Ex-lover can testify in Spector’s trial

A former lover will be allowed to testify that Phil Spector twice threatened her with a gun, the judge hearing the music producer’s trial in the shooting death of an actress ruled Tuesday.

Spector is accused of murdering actress Lana Clarkson, who was killed in a shooting at his home in February 2003. Spector contends she shot herself.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler granted a motion by prosecutors to allow testimony from Devra Robitaille, a former employee and lover of Spector. Robitaille told investigators that Spector threatened to shoot her when she tried to leave his house -- once in the 1970s and again in the ‘80s.

Fidler had earlier ruled that four other women could testify that Spector threatened them with guns in the 1980s and ‘90s. Fidler said such evidence could be used to show “lack of accident or mistake” in Spector’s behavior the night of Clarkson’s death.

Roger J. Rosen, one of Spector’s attorneys, said of the addition of Robitaille: “Any lawyer faced with five separate incidents has his hands full.”

Defense lawyers had unsuccessfully argued that Robitaille’s testimony should be barred from trial because an alleged act 20 or 30 years ago had little value in proving whether Spector pulled a gun on Clarkson and could unduly prejudice the jury.

But Fidler ruled for the defense on another pretrial motion, barring the testimony of a security guard who said Spector raged angrily and obscenely two years in a row about women at Christmas parties given by comedian Joan Rivers. Fidler said Spector’s alleged “vile, crude misogynist rants” would be more likely to prejudice jurors than to provide useful insights.

The judge did not decide several issues raised by both sides concerning Clarkson’s mental state prior to her death. Prosecutors want to exclude information such as Clarkson’s use of prescription anti-depressants and postings found on her computer telling of past drug use.

The defense, which contends that Clarkson took her own life, either by accident or suicide, has argued that evidence of her mental condition, including the use of prescriptions drugs and her e-mails to friends expressing despair, is crucial to their case.

Fidler said he would hear arguments on those points once the trial begins, when the context in which the evidence would be used is better known.

Fidler also decided to wait on other disputed evidence: Prosecutors and the defense dispute whether the jacket Spector wore on the night of the shooting is stained with Clarkson’s blood and whether it should be allowed as evidence; they also disagree on the accuracy and value of estimates of Spector’s blood-alcohol level, which were based on urine samples.

Fidler granted part of a defense motion to bar him and prosecutors from referring to Clarkson as “the victim.” The defense argued that she would not be a victim if she had killed herself. Fidler said he would call Clarkson “the decedent” but said prosecutors were free to call her the victim, since they are arguing that she was murdered.

Lawyers are to begin questioning potential jurors next week.

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peter.hong@latimes.com