Judge Perry then talks a bit about the recovery of the purse. The purse was found by gardeners, groundskeepers. Mr. Presby states that the gardener's are not even around. Perry states then that the witness can't even talk about it. Perry states the witness can talk about facts that are inconsistent with a burglary and he can say how he things the crime occurred; the evidence inconsistent. Then the front door and whether it was locked or unlocked is mulled over. From what Judge Perry was saying, the front door had three locks and the condo had an alarm system, but apparently from statements John Ruetten, the front door might have been left unlocked because from the night before because of a visitor. Judge Perry states, "There's no evidence of forced entry that I can see....I realize that I'm cutting him way back."

Judge Perry then asks if there's anything from the defense? Mark Overland responds, "No."

The jury questionnaire is then mentioned. Judge Perry states he received a revised copy from the people and that it's quite extensive (larger) that the one he saw before. Mr. Presby stands and explains that the prosecution and the defense agree on almost all except question #74. Judge Perry states he will look at it. Presby then brings up one other matter, the scheduling (on? of?) course of the trial.

Mr. Overland talks about discovery and that he still doesn't have some important evidence from the people. Overland wants to set the next court date, "sooner rather than later." Overland would like a date set in ten days for the LAPD to give him materials. "And additional discovery that might be missing." Judge Perry asks, "You still planning a motion on the DNA?" Overland states that he is. His expert just received the evidence. Judge Perry rules the next hearing to be August 25th and at that time they will set dates for further motions.

The people who were in the gallery were Nels and Loretta Rasmussen and their attorney John Taylor. Lazarus' mother was there along with her friend who was at a prior hearing on June 30th. Steven Lazarus, Stephanie's brother was there with a female friend with short blondish hair. The Dateline producer was there along with Matthew McGough, from The Atlantic.

After the hearing I got a quick update on what I missed. There were 18 sections of the secretly video tape recorded interview with Lazarus that were objected to being presented to the jury. Three or four of those sections were excluded but the overall majority (well over 90% of the tape) will be admitted into evidence and the jury will get to see the tape. The defense has withdrawn their "chain of custody of evidence motion" and will argue at trial (through objections) the admissibility of the "bite mark swab" evidence.

I had just a moment to speak with attorney John Taylor about the upcoming civil suit against Phil Spector. The case is still on for trial on January 9th, 2012. If there is no settlement by the parties before then, it's expected at that time the case will be moved out of the Pasadena courthouse to a "long cause judge" and fighting for a time on that judge's calendar at either the Stanley Mosk Courthouse or the Central Civil West Courthouse.

After the hearing I got to chat a bit with Lisa from ABC network. Since she missed the hearing I got her up to date on what I had just heard as well as letting her know that Judge Perry is a stickler for starting on time and never allowing cameras inside the courtroom, or computers or blackberry's. She was kind enough to let me know that the next Kelly Soo Park hearing is set for September 14th, possibly at 9:00 am.

And a last word about David Mamet's "docu-drama" on Phil Spector's legal woes. (Y'all already know how I feel about the potential accuracy of this film.) Helen Mirren has replaced Bette Midler in the role of Linda Kenny Baden. Midler had to pull out after suffering a herniated disk. Although I adore Helen Mirren ever since I first saw her in the British series Prime Suspect, I thought Midler was a more believable casting choice. Photos have surfaced of Al Pacino in makeup and wigs to look like the eccentric Spector. The problem Pacino will have trouble duplicating is Spector's lack of anything resembling a chin and the great flabs of hanging skin around his neck before Spector's nip/tuck.

Phil Spector's Attorney Files Appeal with California Supreme Court

On Tuesday, June 14th, 2011, Phil Spector's Appellate attorney Dennis Riordan filed an appeal with the California Supreme Court for Spector's conviction of second degree murder in the death of Lana Clarkson. You can follow the appeal at the above link and also register to get E-mail notices of any activity on the appeal.

Weigh in on Spector's chances with the California Supreme Court! What do you think will happen?

To comment on this entry, E-mail me at sprocket.trials AT gmail.com, and put SPECTOR POLL COMMENT in the subject line. Sprocket.

David Mamet: Brilliant Filmmaker, or Just Plain Stupid?

Updated 2/1/13 for clarity, spelling, by Days Like This
Special thanks to an anonymous poster who left a comment on my last entry regarding David Mamet's latest statements about his HBO film. Sprocket.
David Mamet was recently interviewed by John Gapper for an article appearing in Slate.com. Mamet talked about his love of Sarah Palin and his upcoming HBO film about the eccentric music producer, Phil Spector.

