Testimony deals a blow to Spector team strategy

Years before he allegedly shot actress Lana Clarkson in the mouth, legendary music producer Phil Spector angrily declared that women “all deserve a bullet in their heads,” a former security guard testified Monday.

The testimony dealt a quick blow to Spector’s defense on the day it was to resume its battle -- after a weeklong holiday break -- to clear Spector, 67, of the charge he murdered Clarkson, 40, in his Alhambra mansion on Feb. 3, 2003.

The defense, already hit by the absence of an attorney and the possible withdrawal of a key forensics expert, had planned to start Monday’s court session with witnesses to bolster its contention that Clarkson, despondent and with possible drug and alcohol problems, committed suicide by shooting herself in the mouth.

Instead, Judge Larry Paul Fidler, reversing an earlier ruling, said the district attorney could present testimony from a former security guard for comedian Joan Rivers, who says Spector was ejected from Christmas parties at Rivers’ New York home two years in a row in the 1990s after ranting about shooting women. Spector attorney Roger J. Rosen had argued strongly that the testimony should be barred, saying the producer’s remarks were directed at individuals and did not show Spector’s feelings about women in general, as the prosecution had argued. Rosen also said Spector’s alleged use of an obscene slur of women would prejudice the jury and serve as “character assassination” on Spector.

But Fidler, noting that the jury had already heard Spector use the word on an answering machine tape, said Vincent Tannazzo’s account of the record producer’s statements was clearly relevant to Clarkson’s shooting.

Fidler said Spector reportedly “states, this is the way to solve the problem. [Women] should be shot in the head. In this case, a woman was shot in the head.” Fidler also said that when he earlier ruled out Tannazzo’s testimony, he hadn’t noticed that Spector’s alleged statement specified shooting women in the head.

Tannazzo, a retired New York City police detective, testified that he was overseeing security at Rivers’ home sometime in the early to mid-1990’s, when he was summoned by Dorothy Melvin, the comedian’s manager.

Melvin, he said, told him that Spector had pulled a gun out at the party. Melvin, who had a romantic relationship with Spector, earlier testified that the producer had threatened her with a gun at his Pasadena home in 1993 when she refused to spend the night with him.

Tannazzo said that as he escorted Spector out of the party, he felt the butt of a handgun under Spector’s jacket. Tannazzo said he warned Spector not to go for the gun, or that Tannazzo would shoot him with his own weapon. Spector assured him that he was permitted to carry the gun, and added that women, whom he referred to using the derogatory term, “all deserve a bullet in their heads,” Tannazzo said.

At a Christmas party the following year, Tannazzo testified, he felt trouble coming when he saw Spector’s name on the guest list.

Tannazzo said he again was told by Melvin to escort a belligerent Spector from the party. In the lobby of the building, Tannazzo said, Spector saw a woman getting out of the elevator and said, “I’m gonna put a bullet in her head.” Tannazzo said he grabbed Spector by his lapels and forced him outside into his limousine.

Under cross-examination, Rosen asked Tannazzo why he did not report the incidents to police. “I had other things on my mind,” Tannazzo answered.

After Tannazzo, the defense presented David Stark, a Los Angeles Fire Department paramedic, who testified that he smelled alcohol on Clarkson’s breath when he treated her in December 2001. Clarkson had fallen and broken both wrists at a Christmas party.

Continuing his testimony today will be playwright John Barons, who began telling the jury Monday how he had fired Clarkson from a play in which she had been cast as Marilyn Monroe.

But Tannazzo’s testimony may have added to a spate of potential setbacks for the defense, observers say. Bruce Cutler, Spector’s lead attorney, has been absent from the trial and working on a courtroom reality show in which he plays a judge. Legal experts said Cutler’s absence could lead jurors to think that he did not believe in his client’s innocence, or that the defense team was divided.

Spector on Monday confirmed to Fidler that Cutler has his blessing to skip courtroom sessions to develop his show. Cutler said he planned to return to court July 23 and expects to deliver the closing statement for the defense. But other Spector attorneys have said privately that Cutler may be gone for good.

The return of forensic scientist Henry Lee, expected to be the defense’s star witness, also is in doubt. Although Spector’s attorneys say Lee will testify, the scientist told the Hartford Courant newspaper in a recent interview that he was unsure if he would appear as a witness.

The defense is counting on Lee to convince jurors that bloodstains on Spector’s clothing show that he was standing too far from Clarkson to have pulled the trigger. But Lee was rattled earlier in the trial when Fidler ruled that the scientist had hidden a piece of evidence from prosecutors.

Lee told the Connecticut newspaper in a June 27 article, “My findings [are] not that important at all. Nine to 10 other expert witnesses will say the same thing. They don’t really need me.”

peter.hong@latimes.com