Prosecution Witnesses:

#28 James Carroll (LA Co. Sheriff’s Department firearms expert; examined murder weapon, as well as three other firearms found, the ammunition, performed firing tests, and examined the thumb latch; testimony complete)

#29 Dr. Louis Pena (LA Co. Deputy Coroner; performed the autopsy on Ms. Clarkson; under 1st cross examination)

Accredited Press inside the courtroom: Aphrodite Jones during the morning session.

Manner of Death
As a strategic move, the prosecution chose not to present evidence on manner of death in their case in chief. Under direct, Truc Do did not ask a single question of Dr. Pena on the manner of Ms. Clarkson’s death or what his final determination was on the autopsy report. …

To read the ongoing coverage of Sprocket on the Phil Spector retrial, take 2 visit Sprocket’s site.

http://sprocket-trials.blogspot.com/2008/12/phil-spector-retrial-day-eighteen-of.html.

©Sprocket
December 13, 2008
Used with the permission of Sprocket – crime “junkie” trial watcher - writer
All Rights Reserved, do not reproduce in whole or in part without the express written consent of the author.

The expressions in this blog article are based on the opinions of our featured author, Sprocket, please remember we are not lawyers and those opinions expressed here are each of our individual opinions and should not be taken as legal advice and/or legal opinions. The comments following this blog article are the opinions and sole property of the blog site members and do not necessarily reflect those of the site owners.

Please also read our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.

Tags: Aphrodite Jones, Dr. Louis Pena, James Carroll, Lana Clarkson, Lana Clarkson murder trial, Lana Clarkson retrial "alleged murder", Lana Clarkson trial of Phil Spector, Phil Spector, Phil Spector "alleged" murder retrial, Phil Spector - Lana Clarkson "allege" murder, Phil Spector - Lana Clarkson "allege" murder retrial, Phil Spector retrial covered by Sprocket, Sprocket, Truc Do

Prosecution Witnesses:

#27 Steve Renteria (LA Co. Sheriff’s Dept. DNA technical leader and expert; examined several items recovered at the scene for DNA; testimony completed)

Accredited Press inside the courtroom: None

It’s all in the DNA
Absence of Evidence is not Evidence of Absence. Do any of you remember that from the first trial? It was a very long and grueling cross examination and redirect and cross and redirect and cross of DNA expert criminalist Steve Renteria today but all in all I think he stood up well under cross. Renteria eloquently said, “Every contact leaves a trace but not all trace [evidence] is detectable.”

The points Weinberg tried to make today in his cross examination were that Spector’s DNA was not found on the murder weapon and all the individuals working on the investigation from the lead detectives to the group of criminalists working on testing the evidence, even the prosecutors involved in the case, directed or specifically chose not to test the weapon for “handler” (aka touch) DNA. The problem with this argument is, it is a known scientific fact that “touch DNA” does not contain a significant amount of DNA compared to the amount contained within blood. To test for touch DNA, Renteria states criminalists specifically look for areas of the evidence that do not have blood on them; the gun had quite a bit of surface area with blood on it. Renteria testified that when there is a large amount of DNA from a blood source [on a piece of evidence] it can easily over power, cover, or drown out any touch DNA that might be there so that it is undetectable. Just because Spector’s DNA is not detected on the weapon does not mean that you can make a conclusion that he did not fire or handle the weapon.

However, in the gallery, that’s not the conclusion Rachelle reached at the end of the morning session. It was right after Weinberg was asking Renteria about the DNA evidence he found on the weapon, “other than that [single] Y type [allele]?” (Weinberg keeps pressing that this Y allele could have come from any male.) Renteria says, “It’s a negative result. I can’t tell you why it [the DNA] wasn’t there.”

To read the ongoing coverage of Sprocket on the Phil Spector retrial, take 2 visit Sprocket’s site.

http://sprocket-trials.blogspot.com/2008/12/phil-spector-retrial-day-seventeen-of.html.

©Sprocket
December 11, 2008
Used with the permission of Sprocket – crime “junkie” trial watcher - writer

Tags: Lana Clarkson, Phil Spector, Sprocket, Sprocket covers Phil Spector retrial of "alleged" murder

Picture is by Ted Soqui.

