Personal Injury Law

Surprise testimony breaks the rules

By Edward Bills

The judge in the Phil Spector murder trial ruled Tuesday that the defense violated evidence rules by presenting surprise testimony that Lana Clarkson did not immediately die after she was shot at the record producer’s Alhambra mansion four years ago.

"There is a deliberate, knowing violation of discovery," Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler said, citing the law that requires attorneys to preview trial evidence for their opponents, so that the other side has a fair chance at rebuttal.

The defense’s violation involved a dramatic courtroom revelation by forensic pathologist Michael Baden, who said scientific evidence indicated that Clarkson had lived for several minutes after she was shot. Baden testified that Clarkson’s lungs tripled in weight after filling with blood and other body fluids — an indication, he said, that she lived for several minutes after the fatal shot.

The coroner testified that Clarkson died instantly after the bullet severed her spine.

Baden’s assertion could explain the presence of Clarkson’s blood on Spector’s jacket, which prosecutors have argued indicates that he was holding the gun when the actress was wounded. The defense argues that Spector rendered aid to Clarkson after she shot herself and that she could have coughed up blood, staining his jacket.

With jurors cleared from the courtroom, prosecutor Alan Jackson said the defense had "sandbagged and blindsided" him by not giving notice that it would present Baden’s theory. Jackson heatedly questioned Baden, at one point stopping himself to calm down.

The judge said he needed time to think about a sanction to impose on the defense.

Despite its explosive nature, Baden’s testimony did not visibly stir Spector. Moments after Baden said that Clarkson had clung to life after her shooting, the defendant was slumped in his chair with his eyes shut.

Full post as published by Bodily Injury Blog on August 15, 2007 (boomark / email).