Prosecutors are asking a judge to permit evidence at Phil Spector’s Los Angeles murder trial that the record producer has a history of pulling guns on women, according to court filings unsealed yesterday (March 14).
The prosecution motion, filed Feb. 17, lists nine occasions dating to 1972 when Spector allegedly pointed a gun at someone, including women he dated, singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen, a television producer and parking valets at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Superior Court Judge Larry P. Fidler is expected to rule on the motion May 23.
Spector’s trial for the Feb. 3, 2003, shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson is set to open Sept. 16. The 65-year-old producer claims Clarkson committed suicide at his home in suburban Alhambra. He remains free on $1 million bail.
Spector’s attorney, Bruce Cutler, called the prosecutions allegations “bunk” and said they came from “disgruntled gold diggers and others.”
“Number one, he didn’t do this in the past, and number two, he did not kill this lady,” Cutler said. “This was a self-inflicted gunshot wound.”
According to the filings, Spector, while producing the album “Death of a Ladies Man” for Cohen in 1977, allegedly put an arm around Cohen’s shoulders, pointed a semiautomatic pistol at his chest and said, “‘I love you, Leonard.'”
The prosecution listed five encounters in which Spector allegedly pulled guns on women, three of whom testified at the grand jury hearing that led to his indictment.
The motion argued the incidents show Spector had a “common plan” of using guns “to intimidate women into staying with him.” In one case, it is alleged he forced a woman to sleep with him and in another he tried to make a woman remove her clothes.
After a 1972 arrest, Spector pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor crime of carrying a loaded firearm in a public place and was given a year of probation. In 1975 he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of brandishing a firearm and got two years probation. 
Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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