OUR DEFENDANT: Phil was sporting a cream-colored three-piece suit very like the one in SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, but with a large-collared bright purple shirt underneath. The hair is a blond bowl/Bobsey Twin style wig (available at BOBSEY OF HOLLYWOOD™), an improvement from the super-frizzed wigout from the court appearance a couple of years back. Most of the time, Phil sat slouched in his chair, spaced-out, focusing on his fingers steepled in front of his face. Then at sudden points, he would snap out of his fugue and glare daggers at the D.A. In all, quite a yardstick to measure future crazy against. Well played, Sir.
APPEARANCE/DEMEANOR SCORE: 7 out of 10
- We started with the Prosecution's opening remarks. At bat for the State is Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson. Young fellow, good speaker, not the freakish country singer. I like him so far.
- DDA AJ said that at least two witnesses will testify that Phil sticking a gun in a person's face when things didn't go his way was his usual MO. Come to think of it, I think he pulled a gun on almost everyone he ever worked with, was married to, or was delivering take-out food to the Castle (I hear that he's a very generous tipper, that's what keeps delivery folks coming back).
- Lana's body was found five feet away from the back door slumped in a chair, wearing her dress, shoes, jacket, and her purse on her shoulder, like she was trying to leave. The bullet lodged between the base of her skull and the top of her spine, killing her instantly. But her blood (and none of Phil's) was smeared on the nearby doorknob, so Phil literally had her blood on his hands. Charming.
- Photos show the layout of Phil's castle, with circles drawn around all the many many many telephones, none of which were used after Lana was shot. In fact, it was about 40 minutes before the police were called at all, and even then, the limo driver who finally phoned it in drove to outside the PS compound first!
- On the minus side, the jury is nine men and three women and the victim is a 'middle-aged' woman, and I know I've read somewhere that that the average criminal jury liks older women as a group least of all, even when the older woman in question is the victim (ala Mrs. OJ, Mrs. Robert Blake, M. Jackson's accuser's mom). And who hates middle-aged ladies the most? OTHER middle-aged women. And in this case, I'm certain the defense will strongly emphasize that and use the 'Nuts/Sluts' excuse i.e. what kind of woman willingly goes to a strange man's home, while she's really drunk and only wearing a flimsy slip dress? An over-the-hill pathetic whore, perhaps? A suicidal whore!
- The Defense intends to say that Lana's hands tested positive for GSR, so that all but proves that she herself fired the gun. (I think the powder was there because she was trying to push away the gun that Phil had stuck in her face, but that's just lil' old me). Obviously, Bitch was CRAZY! DESPERATE! LOSING HER LOOKS! AN INFERTILE USELESS OLD LADY! Of course she would want to shuffle off this mortal coil at a stranger's house by shooting herself in the face that she tried to keep pretty and young in order to make a living in the Business of Show. Completely believable.
- One of my least fave forensic pathologist dudes, Dr. Henry Lee, is speaking for the defense's side. He was the idiot on THE STAIRCASE who claimed that all the blood spray on the stairway's walls was from the victim's mouth gasping for air and not from the husband smashing her head in. And made a spectacle of himself by spittling red paint on a sheet of paper, which looked nothing like the spray on the stairway walls. Ass.
TODAY'S HIGHLIGHT:
The courtroom erupted in laughter later when the prosecutor played a 911 call chauffeur Adriano DeSouza placed after the shooting. The operator repeatedly misunderstood the information DeSouza, a Brazilian immigrant, was attempting to convey, including the name of his employer.
"Seal?" the operator asked.
"Phil Spector!" DeSouza replied.
"Seal inspector?" the operator said.
Remember... according to a fellow murderer:
