Phil Spector, Vikram Jayanti & the Truth

In March 2007, and throughout the murder trial, Vikram Jayanti spent a considerable amount of time with Phil Spector, interviewing him for a film project. I'm sure once Spector was charged with murder, there were quite a few people nipping at his heels, wanting an exclusive interview. Even Scott Raab of Esquire Magazine, said, "I've been dogging Spector for years, hoping to write his story." Raab finally did get a day or two with him back April, 2003, before Spector was formally charged. donchais and I can see why Spector would be flattered and willing to talk to Jayanti, since he came to the table with an international reputation as an award winning documentary filmmaker. It's our opinion that Jayanti probably promised Spector that he would get his story out there and that's exactly what he did. The information was published in the September 9th, 2007 issue of the UK's Sunday Daily Mail, magazine section, Live.

donchais and I thought we would take Spector and Jayanti's statements from this article, present them to our readers with facts and other sources in order to give a more balanced perspective.

Here are the first statements by Spector that appear in the article:
I just don't like the idea that anyone thinks that I'm not taking this seriously. Because the judge, every time I go to court, doesn't like me. He's already said that if I made a plea bargain, he'd give me eight years. Because someone died. And he keeps saying that every time I go to court. To the jurors, the first thing out of his mouth, "Remember today we're here because someone died."

Even though I was eight feet away from her when she died, and it can be proved forensically I didn't kill her, it doesn't matter. Somebody died, somebody killed her. That's his frame of reference. That's what he thinks.

I just hope we have a bunch of jurors that listen to the evidence. We haven't told our story in four years. We have a very interesting, abrupt, good, honest, accurate, truthful story to tell that proves beyond any question, any reasonable possibility of a doubt, that it is impossible for me to have been near the deceased when she died.

Yep. Those are direct quotes. Now let's break it down.

He's already said that if I made a plea bargain, he'd give me eight years.

No, never happened. None was offered and judges don't make plea deals. This is typical SSS, (aka Spector Spin Speak) which means, No one understands my genius. I'm being persecuted. Can Spector point to where in the record Fidler offered him this deal? Maybe Spector is confusing this with his first attorney, Robert Shaprio and his early defense strategy.

Because someone died. And he keeps saying that every time I go to court.

I attended about 90 percent of this trial. Although I did not attend the first day of trial, I was there most days. I did not hear the judge repeat this statement every time Spector came to court.

Even though I was eight feet away from her when she died, and it can be proved forensically I didn't kill her, it doesn't matter. Somebody died, somebody killed her. That's his frame of reference. That's what he thinks.

No, it wasn't proven forensically that he didn't kill her; it was a suggested scenario, the same one the defense presented at trial. There wasn't a single expert on the stand, defense or prosecution who testified that Spector was eight feet away. Spector is forgetting that Dr. Henry Lee didn't take the witness stand. He was conveniently out of the country during the presentation of the defense case. However, James Pex, one of Spector's stand-in blood spatter experts agreed with the prosecution's theory that Spector's "white ladies jacket" had to be within 3-4 feet of Lana when she was killed.

We have a very interesting, abrupt, good, honest, accurate, truthful story to tell that proves beyond any question, any reasonable possibility of a doubt, that it is impossible for me to have been near the deceased when she died.

No, not beyond any question or reasonable possibility of doubt. It's called blood back spatter and it follows the laws of physics. Forensic scientist Dr. Lynne Herold determined the mist-like spray of blood found on Spector's white jacket put Spector within two to three feet of the discharging weapon. Because the droplets found on the jacket were so microscopic, they did not have the mass to travel eight feet.

Spector's experts varied in their view as to "how" that back spatter could have gotten on Lana's jacket, and to when it actually occurred. Each expert presented a different scenario.

Jayanti states in the article that:
Throughout, the prosecution's case has been simple. In their view, Phil Spector, the renowned record producer and reclusive eccentric genius, has a long history of terrorising women at gunpoint.

Five prior bad act (PBA) witnesses, Deborah Strand, Dorothy Melvin, Stephanie Jennings, Diane Ogden, and Devra Robitaille, testified on the stand. Walter Cronkite's daughter was also terrorized at gunpoint. And, Spector didn't limit his power trip with guns to just women. The stories about Spector pulling a gun on John Lennon and Leonard Cohen have been in the press for years. How many other incidents don't we know about? We may not know all their names, but we do know that the prosecution presented at least 14-15 PBA witnesses for trial. This means, that there were "that many people" who had an altercation with Spector where he brandished a gun in their presence or threatened them with a gun in some way.

Readers, give us your opinions! We will continue to deconstruct the myth, but you get the picture! This is just the first installment.

(This entry was written by donchais and Sprocket.)

Phil Spector Trial Evidence Part Two: Guest Entry by Mort Snerd

And other Spector tidbits.

Mort Snerd wanted to add some additional images as well as address some issues raised by an anonymous commenter in the last entry on this subject. For the record, Mort has a lifetime of knowledge and experience about firearms. Mort's parents owned guns and Mort has been involved in teaching about guns and gun safety to several generations of his extended family.

Below, Mort answers some of anonymous's comments in bold:
I've kept the spelling errors intact. Sprocket.

Anonymous said... April 2, 2008 12:13 AM
Also the Cobra is not made of steel and is very light.

Not a true statement. The barrel and cylinder are made of steel to withstand the pressures involved.

Anonymous said... April 2, 2008 12:13 AM
If the gun weighed more the back-blast would have been less.

Not a true statement. Back blast is created by the detonation of gunpowder in a cartridge. Recoil is the apparent reaction of the gun to being fired. Heavier guns "apparent" recoil is less.

Anonymous said... April 2, 2008 12:43 PM
I saw the making of a film of where the cobra with +p ammunition was stuck inside a little hole in a small watermellon. What a mess it made and the watermellon split open. It was stronger than the woman's soft mouth tissue.

The test was not valid enopught to enter as evidence because a watermelon is not a living human mouth.

Your point is that Lana Clarkson's head was made from a watermelon and was not human and made of bones, teeth, brains and soft tissue?

Anonymous said... April 2, 2008 12:43 PM
Blowing out her teeth caps was simple.

Not a true statement. Evidence was admitted showing that the front sight ramp of the Colt is what did the damage to the upper front teeth.

Anonymous said... April 2, 2008 12:43 PM
Your S&W pictured is a lot heavier and has much less recoil. The Cobra was NOT designed to shoot the higher powered +p rounds either.

True statement and so stated in my original post. I was unable to find a top view of a Colt Cobra to use, so I used a gun in my collection that is as close a representation to size as I could. If the reader of this forum wants, they can examine the photo's themselves.

Anonymous said... April 2, 2008 10:16 PM
The Smith and Wesson in the picture looks very much like a 2 1/2 " bbl Mod 66 .357 magnum. That's a very heavy gun with little recoil.

True statement. The S&W is made from stainless steel and is 4 pounds while the Colt is an aluminum frame and STEEL barrel and cylinder and weighs 1 pound. Both guns can and do fire the .38 caliber cartridge. As to its "apparent" recoil when firing, that is a extremely subjective measurement.

Attached are two pictures, the first is a photo taken from the gallery of the court house as evidence item #1 was introduced in Phillip Spector's trial and is the actual weapon that fired the fatal round.

The second picture is the full side view of the gun I used in the "cone" pictures, they are the identical model, style and manufacturer. Only thing I have done was to remove the serial number for obvious reasons. Please realize that the first photo is taken from the courtroom gallery and since it is a high angle shot to the screen, the picture is somewhat distorted. The second picture is totally undistorted and a right angle view of an identical gun.






Mortie

Thank you very much Mort.

Below are a few more Spector tidbits, from Sprocket.
On another note, Michelle Blaine has a great entry up over on her blog about Spector's Team Spector MySpace Page. Check it out.

I heard back from author Mick Brown about Spector's exact time-of-birth on December 26th, 1939. Mick writes:

The date I have in the book - December 26, 1939 (? - don't have a copy with me!) - is definately right. I can't tell you the exact time of birth, but I think it was just after midnight of the 25th - within the first one or two hours of the 26th. His mother would joke about the timing and giving birth to 'the next Jesus'.

Thank you so much Mick. I hope that helps the astrology student who was asking for that information.

