Spector Guilty of 2nd-Degree Murder

A Los Angeles jury today convicted eccentric music producer Phil Spector of second-degree murder in the death of actress Lana Clarkson, the Los Angeles Times reports. Spector, 69, faces at least 18 years in prison for killing 40-year-old Clarkson, who was found with a gunshot wound to the mouth in Spector's mansion 6 years ago. Prosecutors said Spector often threatened women with guns; the defense called Clarkson's death a suicide.

Prosecutors described Spector as a misogynist who liked to get drunk and play "Russian roulette with the lives of women." In closing arguments, a prosecutor said that "by the grace of God, five other women got the empty chamber and lived to tell. Lana just happened to be the sixth woman who got the bullet.” The jury deliberated for 9 days in the retrial; the first ended in a hung jury 2 years ago.
(More Phil Spector stories.)