Spector defense loses in high court

The California Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to hear an appeal of a contempt order against a former attorney for Phil Spector, raising the possibility that the lawyer could be jailed as soon as today if she continues to refuse to testify at his murder trial.

Sara Caplan, a Beverly Hills attorney, was held in contempt last month for declining to testify before the jury about possible removal of evidence by Spector’s forensic expert, Henry Lee.

Caplan is to appear before Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler at 10 a.m. today.

Spector, 67, is charged in the killing of actress Lana Clarkson, who was found shot to death Feb. 3, 2003, in the legendary music producer’s Alhambra mansion. He is free on bail. Spector’s attorneys say Clarkson shot herself.

In a May hearing without jurors present, Caplan said she saw Lee pick up a fingernail-sized object from the foyer in Spector’s home, where Clarkson’s body was found. Prosecutors have said that they believe the item was a piece of Clarkson’s acrylic thumbnail, and that it could have shown that the 40-year-old was holding her hands up defensively and therefore could not have fired the shot that killed her.

Lee, in testimony before Fidler and in later statements to the media, has vigorously denied that he found such an object. But Fidler, citing Caplan’s testimony, ruled that Lee had improperly withheld evidence from prosecutors and said they could call Caplan as a witness to describe what she saw.

Caplan insisted that testifying before the jury would betray her former client. The state Supreme Court last month stayed the enforcement of Fidler’s contempt order, allowing Caplan to remain free while she appealed.

The ruling was another setback for the defense, which this week moved into the heart of its case only to be interrupted by another adverse ruling allowing a prosecution witness to testify about Spector’s obscene rantings against women.

Faced with a half-day session Wednesday, Spector’s attorneys called Jennifer Hayes-Riedl, a friend of Clarkson who testified that the actress had been depressed about many things shortly before her death.

During a visit, Clarkson “was crying her eyes out,” Hayes-Riedl testified. “She was absolutely out of her mind and depressed.”

Hayes-Riedl said Clarkson had come to her house to borrow clothes to wear to her job as a hostess at the House of Blues, where she met Spector the night she was shot. Hayes-Riedl said that Clarkson felt “humiliated” by having had to take the position.

“She was pulling out chairs for people she had beaten out in auditions,” Hayes-Riedl said.

Clarkson also had broken up with a man she had hoped would be “the one,” Hayes-Riedl said, and did not have money for rent or groceries. Hayes-Riedl said Clarkson drank excessively and liked to take the painkiller Vicodin while drinking tequila or champagne.

On cross-examination, prosecutor Patrick Dixon asked Hayes-Riedl if Clarkson also had been hopeful, ambitious and determined to succeed. Hayes-Riedl answered yes, but said “it was game-face hope. That’s different than long-term hope.” Clarkson, she said, was “very, very, very, very depressed.”

Also under cross-examination, Hayes-Riedl described another Clarkson friend and likely defense witness, Punkin Pie Laughlin, as someone “who can’t remember anything.”

Hayes-Riedl said she accompanied Laughlin, whom Hayes-Riedl described as a nightclub promoter and Clarkson’s closest friend, to an interview with a defense investigator. When Dixon asked why she participated in the interview, Hayes-Riedl said Laughlin “forgets things and needs to be reminded.”

Spector’s attorneys also wish to call to the witness stand Raul Julia-Levy, who they said is a former boyfriend of Clarkson. But Tuesday, responding to the prosecution’s objections, Fidler delayed a ruling on whether he would allow Julia-Levy to testify. The judge gave the district attorney’s office until next week to complete its investigation of the witness, who was recently added to the defense witness list.

“The defense will end up thanking me for taking the time,” Fidler said in open court but with the jury absent. “In the long run, whatever happens, the delay will be helpful to both sides.”

Julia-Levy identifies himself as the son of the late actor Raul Julia. His identity has been disputed by Julia’s widow, Merel Julia, who married Raul Julia in 1976. Merel Julia told the New York Times in 2005 that Raul Julia-Levy was “an impostor.”

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peter.hong@latimes.com