From Slate.com

Spector, to be played by Al Pacino with Bette Midler as his lawyer, Linda Kenney Baden, was jailed for murder in 2008 after being convicted of the killing of Lana Clarkson, an actress, at his California mansion. "I don't think he's guilty. I definitely think there is reasonable doubt," Mamet says briskly when I ask what interested him about the case. "They should never have sent him away. Whether he did it or not, we'll never know but if he'd just been a regular citizen, they never would have indicted him."

Did the Chicago-born Mamet, a man who claims he is "no longer a brain-dead liberal," lose too many functioning brain cells during his time as a member of the Hollywood elite? That's my conclusion.
Mamet has previously stated in the press that he didn't care about the trial when it was happening.
Mamet based his current opinion on Vikram Jiyanti's lopsided love-letter film The Agony and the Ecstasy of Phil Spector. It should be noted that Jiyanti has publically stated the single individual he interviewed for his documentary was Phil Spector.
One must be mindful on how Spector's story evolved. Jiyanti spent many months with Spector during his first trial, often showing up at court (but only during the defense case) and publicly hugging him in full view of the media. The initial "story" the truth, doesn't make for a good flick. The movie Mamet is making is revisionist history, not borne out by the legal record or the investigation; he is taking the new victim's side totally. I'm reminded of another revisionist history film, JFK by director Oliver Stone. That film had nothing to do with the way things really happened, but as time went on, and conspiracy theories festered, so grew the story . . . and so grew the grassy knoll/two shooters story.
Mamet's opinion is blatantly myopic. The California Court of Appeal, unanimously rejected Spector's attempt to get his verdict overturned. (You know, the appeal that was supposed to be the best appeal presented before the court since the invention of sliced bread; tongue in cheek here.) The Appellate Court also stated in their recent rejection of a re-review request by Spector's attorney Dennis Riordan, that in their ruling there was "... overwhelming evidence against Spector..."
Mament's knowledge and understanding of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office is seriously lacking the application of any properly firing brain cells if he truly believes that Phil Spector, having been just a "regular citizen" would not have been indicted when Lana Clarkson was found dead in his Alhambra mansion. What a complete insult to the L.A. Co. DA's office, as well as dedicated career prosecutor, DDA Alan Jackson, who tirelessly worked through two trials to convict Spector of second degree murder. (Not to mention all the hardworking staff at the L.A. County Sheriff's Crime Lab and the hundreds upon hundreds of man-hours Dr. Lynne Herold put into analyzing the blood spatter evidence.)
Let's look at this for a moment. Alhambra Officers arrive at the scene. Officers are called to the scene not because this "regular citizen" called police to report a suicide in his home, but because his fill-in driver, Adriano De Souza (after personally observing Phil Spector exiting the mansion with a gun in his hand, heard him confess: "I think I killed somebody,") did the right thing and immediately called 911.
1. So right away, a 911 call comes in with De Souza telling the operator Spector's statement, "I think I killed somebody."
Now to interject here, does Mamet believe the "regular citizen" would have done the exact same things Spector did post-incident? For this exercise, we can only assume so because Mamet doesn't mention anything else that would be different in the article, just that no indictment would have occurred if Spector was a "regular citizen."
Back at the scene, officers are interviewing De Souza at the gates to the mansion. He's describing what he saw when he briefly looked into the mansion beyond Spector and saw Lana Clarkson in the low-legged vintage chair, looking like she was lying flat, her long legs stretched out in front of her. The officers don't know if there is anyone else on the property. They plan a strategy of how to approach the house.
2. After reaching the house, they see Spector through a second story window pacing. Later, Spector exits the rear entrance of the house. Police address Spector, giving him commands. Spector doesn't follow the officers commands. He's obviously drunk. When officers finally enter the home, Spector resists arrest and has to be tasered and eventually tackled.

3. This "regular citizen" in the process of being subdued, makes a statement at the scene, that was overheard by Alhambra Officer Bea Rodriguez "What’s wrong with you guys? What are you doing? I didn’t mean to shoot her. It was an accident." (Statement is from Bea Rodriguez's Grand Jury testimony.)

4. Then, back at the station in custody, Spector is still drunk and belligerent. He's spouting off and motioning with his hands for police an impossible explanation of how Lana died. (Spector, unable to tell police Lana's name, demonstrated with his hand that Lana put a gun to her temple and shot herself.)

