An attorney for Phil Spector outlined scientific evidence she said clears the record producer of murder, and accused prosecutors of resorting to theatrics.
"Stories don't trump science and they can't prove Phil Spector killed Lana Clarkson," Linda Kenney-Baden said on Thursday.
Spector, 67, is accused of second-degree murder. Clarkson, a 40-year-old actress working as a nightclub hostess, died of a gunshot fired inside her mouth early Feb. 3, 2003, in the foyer of Spector's mansion. She had gone home with him after meeting him at the nightclub.
EMOTIONAL APPEAL
"What the government wants you to believe is that Phil Spector is a bad man and therefore he shot her," Kenney-Baden said. "They want you to hate him and supplant the facts of this case with that hatred. They want you to use emotion to convict Phil Spector rather than rely on the scientific evidence that clearly exonerates him."
Kenney-Baden depicted both Clarkson and Spector as flawed people in a lengthy closing argument that was to conclude Thursday.
After a prosecution rebuttal, the jury were to get the case, possibly late yesterday or on Monday.
Kenney-Baden's argument came down to assertions that Spector was too far away to have fired the gun and that a depressed Clarkson killed herself.
Kenney-Baden also sought to rebut perhaps the prosecution's strongest point -- Spector's words as related by a Brazilian immigrant chauffeur who said he saw Spector come out of his house with a gun in his hand. Adriano De Souza quoted Spector as saying: "I think I killed somebody."
POOR ENGLISH
Kenney-Baden said De Souza's problems with English -- his second language -- and the presence of background noise made the quote suspect.
"Mr. De Souza had the classic problem of a lot of witnesses," she said. "He was simply mistaken."
Prosecutors presented a long summation on Wednesday that was heavy on drama, with video clips of women who accused Spector of past threatening acts with guns.
It concluded with a video showing the glamorous Clarkson dancing, smiling and singing. It was meant to show that the actress, the star of the 1985 cult film Barbarian Queen, was not despondent and had plans for her future.
Spector chose Kenney-Baden to give the closing argument despite her absence for several weeks of the testimony due to illness.
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