Spector’s Attorney Denounces D.A. Office

Music producer Phil Spector’s lawyer accused Los Angeles County prosecutors Friday of making a case against his client out of “lies and half-truths.”

The written statement was issued by Bruce Cutler, the flamboyant New York defense attorney who is Spector’s third lawyer in the 11 months since he was charged with killing actress Lana Clarkson.

The statement came a day after newly released grand jury transcripts revealed what police say were the suspect’s initial statements to them about the death.

Alhambra Police Officer Beatrice Rodriguez told the Los Angeles County Grand Jury in September that she heard Spector say, “What’s wrong with you guys? What are you doing? I didn’t mean to shoot her. It was an accident.”

Spector, 64, told authorities later that day that Clarkson, 40, committed suicide. She died of a single gunshot wound to the head.

Cutler also criticized prosecutors for using a grand jury to indict his client rather than holding a preliminary hearing, at which his defense team could have cross-examined prosecution witnesses, and for supporting a legal challenge by The Times and Associated Press to a judge’s sealing of the transcripts.

Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office, said Cutler “will have ample opportunity to cross-examine any prosecution witnesses” at trial. She called his criticism of the grand jury process “disingenuous” and pointed out that judges, not prosecutors, ordered the transcripts released.

Cutler blamed prosecutors for “tainting any chance Phil Spector has for a fair trial.” Yet he vowed to resurrect his client’s “good name” and win the murder case. Spector faces life in prison if convicted.