Remember that article that came out on Spector in the September 9th, 2007 issue of the Sunday Daily Mail's magazine section, Live? It was by that documentary-maker, Vikram Jayanti, who I often saw in court during the last half of the trial giving Spector warm hugs every time he showed up. That magazine issue was not included in the Sunday editions that were available here in the US. A few online papers reported on the story, causing a bit of a ruckus in court where Linda Kenny Baden actually got up and told Fidler something to the effect that the statements in the article attributed to Spector were not approved by him. She basically obfuscated the truth since everyone knows Spector was working with this guy on a film for months, and he's just another Spector mouthpiece, so Spector can testa-lie to the press without getting on the witness stand.

Back in September, I called upon my friends over on the Blood Type Diet message board if anyone in the UK could find me that issue of Live and about a month later, one of the members tracked one down and sent it to me. There were reports in the news a few months ago that the documentary, "Phil Spector: The Agony and Ecstasy " would air in the UK on BBC Arena sometime in mid April. I've recently learned that there was supposed to be a press screening for journalists, but it was canceled and has not been rescheduled. As soon as I hear anything I'll post about it. I wonder what sanctions Fidler can place on Spector if/when that show ever airs. Sometime in the near future, donchais and I will put up an entry about the article, comparing some of the quoted statements in the story to other documented sources.

Rachelle Short opens her mouth and removes all doubt

Updated!
I drove to court today, because I wasn't sure how long I would be staying. As I round the corner of the 9th floor security, I see the hallway outside 106 is relatively empty. Dominick is there, as well as a few reporters that I don't recognize. W is also there, playing the role of the social butterfly. Dominick graciously signs an issue of Vanity Fair for a friend for me. Roger Rosen arrives, and the CTV camera operators go in. Michael Christian breezes by and heads on into 106. Mirian Hernandez is in the hallway, working on her laptop. I'm given a lottery ticket, but I don't need it really. There are so few reporters, I'm able to sit next to Steven in my old seat at the very end of the second row. Linda Kenney Baden is here, and so is the defense's exhibits clerk, Jennifer. One of the camera operators has a microphone, and he's taping it to Judge Fidler's clerk's desk. W, who is sitting on the aisle in the third row is so loud, I can hear everything they are saying from where I sit almost against the left wall in the second row. Sudi enters with the prosecution's cart carrying their many case files. The AP reporter comes in and sits in her regular seat. W, who is sitting behind her, starts to talk her ear off. There are some detectives (they look like detectives) who are talking to Judge Fidler's pretty bailiff and Alan Parachini.

Tawni Tyndall arrives. Jennifer and Tawni hug and kiss, while standing next to Roger Rosen in the well. Chris Plourd arrives and makes his way through the crowd that's milling around the aisle. He stops to exchange a few words with the AP reporter. Peter Hong arrives and he says hello to me and gives me a smile and a wave. Michael Christensen asks Alan Parachini about getting a copy of the jury instructions, and I believe Alan answers him with "There may be one more." And I'm getting that to mean that there is one more instruction that needs to be added.

Spector arrives with his daughter Nicole and Rachelle, who is dressed in all black. Linda Kenney Baden and Nicole greet each other and exchange a cheek kiss. Now the pool photographer arrives. After taking her seat, Rachelle is immediately on her blackberry, texting away. A elderly man who looks like Santa Claus with a very long yellow/white scraggly ponytail is over on the defense side, sitting with Rachelle. I later find out that this is Michael Baden's brother and LKB's brother-in-law. Steven arrives. The defense is filing a motion to reopen the closing arguments. If the Judge allows this, Steven says it will really screw up his day. He's way behind on other assignments, and he was hoping to get back to his office to write in the afternoon. The reporter's in the second row pass a DVD back to Peter Y. Hong in the back row. It's of an old TV show, I Dream of Jeanie. In one of the episodes, Phil plays a record producer, and I'm told it's actually quite funny. I chat a bit with the camera operators and afterwards, Matthew in the back row catches my eye and gives me a nod hello. I smile back.

