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LOS ANGELES - Legendary music producer Phil Spector had a "very rich history of violence against women" that culminated with him shooting dead an actress in his castle-style home outside Los Angeles four years ago, a prosecutor told jurors today.
Opening the long-delayed murder trial of the reclusive rock genius, prosecutor Alan Jackson said the evidence would paint a picture of a man who "turns sinister, turns deadly" when confronted in some circumstances.
Spector, 67, best known for his innovative "Wall of Sound" recording technique and work in the 1960s with The Beatles, The Righteous Brothers and The Ronettes, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of actress Lana Clarkson on February 3, 2003.
Clarkson, 40, who Spector had met at a Hollywood club on the night of her death, was shot in the mouth.
A picture of the scene of the crime displayed in court on Wednesday showed the actress splayed in a chair in the entrance of Spector's home, wearing a black dress, with her face and mouth covered in blood.
"Lana Clarkson ... was simply the last in a long line of women who fell victim to Philip Spector over the years," said Jackson. "He put a loaded pistol in Lana Clarkson's mouth and he shot her to death."
Spector's defence attorney is expected to respond with suggestions that Clarkson, the star of such films as Amazon Women on the Moon and Barbarian Queen, killed herself.
Big celebrity court case
The trial is expected to last up to three months in what promises to be the biggest celebrity court case since singer Michael Jackson was acquitted of child molestation in 2005.
The sometimes eccentric Spector sported a blonde page-boy hair-do, cream suit and purple open shirt for the opening day of the trial, which is being broadcast live on US television.
He listened intently to the prosecution case, often shaking his head or looking distraught as Jackson detailed four women who will testify that they had been threatened with a gun or intimidated by an angry Spector in different incidents up to 10 years ago.
It is not clear if Spector, who has shunned the public eye for decades and has described himself as battling depression and internal "devils," will testify at the trial.
Police say Spector told the first officers on the scene that he had killed Clarkson by accident. But he told Esquire magazine in an interview shortly after his arrest that Clarkson "kissed the gun," committing suicide for reasons he did not understand.
Los Angeles judges have been reluctant to allow cameras in court since the 1995 acquittal of actor and former football star O.J. Simpson on murder charges after a trial telecast live that brought sharp criticism of the city's justice system.
- REUTERS/Nielsen
