Medical expert in Spector case calls death a spur of the moment suicide

A defense medical expert insisted Wednesday that Lana Clarkson shot herself, disputing contentions by prosecutors and the county medical examiner, who say that famous music producer Phil Spector murdered the actress in his Alhambra home four years ago.

Clarkson, her judgment impaired by alcohol and the painkiller Vicodin, shot herself in the mouth with a .38 Special revolver, pathologist Werner Spitz testified.

“It was a spur of the moment determination, without thinking,” Spitz said.

Spitz, formerly the chief medical examiner of Wayne County, Mich., said he concluded that Clarkson shot herself because gunshot wounds in the mouth are almost always self-inflicted, and blood, tissue and gunshot residue found on her hands suggest she was holding the gun. He also said Clarkson was in an imbalanced mental state and her judgment was impaired by alcohol and drug use.

Clarkson was found dead Feb. 3, 2003, in Spector’s home, where she had accompanied him for a nightcap. Prosecutors say a drunk and enraged Spector murdered Clarkson by shooting her when she tried to leave his home. Spector, 67, the producer of hit records for the Beatles, the Righteous Brothers, and Ike and Tina Turner, met Clarkson earlier that night at the House of Blues, where she worked as a hostess.

Spector’s attorneys say Clarkson, 40, was despondent over a faltering acting career and other failed ambitions, and took her life in an “accidental suicide.”

A key defense argument is that the size and pattern of bloodstains on Spector’s jacket show he was standing too far from Clarkson to have held the gun that shot her. Prosecution experts testified that blood will fly only three feet through the air before it is broken up by air resistance and gravity.

Spitz testified that blood can travel more than six feet through the air, and said he had seen it occur in cases he handled as a medical examiner.

Spitz also disagreed with the coroner’s finding that bruising on Clarkson’s tongue suggested the gun barrel had been shoved into her mouth. Spitz, holding up a rubber model of Clarkson’s tongue, said the explosive force of the gunshot caused the bruising.

Spitz is among a team of prominent expert witnesses assembled by Spector’s six-lawyer defense. Another pathologist, Vincent DiMaio, and bloodstain expert Stuart James testified previously on Spector’s behalf.

Connecticut forensic scientist Henry Lee is working for the defense, but it is unclear whether he will testify because of a ruling by trial Judge Larry Paul Fidler that he kept evidence from prosecutors.

Spitz’s status as a high-profile paid expert was the first target of prosecutor Alan Jackson’s cross-examination. “Did you get paid a lot of money for that opinion?” Jackson asked.

“I get paid a lot of money, but not for that opinion,” Spitz replied. Spitz said he is being paid $5,000 a day, but could not recall how many days he has worked on the case. When Jackson, noting that Spitz has made three trips to Los Angeles, said he had then been paid at least $15,000, Spitz responded, “You are being mean.”

Spitz said the figure would be higher.

“That’s why I say you are being mean, you are giving me the minimum,” he said, prompting loud laughter from the jurors. Spitz said his last bill was for $45,000.

Jackson asked Spitz why he considered Clarkson’s state of mind and personal background and not Spector’s.

Spitz said that because the physical evidence shows Clarkson committed suicide, he deemed Spector a “passive individual” in the shooting.

Jackson brought up incidents in which Spector threatened women at gunpoint, the subject of testimony by four women earlier in the trial.

He asked Spitz if he agreed that Clarkson was killed in Spector’s house with his gun, that her blood ended up on a doorknob and banister after Spector touched them, and that Clarkson’s blood was on Spector’s jacket and a rag found in the house.

Spitz said he agreed with all those facts, but “in the absence of a video camera, you do not know what transpired, and I don’t either. We have to go on more than innuendo and speculation.”

Spitz said Spector’s history of alleged threats was less important than the physical evidence. “We all did stupid things 10 years ago, 20 years ago,” he said.

“Did you ever get drunk with a woman alone, get angry, and when you wouldn’t let her leave, pull out a handgun and stick it in her face?” Jackson asked.

“I have been married for 45 years, so not in 45 years,” Spitz said, prompting more laughter from the jury.

“You can’t throw out the physical evidence and say, ‘Mr. X has this history, therefore we should convict him,’ ” Spitz said. “This is the country I live in?”

Cross-examination of Spitz will continue today.

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peter.hong@latimes.com