Prosecution Witnesses

#27 Steve Renteria (LA Co. Sheriff’s Dept. DNA technical leader and expert; examined several items recovered at the scene for DNA; under direct examination)

Accredited Press inside the courtroom: Harriet Ryan of the Los Angeles Times for about 1/2 hour; possibly another woman for a short time, unidentified.

The DNA Primer

Court was only a half day session today. A juror had an appointment. We don’t know what kind of appointment, just that one of the jurors needed the afternoon off.

Steve Renteria took the stand this morning. Truc Do presented the witness. Renteria has been with the LA Co. Sheriff’s Dept. for approximately 25 years. He’s the DNA technical leader, the lead DNA administrator and the CODIS (Combined DNA Index System) administration. He’s responsible fore the LA County DNA database. His CV is discussed and that he’s testified over 50 times in Superior Court.

(Most people find the scientific testimony boring but I enjoy it. GSR, DNA, I find it all fascinating. The toxicology evidence yesterday was a bit hard to follow but still interesting in the points each side was trying to make.)

Under direct examination Renteria gives a brief explanation of DNA for the jury. He also details in general terms how DNA is extracted from a cell and the steps taken to obtain a DNA profile and compare it to a reference sample. A reference sample is a known DNA sample obtained from a victim or suspect that is compared to collected evidence. Renteria testifies that a mixed profile can have a major and minor contributor to the sample, or a mixed profile can have an equal distribution of both contributors. Renteria explains that once a sample is compared they attach a “value” to it which helps to describe how rare or common that particular profile may have. (Such as 1 in 14 quadtrillion or some such astronomical number.)

To read the ongoing coverage of Sprocket on the Phil Spector retrial, take 2 visit Sprocket’s site.

http://sprocket-trials.blogspot.com/2008/12/phil-spector-retrial-day-sixteen-of.html.

©Sprocket
December 10, 2008
Used with the permission of Sprocket – crime “junkie” trial watcher - writer
All Rights Reserved, do not reproduce in whole or in part without the express written consent of the author.

The expressions in this blog article are based on the opinions of our featured author, Sprocket, please remember we are not lawyers and those opinions expressed here are each of our individual opinions and should not be taken as legal advice and/or legal opinions. The comments following this blog article are the opinions and sole property of the blog site members and do not necessarily reflect those of the site owners.

Please also read our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.

Tags: Assitant D. A. Truc Do, Harriet Ryan, Lana Clarkson, Lana Clarkson murder retrial, Lana Clarkson murder trial, Phil Spector, Phil Spector - Lana Clarkson "allege" murder retrial, Phil Spector retrial, Phil Spector retrial - Lana Clarkson alleged murder, Sprocket, Steve Renteria, Truc Do

Prosecution Witnesses:

#19 Mark Lillienfeld (Detective for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept.; responsible for the investigation at the scene of the shooting; testimony completed)

#20 Jaime Lintemoot (LA County Coroner’s Office, Senior Criminalist; collected evidence from Clarkson’s body at the scene; under cross examination)

Accredited Press in the courtroom: None.

I apologize that there is no detailed entry up for today. I’ve been sewing every since I got home, trying to get two orders ready to go out. I still have about another hour of sewing left to do before I can get some sleep.

Before the afternoon break and outside the presence of the jury Alan Jackson presented arguments that Mr. Weinberg “opened the door” in cross examination of Detective Lillienfeld. This was in regards to questions that were asked about suicide, a study the LA County coroner did on area suicides from 2004-2006, as well as what facts went into Lillienfeld’s conclusion where he determined that the shooting on February 3rd, 2003 was a homicide. AJ argued that this “opened the door” for the prosecution to bring in all of Spector’s prior bad acts that were previously ruled inadmissible (the convictions, other 1101(b) witnesses, etc.) by Fidler.

Fidler was clear in ruling on this argument. He doesn’t believe it’s opened the door. [This evidence is not coming in.] “It’s not going to happen. Not at this point. [We're] not going there.”

Truc Do presented Jaime Lintemoot’s testimony.

Weinberg started off his cross of Lintemoot with the following questions….

