Imprisoned record producer Phil Spector will remain behind bars after his murder conviction was upheld by an appeals court.
Reuters reports that that ruling came on Monday (May 2) from a three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeals. Three weeks ago Spector’s legal team had argued that his conviction in 2009 of killing the actress Lana Clarkson was the result of a prejudiced trial.
The argument was that the jury should never have heard testimonies from women who claimed Spector had threatened them with a gun, several years before the incident in question that resulted in the death of 40-year-old Clarkson.
However, in her 89-page ruling, Justice Joan Klein sided with the prosecutors, who claimed the women’s accounts were relevant to the case, stating, “The evidence showed that, when fueled by alcohol and faced with a lack or loss of control over a woman who was alone with him and in whom he had a romantic or sexual interest, Spector underwent a sharp mood swing, exhibited extreme anger and threatened the woman with a gun when she refused to do his bidding…”
Spector, 71, was originally sentence to 19 years to life when sentenced in May 2009.
Of course, Phil Spector is arguably the most famous record producer ever, having pioneered the ‘Wall Of Sound’ phenomenon in the sixties, famously working with the Ronettes, the Righteous Brothers, the Beatles, Leonard Cohen and Ike and Tina Turner. He also made a cameo appearance in the cult movie, Easy Rider.
Here is a reminder of happier times:
