Legal News

Spector's legal troubles have his finances at an ebb tide

By Richard Binder

Since his arrest, Phil Spector has used the services of at least 11 criminal defense attorneys -- including one who charged $1 million for a year of representation, four private investigators, five paralegals, a jury consultant and a stable of expert witnesses. The bill for those scientific witnesses -- more than $500,000 over the course of a trial and a retrial -- does not include the cost of a handful of other big-name forensic specialists, such as Henry Lee and Cyril Wecht, whom the defense retained but did not call to the stand.

A verdict in his murder trial will not relieve the financial pressure on Spector. Whatever the jury's decision, he faces a wrongful-death suit by the mother of Lana Clarkson, the actress he is accused of shooting to death in the foyer of his mansion. In civil court, the standard of proof to hold Spector responsible for Clarkson's shooting -- his defense contends it was suicide -- is much lower than in the criminal case where a conviction requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

Records suggest he has liquidated assets as he pays for his defense. Last year, a few months after hiring Doron Weinberg to handle his retrial, Spector borrowed $1.3 million against his Alhambra mansion -- nearly the entire assessed value of the hilltop estate -- according to public records. As his first trial got underway in 2007, he borrowed nearly $800,000 against the residence and a smaller house he owns nearby, records show. And in the run-up to that proceeding, Spector allegedly discussed shopping the publishing rights to some of his music, according to claims contained in a federal suit filed by a former publisher who wanted to be first in line for such a sale.

Full story at LA Times.

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on April 08, 2009 (boomark / email).