PHIL SPECTOR - PROSECUTORS FIGHT SPECTOR MOTIONS

PROSECUTORS FIGHT SPECTOR MOTIONS

Prosecutors working on music mogul PHIL SPECTOR's murder case are fighting for jurors in his upcoming retrial to hear testimony about late actress LANA CLARKSON's autopsy.
Spector stands accused of shooting Clarkson at his Alhambra, California mansion in 2003. He maintains she committed suicide and his trial last year (07) ended with a hung jury.
The retrial is scheduled to return to a Los Angeles court in October (08), and prosecutors want the new jurors to be privy to testimonies from experts like Dr. Louis Pena, who concluded Clarkson's death was homicide after conducting an autopsy.
On Thursday (24Jul08), the Los Angeles County district attorney's office opposed a motion filed by Spector's attorneys requesting that evidence be excluded from the retrial.
Spector's legal team also want the judge overseeing the retrial to rule that the star cannot be convicted of a lesser offence, should he be found guilty at all.
During the first trial, Judge Larry Paul Fidler refused to allow his jury to consider a charge of involuntary manslaughter as it struggled to make a decision.
Spector's lawyers are now using Fidler's ruling in their argument, claiming the decision effectively acquitted Spector on the lesser charges, and under the law of double jeopardy he cannot face the same counts again.
But the prosecutors have hit back at the second motion, claiming it "flies in the face of logic and law".
Their filing states: "The court never impliedly or otherwise factually acquitted (the) defendant of voluntary or involuntary manslaughter."
Meanwhile, in a separate case, Spector will take his former attorney to court on 4 May (09) over breach of contract allegations.
Spector filed suit against revered celebrity lawyer Robert Shapiro for the return of $1 million (GBP500,000) last year (07), claiming he created "horrendous" problems for him during the first trial.