The attorneys are all in chambers and we wait. There is a big discussion among the reporters next to me about jurors going online, but I'm not really trying to listen too hard because they're talking in really low tones. I tell Steven about the jurors in the Melanie McGuire case who were called into the Judge's chambers and asked about reading stuff online. He then tells the group that Mondo Video in Hollywood is going out of business, but they are having a closeout offer to customers! If you go in dressed as Phil Spector, Ronnie Spector or Lana Clarkson, you will get something free! We chuckle about that.

9:23 am, the attorneys emerge from Judge Fidler's chambers, and a few minutes later the jury comes in from the hallway and files past us into the jury room. 9:27 am, Lana Clarkson's family arrives, and they have several friends supporting them sitting in the second row. The sheriff's close the courtroom doors and at 9:30 am, the Judge takes the bench. John Taylor, one of the family's civil attorneys sees me and gives me a big smile, happy to see me. The defense's motion to reopen the closing is presented with their argument that this is the first time the prosecution presents a theory of the blood on the back of the jacket arm/sleeve. Plourd is the first to speak to their motion, then Rosen stands up and says the video is "inaccurate." For his argument, Rosen says in the animation the white jacketed figure is standing over Lana Clarkson and that there was testimony that the bullet trajectory was upwards. Pat Dixon stands up and argues for the people, stating that the video shows Lana's head tilted back and that fits with the evidence presented. Although Plourd stands up Rosen also stands up and he begins speaking before Plourd who eventually sits down. Plourd then gets up again to argue their position. After all this posturing by the defense, the Judge denies the defense's motion to "reopen arguments for five minutes." CA's are over, and Steven can breathe easier.

Jackson wants an instruction regarding LKB's statements about the "five" 1101B witnesses, but the Judge says he needs to read what LKB said. Problem is, they don't have a printout of Friday's transcripts yet, so the court has to go off the record while Mary Lou finds the text the Judge wants on her computer screen. It takes a bit, but it looks like she found it, and the Judge is reading it on one of his computer screens. There's still very little press in the room. Most of the third row is empty as well as the row of plastic chairs behind the wood benches on the defense side. The only person in that row is one of Spector's bodyguards. It's very quiet and I can hear Pat Dixon whispering to AJ. I can't hear what he's saying, but I can hear the highs and lows of his voice. Nicole, sitting in the front row, turns around to speak to pony tailed Santa. As I write this, it finally dawns on me who is the barrel chested salt and peppered haired guy who wore glasses. That must be Vikram Jayanti. And a Google search pulls up a photo. Yep. That's him. Another Phil lover.

The reporters tell me that word just came down from the AP reporter that Phil denies talking to the press. This is hysterical because the guy he denies talking to, has been in court quite often getting hugs and kisses from Phil.

And then the Judge gets to the issue that everyone has been waiting for. We want to see if the Judge is going to admonish Spector for the interview he gave to the press over the weekend as well as Rachelle ignoring the Judge's order on Friday to stop talking to the press. It appears that she was emailing reporters to look at her web site to see a statement she put up. The Judge starts by admonishing Rachelle. But what happens next totally blows me away. Rachelle removes all doubt that this is one dumb assed bitch. She starts to argue with the Judge. My mouth is almost agape I can't believe what I'm hearing. Holy mother of God this woman opened her mouth and removed all doubt that she is just a stoopid ho who has latched onto a decrepit daddy warbucks meal ticket. And every time the Judge speaks to her, she gets more petulant, and his voice gets louder and she doesn't stop talking back! Chris Plourd had gotten up from his seat, and he's trying to get her attention with hand signals like he's trying to flag down a bus but it's no use. She's completely ignoring him. She's like the energizer bunny, she just keeps going and going and going. And just as it sounds like the Judge is one whiny Rachelle statement away of either throwing her trailer park ass in jail or kicking her out of the courtroom all together, she finally shuts the f-up. Inside, I'm laughing my ass off. It really would have been poetic if he had done something, anything, even just kicking her from the courtroom.