To read the ongoing coverage of Sprocket on the Phil Spector retrial, take 2 visit Sprocket’s site.

http://sprocket-trials.blogspot.com/2008/12/phil-spector-retrial-day-thirteen-of.html.

©Sprocket
December 4, 2008
Used with the permission of Sprocket – crime “junkie” trial watcher - writer
All Rights Reserved, do not reproduce in whole or in part without the express written consent of the author.

The expressions in this blog article are based on the opinions of our featured author, Sprocket, please remember we are not lawyers and those opinions expressed here are each of our individual opinions and should not be taken as legal advice and/or legal opinions. The comments following this blog article are the opinions and sole property of the blog site members and do not necessarily reflect those of the site owners.

Please also read our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.

Tags: Alan Jackson, Jaime Lintemoot, Lana Clarklson murder trial, Lana Clarkson, Mark Lillienfeld, Phil Spector, Phil Spector retrial, Phil Spector retrial "alleged murder", Sprocket, Sprocket coverage of Phil Spector retrial, Truc Do

Picture is by Ted Soqui.

Prosecution witnesses:

#17 James Hammond (Alhambra Police Detective [officer at time of shooting]; first responder to the scene and involved in the “take down” of Spector; testimony completed)

#18 David Riggs (Paramedic/Firefighter for Los Angeles County; responded to the shooting; evaluated Ms. Clarkson and pronounced her deceased; testimony completed)

#19 Mark Lillienfeld (Detective for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept.; responsible for the investigation at the scene of the shooting; currently under direct)

Accredited Press in the courtroom: None.

Another exhausting day for me. On top of that, I left my cell phone in the car when I was dropped off at the train station. It means I don’t have an easy reference to what time it is in the courtroom. I have to turn around and look at the clock high on the wall behind me. And, I have to use a pay phone to call Mr. Sprocket when it’s time to pick me up.

9:35 am: Rod Lindblom is here to sit with Mrs. Clarkson. I am the only other regular person in the courtroom besides Rachelle, the bodyguard and the sheriffs’. Before court, one of the defense assistants, a youngish looking bespeckled man who has worked with the defense exhibits when Jennifer Barringer is absent, approaches me in the hallway and thanks me for my trial coverage. I don’t quite know what to make of it, but it was nice of him to say that and I thanked him back.

Jennifer is back and she introduces herself to two gentlemen in suits in the back row. I believe these are our next witnesses that will take the stand. Spector is wearing a black suit, black shirt, white tie and white kerchief. Rachelle was wearing a dark pantsuit. Her hair is up on her head in a butterfly clip. I’ve received an email from someone who’s said they’ve seen a shocking photo on Rachelle’s private MySpace page. I’ve not seen the photo and do not know if it is authentic. However, a detailed description and the caption with it has been passed on. Supposedly, TMZ has obtained a copy of the photo. If I obtain a copy of it and I can verify it’s authenticity, I’ll post it.

To read the ongoing coverage of Sprocket on the Phil Spector retrial, take 2 visit Sprocket’s site.

http://sprocket-trials.blogspot.com/2008/12/phil-spector-retrial-day-twelve-of.html.

©Sprocket
December 3, 2008
Used with the permission of Sprocket – crime “junkie” trial watcher - writer
All Rights Reserved, do not reproduce in whole or in part without the express written consent of the author.

The expressions in this blog article are based on the opinions of our featured author, Sprocket, please remember we are not lawyers and those opinions expressed here are each of our individual opinions and should not be taken as legal advice and/or legal opinions. The comments following this blog article are the opinions and sole property of the blog site members and do not necessarily reflect those of the site owners.

Please also read our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.

Tags: Lana Clarkson, Lana Clarkson retrial, Phil Spector, Phil Spector retrial "alleged murder", Phil Spector retrial covered by Sprocket, Sprocket

Picture is by Ted Soqui.

IN AN ARTICLE CALLED “SPECTOR RETRIAL HAS ITS DIARIST”, STEVEN MIKULAN INTERVIEWS SPROCKET FOR THE L.A. WEEKLY!

