Spector Firearm Threats Cited

Guns, violence, women and Phil Spector have converged for more than 30 years, according to a new document unsealed Monday in the murder case against the rock music legend.

Before Spector allegedly shot actress Lana Clarkson in the face in 2003, he had pointed a gun at nearly a dozen other people over the years -- including several women who enraged him when they tried to leave him, prosecutors said.

One victim, an on-and-off girlfriend who also worked as one of Spector’s personal assistants, told authorities that not only did he put a handgun to her face one night in 1988, but two weeks later chased her while wielding an assault rifle until she ran to her car and locked herself inside. He banged on her windows as she drove away, she said.

Another woman said Spector pointed a gun at her head in 1991 when she told him she felt tired and wanted to leave his house.

“Spector has a long history of gun-related violence, directed in large part at women,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Douglas Sortino wrote in the motion arguing that such evidence should be admitted at the trial to show that the record producer shot Clarkson because she, too, was trying to leave.

Police found Clarkson’s body at Spector’s Alhambra mansion Feb. 3, 2003, after his chauffeur heard a gunshot and called 911.

Spector allegedly told the chauffeur that he thought he “killed somebody” and told police at the scene that “the gun went off accidentally.” But he later told police that Clarkson put the gun to her head and pulled the trigger.

Spector’s defense lawyers plan to ask the court in the next few weeks to exclude any mention of other gun-related incidents from his past.

“It makes for interesting reading, but why don’t we try this case based on the facts of the case?” said Spector’s attorney, Roger Rosen, in an interview. “Who cares about something that happened 30 years ago? He’s not on trial for any of those things. He’s on trial for what happened to Ms. Clarkson.”

Legal experts say a judge’s ruling on whether to include such information will have a powerful effect on jurors.

The law generally prohibits prosecutors from introducing character evidence or prior bad acts to show that the defendant is a violent person, said Paul Bergman, a professor emeritus who teaches a course on evidence at UCLA Law School. But an exception could be made if the other incidents seem similar to the case at hand.

“The more these other incidents resemble this case, the more likely the judge will admit this as his modus operandi -- M.O. -- his way of dealing with someone,” Bergman said. “But there are differences. Obviously this woman ended up dead. These other people did not.”

A hearing before Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Larry P. Fidler is scheduled in May.

According to prosecutors, Spector’s history of threatening people with guns dates to at least 1972, when a woman called the Beverly Hills Police Department to report that a man in a maroon jacket with a karate emblem pointed a gun at her in a Rodeo Drive club. After pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of carrying a loaded firearm in a public place, Spector was sentenced to one year of probation.

In 1975, a Beverly Hills valet heard a woman scream “Get away from me!” at two men. When the valet intervened, one of the men -- Spector -- turned around and pointed a revolver at him and another valet. Spector pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of brandishing a firearm and was sentenced to two years’ probation.

Other incidents cited include a 1993 assault, when Spector allegedly hit a woman on the head with a handgun when she refused to remove her clothes; and a 1995 incident, when he allegedly pushed a woman -- and then pointed a gun at her -- when she refused to go to his hotel room.

Many of these incidents occurred when Spector appeared to be drunk and romantically interested in a woman -- just as with Clarkson, said prosecutors.