Legendary producer and “Wall of Sound” inventor Phil Spector was denied an appeal against murder conviction over the 2003 slaying of actress Lana Clarkson. What’s more, the producer was told that he may not file an appeal again for the remainder of his 19-year prison sentence.
Lawyers filed this most recent appeal for Spector with the reasoning that he had not received a fair trial under Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler. Spector’s legal team claims that the judge had biased the jury in showing a video of Spector discussing, in detail, the specifics of forensic evidence. The courts have since rejected that reasoning,
The legal team’s appeal prior to this, from May of this year, operated on the idea that the jury was biased after hearing testimony from five women who said they experienced gun-related incidents as Spector’s hand in the past.
Spector was convicted of Clarkson’s murder in 2009 with an initial sentence of 19 years to life. The producer is currently being held at the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison and will remain there until he is eligible for parole in 2028. If Spector lives to that point, he will be 88.
His legal team has not yet announced a future course of action.
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