5. In addition to the confession and other post-incident statements and behavior, fourteen weapons were found on the premises.
6. Later, detectives learn of the various establishments Spector visited and the alcohol he drank prior to Lana Clarkson's death. The scientific evidence of his blood alcohol level is obtained.
7. The forensic evidence of high-velocity blood spatter on Spector's jacket placing him within two to three feet of the blood letting event. The forensic evidence at the scene of a "cover-up" with the bloody diaper and the movement of Lana's head from one side of her body to the next. The forensic blood spatter evidence on the chair. The partial print found on the weapon "in blood."
Of course this "regular citizen" would have been arrested!

Take that same "regular citizen" with Spector's history of gun violence, and he would have, most likely, already been locked up. "Regular citizen" Spector already has a record: two convictions for brandishing a weapon.
In addition to those convictions, consider Dorothy Melvin's testimony and her call to police who arrived at the scene. Consider Stephanie Jennings testimony and her call to 911, terrified in that NY hotel room that Spector was going to kill her. If Spector was just a "regular guy" he would have been arrested in both those instances and CHARGED.

Maybe he would have gotten off on one or both of those charges, but being a regular citizen, maybe not. With one or both of those additional charges on his record (including the two prior convictions for brandishing a gun) of course this "regular citizen" would have been arrested!
So who do you think Mamet is getting his "story" from? Has Mamet been lunching with the trial bride or Jiyanti? Or could it be the newly nip/tucked spouting head on TruTv, Linda Kenney Baden?

Phil Spector Appeal Do-Over Request: REJECTED

Phil Spector booking photo, after his conviction for second-degree murder in the death of Lana Clarkson

The California State of Appeal has rejected Phil Spector's request for a re-review. Spector's Appellate attorney, Dennis Riordan has previously indicated he will request a review by the California Supreme Court. However, this court is not obligated to hear his appeal. The remaining recourse after that would be the U.S. Supreme Court. It's my opinion that it would be highly unlikely that court would hear his appeal, also. I believe it's over for you, Phil. Your trial bride is going to be visiting you at Corcoran (well, hopefully) for a long time to come.

If you wish to comment on this story, please E-mail me. Sprocket.

Bette Midler set for HBO's Phil Spector telefilm

The LA Times is reporting that Bette Midler has joined the cast of HBO's telefilm of Phil Spector's murder trial, directed by David Mamet. Midler will play defense attorney Linda Kenny Baden. Interesting casting choice.

James Fayed Penalty Phase: Day 1

6:39 am: The penalty phase in Fayed starts today. Jurors were instructed to report at 10:30 am this morning. Mr. Sprocket is leaving early for an appointment with a client in Silverlake so I am driving into downtown today. The Stephanie Lazarus pretrial hearing IS today at 8:30 am in Judge Robert Perry's courtroom, Dept. 104. That's just a few feet down the hall from Judge Kennedy's courtroom. Hopefully the Lazarus hearing will be short. I will cut out early if I think I might miss the start of Fayed penalty phase.

9:37 am: I'm back in Dept 109. I was in 104 this morning for a hearing in the Stephanie Lazarus case. I'll have a separate hearing on that up later tonight. It looks like there is a firm trial date of August 26th to kick off this case. I also have a tiny bit of information on the Phil Spector civil case that has a trial date set for January, 2012. Sources tell me that Spector's representatives in the Clarkson civil suit have made inquiries about a settlement.

9:46 am: Kelly Soo Park has entered 109. She's sitting in the gallery. She's got several family and friends with her. She's a pretty Asian woman. She's smiling and talking to her supporters. She just got a mint from some one in the gallery sitting in the back row.

Eric Harmon is at the prosecution table. Jackson must be busy with some other issue.

Park is still in the gallery.

JK: Ms. Park please step forward.

Park smiles as she gets up from the gallery and sits at defense table. The attorney’s state their appearance for the record.

State appearance. Harmon for people, Jennifer Keller and Kay Rackauckas for Ms. Park.

JK: Yesterday a motion was faxed from defense counsel to the court seeking to withdrawal as counsel for Miss Park.

Park’s defense filed that motion yesterday; going though the conflicts that Mr. Harmon has raised and would be diligent to withdrawal from the case.

Defense: Ms. Park has been interviewing for counsel but hasn’t secured counsel yet.

Requesting to give Ms. Park a month (to seek new counsel). We can return last week of June.

JK One week in June I'm not here the week of June 19th.

Def.: The 30th your honor?

JK: Does that work (for the people)?

EH: Iill be engaged in trial; I will have someone stand in for me.

EH: Ms. Parks. (You have the right to have your trial in ## days from today's date.) Do you agree to waive time to June 30th?

In the softest voice I can barely hear, Park whispers, “Yes.”

JK: Counsel join?

EH: Yes.

Defense counsel brings up an issue regarding the money they’ve received to defend Park.

Def.: Concerning the 100,000 based is on the conflict, would like court to give us some direction as what to do with the money. Based on our analysis of discovery, asking court what to do with it. Give it back to entity that gave it to us or does the court want us to escrow it?

Def.: If court would like to hear reasons why we could go in camera If reasons not relevant to court... we can..

JK: Mr. Harmon can you shed any light or have an opinion?

EH: Um... I'm just thinking off the top of head, and Im not really sure, I'm not sure, One of the things that Ms. (Koff?) raised would be wisest is an escrow account or receiver of some sort so that money can be sorted out.

(?) It’s a possibility and that it could be some ill-gotten money?

EH: I don't have any evidence of that right now that these companies are under investigation, and it might be proper to move (the money) back to these entities. So out of a abundance of caution in receivership...

Def.: There are no charges, and inviestgaion going on for at least a year. We were going to give it back to (frontline?).

JK: Its unclear to me, um what should happen with this money and I don't have any jurisdiction over this money.

JK: Don’t do anything with it until June 30. Leave it in your trust account. If some investigatory agency or some 3rd party has some claim to it then they should make that clam known by june 30th. If court doesn't hear anything from anyone, then I’m gong to order it be returned to whomever gave it to you.

And that’s it for the Kelly Soo Park case.

Morning session:
(I will have a complete update later; this is just a summary.)

First there were some issues the defense presented for the record. Jackson wanted to present a handwritten letter into evidence that was found with Pamela Fayed's personal things in the storage unit. This letter, dated July 7th, 2006, was confiscated by authorities in the search warrant and the family had never seen it. The defense argued that this letter was hearsay, and no clear evidence it was written by Pamela Fayed. Jackson argued passionately that he wanted to present this letter because it would show clear evidence of the family's loss. Judge Kennedy in no way shape or form, would allow Jackson to present this letter to witnesses in front of the jury. She was very firm about that. Steve Meister read the letter in court and it appeared to be a letter that Pamela prepared beforehand to be read to her daughter in the event of her death.

Pamela Fayed's sister Dawn Opoulos testified.

Afternoon session:
#2 Christina Holland - personal friend of Pamela's
#3 Scott Goudie - brother of Pamela.
#4 Shelbi Hamilton - personal friend of Pamela's
#5 Greta Baught - oldest sister to Pamela

All the above witnesses testified about Pam and how much her murder has affected their lives. I believe every witness testified that not a day goes by that they don't think about Pamela in some way. Pamela's brother Scott expressed regret that he was unable to help his sister when she reached out to him for help. At the time, he downplayed his sister's fears she had expressed to him. Every witness who testified became visibly emotional and cried while testifying about their loss.

5:16 pm:
I just got home from court. I need to get some dinner and unwind a bit. I will work on this days testimony post haste and get a detailed description of what happened much later tonight. It will most likely be posted as Part II. Thank you all for reading T&T! Sprocket

11:59 pm: I am half-way through editing today's testimony. I'm beat. I will continue going through it tomorrow. Sprocket.

Update: May 21st 2011 This entry is continued here....

James Fayed Verdict Watch Day 3

UPDATE: FAYED FOUND GUILTY OF FIRST DEGREE MURDER with special circumstances of financial gain and lying in wait. Also found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder in the death of Pamela Fayed. Penalty phase to begin tomorrow at 10:30 am.

Update 6:22pm: Text editing finished from 12:05pm on covering the reading of the verdict and motions presented afterwards. Sprocket.

7:46 am: Miracle! Mr. Sprocket got me to the Red Line station by 7:45 am even though we left the house at 7:28 am, so I made the 7:49 train early enough to get a forward facing seat. I’ve been trying to get some extra writing time on the train and it’s working out well. I write in Apple Works and as soon as I get an Internet connection, I transfer my notes to Blogger.

