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California

CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / LOS ANGELES

By Harriet Ryan
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Legendary music producer Phil Spector should serve at least 19 years in prison for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson, a prosecutor contended in court papers filed Tuesday.

Spector, 69, is scheduled to be sentenced May 29 in the fatal shooting of Clarkson six years ago at his Alhambra mansion.

The second-degree murder conviction returned by a Los Angeles County Superior Court jury last month carries a mandatory life sentence with eligibility for parole after 15 years, but because the panel also found Spector used a firearm, Judge Larry Paul Fidler is required to tack on three, four or 10 years to the minimum sentence.

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In the filing, Deputy Dist. Atty. Alan Jackson wrote that “the interests of justice would be served by imposition of the mid term” -- four additional years.

The prosecutor also filed paperwork requesting that Spector reimburse the cost of counseling provided to Clarkson’s mother and sister as well as funeral expenses.

Her mother, Donna, is also pursuing a wrongful death suit in civil court.

-- Harriet Ryan

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Harriet Ryan

Harriet Ryan is an investigative reporter for the Los Angeles Times. Since joining the paper in 2008, she has written about high-profile people, including Phil Spector, Michael Jackson and Tom Girardi, and institutions, including USC, the State Bar of California, the Catholic Church, the Kabbalah Centre and Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of OxyContin. Ryan won the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting with colleagues Matt Hamilton and Paul Pringle in 2019. She and Hamilton won the Collier Prize for State Government Accountability in 2023. She previously worked at Court TV and the Asbury Park Press. She is a graduate of Columbia University.

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