I had no answer, other than that assignment editors across town deem it to be a pale sequel to the first trial, the B-side of a mid-chart hit. It’s not that way to those involved in the day to day trial, of course, and that includes Betsy Ross, the indefatigable court diarist who goes by the nom de blog Sprocket. Her Trials & Tribulations site is the only source for daily Spector reportage, so much so that she has received the thanks of mainstream media reporters whom she’s befriended since she began following the Spector murder case in 2007.

Tonight I spoke to her about the case, feeling a little guilty that every minute we spent on the phone meant she’d have to delay her day’s blogging a bit longer. Her accounts are massive, minutely detailed entries that include noting what the trial participants wear, the demeanors of the lawyers and, of course, the emotional climate changes occuring within the Spector entourage — which, Sprocket says, has been pared down to Spector, his young wife Rachelle, their two bodyguards and lawyer Doron Weinberg.

…Then again, there is one constant that links the two trials, Sprocket says: The inconsolable sadness borne by Clarkson’s mother, Donna, who will sometimes sob in court as she hears testimony. Some things don’t get easier the second time around.

http://blogs.laweekly.com/ladaily/spector-retrial-has-its-diaris/.

Tags: Phil Spector retrial covered by Sprocket, Sprocket

Prosecution Witnesses:

#15 Adriano De Souza (alternate driver; testimony completed)
#16 Officer Brandon Cardella (Alhambra Police Dept. first responder to the scene and involved in the “take down” of Spector; testimony completed)

Accredited Press in the courtroom:
Harriet Ryan of the Los Angeles Times (short period in the afternoon session)

…When I finally get inside the courtroom, Spector and his team are already there along with Rachelle and De Souza is back on the witness stand. He’s wearing a black, short sleeve sweater vest, a white shirt and a dark colored tie.

First off, a whole half our of court was wasted this morning outside the presence of the jury. Weinberg was objecting to Fidler about several rulings he made during his cross examination of De Souza on November 2oth.

The first thing Weinberg complained about was the transcription error with one of the audio tapes the prosecution played and the fact that the prosecution made a correction and the defense didn’t get the corrected copy FIRST, before it was given to the jury. And, a juror spoke to the court verbally and the attorneys were not notified about it. Fidler explains exactly what happened to Weinberg. That Fidler did not speak to the juror; the juror told Wendy during lunch break. Weinberg then wants the Judge to direct the jurors to make all their further communications with the court “in writing” so that there is a record. It’s a minor thing; it wasn’t like a discovery violation or anything and I think that’s resolved.

The second issue has to do with how Weinberg was shut down in many of his questions to De Souza. He says there were “Several rulings where the jury is forced to accept the prosecution’s version of events.” This is all about when Weinberg was questioning De Souza about the 911 call and the “I think he, he killed someone,” as well as the “I don’t know. It’s my English” statements De Souza made during the police interview.

…10:45 am: The morning break is called. A few observations here. Mrs. Clarkson is by herself in the front row. There’s no one else here supporting here. I don’t ask her, but I’m guessing that no one could come. This is the first time I’ve even seen her on that front row bench by herself. It makes me sad.

To read the ongoing coverage of Sprocket on the Phil Spector retrial, take 2 visit Sprocket’s site.

http://sprocket-trials.blogspot.com/2008/12/phil-spector-retrial-day-eleven-of.html.

©Sprocket
December 2, 2008
Used with the permission of Sprocket – crime “junkie” trial watcher - writer
All Rights Reserved, do not reproduce in whole or in part without the express written consent of the author.

The expressions in this blog article are based on the opinions of our featured author, Sprocket, please remember we are not lawyers and those opinions expressed here are each of our individual opinions and should not be taken as legal advice and/or legal opinions. The comments following this blog article are the opinions and sole property of the blog site members and do not necessarily reflect those of the site owners.

Please also read our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.

Tags: Adriano De Souza, Harriet Ryan, Harriet Ryan of the Los Angeles Times, Lana Clarkson, Lana Clarkson murder retrial, Officer Brandon Cardella, Phil Spector, Phil Spector retrial, Phil Spector retrial for "allege murder", Phil Spector trial covered by Sprocket, Rachelle Spector, Sprocket