I wanted to get downtown a bit earlier because I know the Lazarus case is having a pretrial hearing down towards the center of the hall in Dept. 104, Judge Robert Perry’s court. I was hoping we would have a verdict before this hearing but no such luck.

If you scroll down the blog, you will see I posted a few short entries last night, one regarding Phil Spector and his never-ending attempts to get a do-over with his second degree murder conviction and second, to let all of T&T’s readers know that THE DARWIN EXCEPTION IS BACK! If you’ve never read Kim’s unique brand of wit, you are in for a real treat.

I also wanted to let you know that my entry covering the first day of closing arguments in the James Fayed case has been corrected to include Alan Jackson’s moving closing argument. I don’t know what happened when I initially tried to upload my draft notes but somehow, his closing did not get included and some of my time dated notes were repeated. Although it’s all fixed now, the entry is only partially edited. I will work on that throughout the day on verdict watch.

During the second day of closings, I learned that the Bell city counsel scandal, as well as the Grim Sleeper serial killer case are currently assigned to Judge Kennedy’s docket, and that Mark Werksman is representing one of the many former Bell city counsel members charged in that case.

I’m sure many of you are wondering what’s going on in the Sheriff’s investigation regarding the several attempts to derail the Fayed jury. I don’t know that the results of that investigation will return to Judge Kennedy’s court as a part of this case. I will ask around though and if I find anything out, I’ll report it.

8:15 am: We’re just now stopping at the Pershing Square station; the next stop is Civic Center. I’m closing up the laptop to get ready for my stop. I’ll see y’all on the other side, after the Lazarus hearing and get settled into Judge Kennedy’s court.

8:40 am: What an idiot I am! Lazarus hearing is TOMORROW, not today. I'm inside 109 and Sean told me the jurors have not buzzed that they've started yet.

8:49 am: The DATELINE camera crew was here before 8:30 am and as son as the courtroom opened they were efficiently setting up the camera. It takes three guys to do this.

8:50 am: A late juror entered the jury room. But since I didn't hear a buzz, they might be waiting for one more.

8:55 am: One more juror just entered the jury room.

8:56 am: A few minutes ago, Scott Goudie and (I believe) his wife entered 109 and are sitting in the back row. We still haven't heard the buzz that they've started yet.

8:58 am: I'm listening to the camera guys talking about the poor design of the Staples Center and it's lack of a media center on the ground floor. I've never been to the Staples Center.

8:59 am: Another juror just entered the jury room.

Call to order, there's a pretrial hearing being presented. Held over to another date; counsel joined? That's it.

9:01 am: The camera crew exits 109. I'm wondering if the jury started and forgot to buzz. Nope. One more just walked in. And I see an alternate, two alternates standing at the court entrance to let the clerk or Sean know that all the alternates are here.

9:03 am: BUZZ!

9:13 am: Jessica from dateline is here. She takes a plastic chair near the door. I think she has her laptop with her. There's hardly anyone here. There is a new temp clerk, but I think it's because Lori the regular clerk is late. I could be wrong on that. Marjorie isn't here and I miss having the company.

9:27 am: Looks like a domestic dispute sentencing asking to be held over. The wife has some medical conditions that need to be addressed and I think they want the husband not to go to jail until some of those things are addressed. There's also a civil lawsuit. The people state this is the first they've ever heard of a lawsuit. Interesting. It's the woman who is facing prison I think. I think that's it, not the husband. Maybe it's both of them? Wish I paid more attention.

9:34 am: Judge held over sentencing one more time until July 11th.

9:47 am: Marjorie from the Ventura Co. Star is here. We talk about the latest news regarding our former Governor, "Ahnuld" that some are now calling "The Sperminator." I heard a short clip on our local news this morning that there could be six more children out there.

10:07 am: As I get up to go down to the snack machine to get myself a keep-me-awake snickers bar, I see Mr. Werksman walking towards 109 with another gentleman. Trying to keep on my healthy eating plan has been shot these past two weeks. As I passed Mr. Werksman he said, "Nothing's going on. I'm here on (another matter.)" When I get back to 109 he's in the ante chamber deep in conversation. As I pass, he asks, "How's it going?" I reply, "Quiet. They started a few minutes after 9:00 am this morning."

In the hallway, I pass two of the cameramen. One is reading the paper. Some judge's don't let you read the paper at all in their courtrooms, even if court isn't in session. Others are not as strict, and will let you have a newspaper as long as they are not on the bench.

