California law specifies a 15-year sentence for second-degree murder, with an extra sentence tacked on for use of a handgun; this extra time can range from three to ten years. Spector showed no emotion as the sentence was read; his wife Rachelle, however, sobbed loudly. The jury foreman also cried as she gave the verdict and as she described how the verdict was decided, describing the decision as "painful." "For anybody in our shoes, you have no idea," she said. "It's tough to be on a jury... You're talking about another human being. We all have hearts."
Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson expressed his pleasure with the verdict, stating that "It feels fantastic, this is the type of day prosecutors live for... there was justice that was unserved up until today," he said. "Today is when the Clarkson family gets their justice." Defense head Doron Weinberg, unsurprisingly, plans to appeal and issue a formal request for a new trial, using as basis Judge Larry Paul Fidler's decision to allow other women Spector threatened with a gun throughout his life as witnesses in this, the second trial. (The first, which Fidler also presided over, ended in a mistrial in 2007.)
Spector was led off to jail immediately on orders of Fidler, who denied the famed producer bail.
March 27, 2009: The Phil Spector / Lana Clarkson trial is now officially in the hands of the jury. The last act was played out by co-prosecutor Alan Jackson, who attempted to refute defense attorney Doron Weinberg's closing argument that none of Spector's DNA was present on the gun which killed Clarkson by pointing out that the weapon was never tested for it in the first place -- likewise the gunpowder residue issue. The missing fingernail of Clarkson's, which caused a firestorm of controversy in the first trial after the forensic expert for the defense was alleged to have removed it, was also brought up in the rebuttal as lack of proof of a Clarkson suicide.
On the night of February 2, 2003, the legendary producer visited the Los Angeles House of Blues, where he met hostess Lana Clarkson, a former b-movie starlet best known for her role in Barbarian Queen. Clarkson and Spector eventually returned to his 33-room faux-castle mansion in Alhambra around 3 a.m.
At approximately 5 a.m. Adriano De Souza, Spector's chauffeur, claims to have seen the producer emerge from his home carrying a gun, with blood smeared on the back of his hand. "I think I killed someone," Spector allegdly told De Souza, who immediately called the police. When the authorities arrived, they discovered Clarkson, slumped in a chair, dead from a shot to the mouth. In custody, Spector claimed to have accidentally shot Clarkson.
