Mother of Actress Will Sue Spector
Wrongful-Death Claim Accuses Him of Murder By Blair Clarkson The mother of actress Lana Clarkson will file a wrongful-death lawsuit today claiming that legendary rock producer Phil Spector grabbed, hit, restrained and eventually gunned down her daughter at his Alhambra mansion, The Daily Journal has learned. The civil suit, to be filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, says that the 40-year-old actress survived the February 2003 attack by the 1989 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, who is facing murder charges, for some unknown period before her death. Spector and his lawyers contend that Clarkson committed suicide. John C. Taylor, an attorney for Donna Clarkson, said that family members had hoped Spector’s criminal prosecution would have been resolved by now but that they were forced to file the complaint before the two-year statute of limitations for wrongful-death claims expired on Feb. 3. Taylor of Los Angeles’ Taylor & Ring declined to comment on the specifics of the civil action against Spector to avoid jeopardizing the criminal trial. A trial date has not been set. The lawyer added he’s not yet sure what impact the criminal case could have on the civil suit. The judge could issue a stay on the civil case pending completion of Spector’s murder trial or could allow limited discovery, Taylor said. "Our intent is truly to let the criminal proceeding go forward and not do anything that would interfere with the prosecution," he said. "The grand jury testimony speaks for itself, as has Mr. Spector." A focal point of the civil case is expected to center on several conflicting taped statements Spector made during and following his arrest, in which he claimed Clarkson’s death was an accident, then later insisted she shot herself. Los Angeles police officers investigating the incident have concluded it was neither accident nor suicide. On the night of the shooting, as an allegedly drunk and belligerent Spector tussled with police in the foyer of his "castle" while Clarkson’s body sat slumped on a nearby chair, he told officers he was sorry and added that "the gun went off accidentally," according to taped transcripts released in January. But he later changed his story at the Alhambra jail, claiming that Clarkson, whom he had met earlier that night at the House of Blues in Hollywood, where she worked as a hostess, was a "piece of shit" and had killed herself. "I don’t know what her fucking problem was," Spector angrily told police, "but she certainly had no right to come to my fucking castle, blow her fucking head open… What the fuck is wrong with you people?" Spector’s taped statements, recorded by officers at his home and at the Alhambra jail hours after Clarkson’s death, were presented as exhibits to the grand jury that indicted him on murder charges. Roger Rosen, who is Spector’s local counsel for the criminal proceeding, told the Daily Journal in January that he would fight to keep the statements from being admitted at his client’s murder trial. People v. Spector, BA255233 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Sept. 20, 2004). "At this point, you have the statements without any explanation, and we all know if you take any statement made at any time by anyone and you throw it out there, it’s subject to interpretation," Rosen said. "Often, those initial conclusions need to be changed. You only have half the story." Spector, 65, whose ‘wall of sound’ recording technique revolutionized 1960s pop music, has worked with the Beatles, Ramones, Shirelles and Ronettes. In September, he pleaded not guilty to one count of murder and remains free on $1 million bail. |