10:30 am: BUZZ! BUZZ! The jurors all file out for a break.

10:35 am: This is interesting. This is the first time they've taken a break and left the courtroom.

10:45 am: A few of the jurors wander in. They will be on their break until 10:50 am. The extern from Judge Pastor's court came in for a few minutes to see what's going on.

A few minutes ago, an attorney who sat in on some of the testimony came over to ask if they had the closings. I told him that the jury was on Day 3 of verdict watch. He mentioned he was here for the riveting, heartbreaking testimony of Edwin Rivera who came to Pamela's aid right after the attack.

10:50 am: The jury is back deliberating

10:57 am: BUZZ! BUZZ! BUZZ! We have a verdict!

11:01 am: The bailiff came and and nodded to the court reporters and the court clerk. We do have a verdict.

11:04 am: I think I heard the temp clerk say that they would take the verdict at 12 noon. Scott Pamela's brother comes back into 109. The clerk is making a flurry of phone calls.

11:07 am: The camera guys are gearing up, getting their equipment ready. They've hooked up a little noise baffle over their "record deck" that is connected to the video camera. It's not as loud as it was a few days ago.

The reporters are getting ready. Jessica the DATELINE reporter/producer is back.

11:11 am: Another sheriff has entered 109, the gray haired woman who dropped by a few days ago. Sean and her now are leaving 109. I'm sure there are procedures they have to follow when a verdict is reached.

11:17 am: A flurry of activity with the court staff. One of the cameramen is putting a microphone at the judge's desk. I think the alternate jurors are put someplace else to wait.

11:19 am: Greg Fisher, CBS 48 Hours producer arrives. He was in an area of the Federal Courthouse where he wasn't getting good phone reception. He had a premonition that he wasn't getting phone service and stepped into a better area and "Boom, boom, boom," his phone is hit with message after message about Fayed.

11:22 am: Dawn, Pamela's sister arrives in 109. When the jurors all filed out for a break, I had a gut feeling something was up. Pamela's other sister Gretta also arrives. At the time, the first thing that went through my mind was, they are taking a break, maybe they are breaking right before they are going to sign the verdict forms. But then I pushed that thought off as just wishful thinking.

11:31 am: We just get the message from the bailiff that on our laptops, we cannot transmit messages when the verdict is read. "Is everybody clear about that?"

Teri Keith from City News is here. Other reporters are coming in. Local ABC Channel 7 comes in with a camera but the bailiff tells him that only one camera is allowed. So they are trying to put together a work around to get a feed from their box to his camera. Pat Kelly and two more of the PIO staff are here. Elizabeth is going over the paperwork rules for applying for media coverage with Greg. I don't think it's for this case, but for something else.

11:38 am: I move down to a chair right by the door so I can exit the courtroom quickly and press send to get the verdict published first. ANOTHER camera guy comes in to try to set up!

11:39 am: Mr. Werksman and Steve Meister arrive.

Pat Kelly is checking on the transmission issue for me. The former PIO employee, Vanja? I can't remember how her name is spelled, is here for the verdict. Claudia from KFWB is here and Judge Pastor has entered. He is in a white shirt and black slacks.

11:44 am: Most of the reporters are in the second row, sitting close to the jury box and beside the pool video camera. Pat comes over to verify that there is no transmission from inside the courtroom. The bailiff makes another announcement. "No transmission. No texting, tweeting of any kind." This will be my last posting until the verdict is read.

11:46 am: The detective Abdoul Salaam arrives. He's got a very sharp suit on. Faint tweed pattern, a grayish color with a white shirt and gold tie. And a hat. He looks sharp!

11:48 am: Another bailiff arrives.

11:49 am: Another bailiff arrives and stands in the back corner. There's group of people here in the seats reserved for detectives that I believe are court personnel.

I just stepped outside for a second to transmit and see that Jane Robison from the DA's public relations department is going to be here for the reading. I overhear that Judge Kennedy is allowing the cameras to continue recording after the verdict is read. If the mitigation continues into tomorrow however, they will have to put in another request. I'm going to step outside one more time to transmit.

11:56 am: The courtroom is almost full. Still waiting on Alan Jackson and Eric Harmon to get here. A gentleman sitting to my left asks me if I'm one of the bloggers and I tell him yes. He asks me what my blog is and after I tell him he says, "Oh yeah. I've read your blog. Very good." I thank him. It's always exciting to meet T&T's readers.

