Judge says Spector defense broke rule

The judge in the Phil Spector murder trial ruled Tuesday that the defense violated evidence rules by presenting surprise testimony that Lana Clarkson did not immediately die after she was shot at the record producer’s Alhambra mansion four years ago.

“There is a deliberate, knowing violation of discovery,” Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler said, citing the law that requires attorneys to preview trial evidence for their opponents, so that the other side has a fair chance at rebuttal.

The defense’s violation involved a dramatic courtroom revelation by forensic pathologist Michael Baden, who said scientific evidence indicated that Clarkson had lived for several minutes after she was shot.

Clarkson, a 40-year-old actress, was found dead in Spector’s home on Feb. 3, 2003. She had been shot by a revolver fired in her mouth. Spector has been charged with second-degree murder; his attorneys contend that she shot herself. The coroner testified that Clarkson died instantly after the bullet severed her spine.

Baden testified that Clarkson’s lungs tripled in weight after filling with blood and other body fluids -- an indication, he said, that she lived for several minutes after the fatal shot.

Baden’s assertion could explain the presence of Clarkson’s blood on Spector’s jacket, which prosecutors have argued indicates that he was holding the gun when the actress was wounded. The defense argues that Spector rendered aid to Clarkson after she shot herself and that she could have coughed up blood, staining his jacket.

With jurors cleared from the courtroom, prosecutor Alan Jackson said the defense had “sandbagged and blindsided” him by not giving notice that it would present Baden’s theory. Jackson heatedly questioned Baden, at one point stopping himself to calm down.

Jackson asked why Baden, who was present at Clarkson’s autopsy, had never stated in any of his written reports his belief that Clarkson was alive for a significant period after being shot.

“I missed it initially,” Baden said. He said he “had an ‘a-ha’ moment,” in which he realized the significance of her lung weight, more recently.

Baden said he discussed his new conclusion with Spector attorney Christopher Plourd on Sunday.

Baden said that he did not know he was to testify in the trial and that he was in Los Angeles to be with his wife, Linda Kenney Baden, another of Spector’s attorneys.

Jackson said Baden had been on the defense’s witness list last week. He asked Baden if it “would be incorrect” for the defense to have named him as an upcoming witness last week. “It would be incorrect,” Baden answered.

Plourd acknowledged that he had not told prosecutors of the substance of Baden’s testimony. Plourd and Spector attorneys Roger Rosen and Bradley Brunon argued that testimony evolves in trials and new findings come up.

Fidler, visibly agitated, responded, “I’m not going to agree with you.” The judge called the defense’s behavior “suspicious” and added: “Can I say you are lying ? I cannot say that.

“But it is clear to me there was a knowing, tactical decision made not to reveal” the information “to the prosecution.”

Fidler said he needed time to think about a sanction to impose on the defense.

Despite its explosive nature, Baden’s testimony did not visibly stir Spector. Moments after Baden said that Clarkson had clung to life after her shooting, the defendant was slumped in his chair with his eyes shut.

After the lunch break, Baden resumed his testimony. Fidler restricted attorneys from raising again the prospect that Clarkson had lingered after being shot.

Spector appeared alert and attentive for the remainder of the afternoon, looking intently at the judge, Baden and attorneys while occasionally resting his chin on the palm of his hand.

Baden’s testimony reinforced earlier accounts by two other defense pathologists, Vincent DiMaio and Werner Spitz, that Clarkson had taken her own life. “My conclusion is Miss Clarkson died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound of the mouth, spinal cord and brain,” Baden said.

Although Clarkson showed “suggestions of depression,” Baden said, he would not call her death a suicide because it was not clear she intended to shoot herself. “She may have been playing with the weapon, or looking at it, or have been reckless,” Baden said.

Jackson began his cross-examination by questioning Baden’s testimony that blood from Clarkson’s mouth sprayed onto her left jacket sleeve buttons as she held the gun. Jackson asked Baden to hold his arms up as he believed Clarkson had. Baden’s buttons faced away from his mouth.

Baden said he had examined Clarkson’s jacket and determined that the buttons could have been facing her when she fired. The jacket was a women’s model and its buttons could have been differently aligned than on his men’s jacket, he said.

Jackson then questioned Baden about independence and objectivity.

He asked Baden, who had chaired a commission on John F. Kennedy’s assassination, “If Lee Harvey Oswald had a brother who was a scientist, would you not have chosen him to be on the panel?”

Baden said he would not appoint the assassin’s brother, “because he would be biased.” Jackson followed that by saying that Baden is married to one of Spector’s attorneys.

Baden, who was hired by former Spector attorney Robert Shapiro the day of Clarkson’s death, said that he was on the case long before his wife joined the defense.

The court is set to resume today with cross-examination of Baden.

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peter.hong@latimes.com