You see, back when I was falsely accused of talking so loud the jury could hear me, several of my detractors on the Court TV message board insisted I must have been guilty of the charge because I didn't address the Judge and tell him he was wrong. That if it wasn't me who was talking, then I should have told him so. I mean, because that's what THEY would have done. ROTFLMAO! Yeah. I'm going to address the Judge and tell him he's wrong. Did these people have the exact same rocks in their heads that Rachelle has? Because when you are in a Judge's courtroom, when he addresses you and admonishes you, you agree with him and you shut the fuck up. Because the consequence of arguing with a Judge is, you can be thrown in jail. End of story. It's disrespectful to challenge the Judge, and it's outright stoopid. No wonder Spector married 26 year old wanna-be actress/singer "I find myself intelligent," Rachelle Short. She's so stoopid she probably really does believe that Spector is innocent of shooting Lana Clarkson and that the moon is made of swiss cheese.

I turn to Steven after that and say, "I can't believe it." Unfortunately, I didn't get Steven's permission to tell you his witty reply. You'll just have to wait until Friday, to read his latest piece at The LA Weekly. For a blow by blow description of Rachelle's ah ha moment, Kim of The Darwin Exception has an excellent recap of the days events.

I have several more notes on the proceedings, but they pale in comparison to what just transpired. Right before the Judge is going to read the instructions to the jury, he tells the room that no one will be allowed to enter or leave the courtroom while those instructions are being read. He doesn't want anything distracting the jury. So, there are a few reporters who think this is a good time to go hit the restrooms, because who knows how long these instructions might take. When Dominick comes back from the restroom, he tells us he ran into Phil a second time at the urinals but this time, they didn't speak. Steven asks Dominick if Phil is really right handed, and we all chuckle over that.

As the Judge reads the instructions, the jury appears very attentive. They rarely take their eyes off the Judge the entire time. The Judge tells them that the would get a copy of these instructions, so it really wasn't necessary to take notes, although they could if they wanted. Reading of the instructions takes about 30 minutes exactly. Afterwards, the clerk swears in the bailiff to take charge of the jurors, and their off to deliberate. The five alternates are whisked off to separate room. At the very end of the day, Rachelle must have had a miraculous transfusion of brain cells because before the Judge leaves the bench, Plourd gets on the record that Mrs. Spector has written on a piece of yellow lined legal tablet paper an apology to the Judge. I think it's more likely that someone finally made her realize that she better do something ~and wrote some words out for her to sign~ because the next time she opens her mouth she could be sitting in a jail cell, wearing a matching orange jumpsuit just like her husband.

There are several housekeeping issues the attorneys deal with, and the reporters file out a few at a time. During the morning Mrs. Clarkson and Fawn both get a chance to talk to me and tell me how happy they are to see me in court, and everyone thanked me for the gifts I made, again. Once all the exhibit issues are cleared up, Spector's entourage exits the courtroom and a short time later so does the Clarkson family and their friends.

I mill about the courthouse for a bit, trying to decide if I want to stay the rest of the day or not. I'm pretty sure that a verdict isn't going to happen today, so I decide to head home, so I can make a stab at that huge pile of waiting laundry. I don't get much done though, because I can't tear myself away from reading what the Court TV posters said about Rachelle's behavior. There are also some hysterical posts on another thread, starting around Page 13, and continuing for several pages. One of the posts that stood out for me (and there are quite a few that are very funny) was this one by Court TV poster lovelaw: (Thank you for making me laugh lovelaw!)

WOW! WOW! WOW!

Hmmmmmmmm...I wonder if she stands up to PHIL that way??

OOOHHH.....wait....she's alive, so obviously not!

In closing, take a look at the latest humor by Court TV poster Sedonia Sunset. It's called Rachelle's Statue of Limitations. Enjoy!

P.S. On September 10th, I had my some of my highest numbers to date! Third highest for page loads at 2,445, and second highest for unique visitors at 1,789. Thank you all so much for visiting.

Update: September 11th, 7:50 am
This is interesting. A poster on the Court TV Spector Forum identifies himself as being related to Rachelle Short. Here is what they said.

ranger75
rachellemarie.com
By the way I'm almost happy to say she is MY sister -in -law! I've been reading the posts since the trial began, but out of respect for my wife(her sister), I haven't posted. After yesterdays outburst I felt compelled. Utterlty disgusting and embarrasing! But I've been saying that all along but the family doesn't like to here it from me.

GUILTY

I have no idea if this really is Rachelle's relative or not, but it's interesting to say the least.

Video link to the Judge admonishing Rachelle.