11:58 am: Still no prosecution team. Mona the sketch artist is here. Desiree, Pamela's oldest daughter arrives just in time. Mark Werksman leaves for a moment but stops to shake the hand of the gentleman to my left.

11:59 am: Still waiting. Dawn has brought a small hand fan and is slowly fanning herself. More bailiffs come and go. The prosecution team arrives. Jackson greets the family. So does Harmon. Desiree hugs Jackson. One of the DA's staff is sitting next to me. He said he didn't work on the case but is here as a friend to support. Jackson and Harmon sit down at the prosecution table. Mr. Dixon is also here.

Lots of nervous bustling in the gallery. The man sitting next to me now says he is part of Major Crimes. More people enter. Two nicely dressed ladies. I've heard that they might be part of Jackson's campaign. Lisa is here.

12:05 pm:
Judge takes the bench at 12:05 pm. On the record. Fayed is here. Jurors have reached a verdict. I don't want any reaction, visible reaction .... and I don't want the jury to be influenced by any way (because if it is a first degree verdict and because of the special circumstance) so can we please bring the jury out.

The 4 alternates are brought in. The jury is brought in.

Bailiff: Please be sure all cell phones are turned off!

JK: We now have all of our jurors and alternates. Juror #3 is the foreperson. Hand the verdict forms to the bailiff please. They are handed to Judge Kennedy.

I will ask the clerk to please read the verdicts at this time.

(Clerk reads the verdict forms. I've summarized them; there is more legal language that is included but I just typed the most pertinent part.)

Guilty of first degree! Further find allegation was intentional, for financial gain. Further find the allegation was committed by Fayed, intentionally killed by lying in wait.

We also find the defendant guilty of the crime of conspiracy to commit murder, further find of carrying out the objectives and committed at least one of the following overt acts to be true:

1. payed Joey Moya to kill
2. person drove rented SUV to Watt garage
3. person approached Pamela Fayed in garage and stabbed her, killing her
4. person left the immediate area and entered rented SUV
5. person left the Watt tower parking garage
6. person drove a rented SUV to Happy Camp Ranch
7. Jose Moya returned the rented SUV

Signed foreperson Juror #3 . Are these your verdicts? Yes.

Werksman asks the jury to be polled.

Are these your verdicts? (The clerk calls each juror number in order and they are all saying "yes.")

JK: All jurors answered in the affirmative. Let me see counsel at sidebar please. The verdicts are entered into the record.

12:14 pm: I just stepped outside to publish. I'm back inside 109. The sidebar is still going on.

12:18 pm: JK: because of the verdicts that have been reached by you, (snip) the witnesses will be available tomorrow, so we will be starting tomorrow. Because you are still under an admonition, so don't discuss this case with anyone. You are not allowed to talk about your verdict yet because there is another part of the trial to finish. (snip) Since I have another matter tomorrow morning, you are ordered back at 10:30 am tomorrow to begin the second part of the trial.

The jurors file out.

12:20 pm: JK: All the jurors and alternates have left the court at this time....

SM: The standard motion is made at this time, is the standard jury is dismissed and that a new jury be called at this time. (snip) And the alternates did not render a verdict yet they will be seated to bootstrap a guilty phase verdict they didn't arrive it. Dismiss alternates, ....

(I'm sorry. Mr. Meister spoke so fast and I wasn't ready when he started to speak. I don't get all of what he asked. He first argued to get a different jury to hear penalty. He mentioned several first amendment rights to support his argument. Then he argued that the alternates be dismissed because they will be possibly rendering a penalty when they did not participate in rendering a verdict. )

JK: Since you don't want any of the jury to be part of the penalty phase I don't understand (snip) denied as well. Counsel all ordered to be here at 10:30 and defendant is remanded at this time.

Jackson hugs Desiree again. Judge is off the bench. People are getting up to leave.

1:41 pm: I had to run out of the courtroom because I was meeting a friend who works in the DA's library for lunch. As I was rushing to the elevators on the 9th floor, I saw Desiree hugging her aunt, (Steve Goudie's wife) and crying. The major part for them is over. Fayed is now convicted. All that's left is the penalty phase. I'll be heading back home in a bit. Tomorrow morning at 8:30 am, there is a pretrial hearing in the Stephanie Lazarus case (for certain this time) in Dept 104 and I don't want to miss that.

Thank you everyone for your support and stopping by to read T&T's coverage of the Fayed case! More to come tomorrow.