Prosecution Rebuttal Witnesses: (out of order to accommodate the witness’s schedule)
#34 Lisa Bloom (licensed attorney, TruTV’s In Sessions anchor and analyst for CBS Morning News; testimony complete)

Defense Witnesses:
# 16 Dr. Richard Seiden, Ph. D. (psychologist and suicidologist; testimony complete)
#17 Dr. Mary Goldenson (psychologist Lana Clarkson called; testimony complete)

Accredited Press inside the courtroom: One possible individual, unidentified.

Sometimes the things that go on out in the hallway or gallery or argued inside the well without the jury present are more interesting than testimony. There were moments today where that was certainly the case.

When I arrived on the ninth floor, I see Lisa Bloom in the hallway chatting with Tom Messerau. She’s wearing an all red, short sleeve dress that’s cinched at the waist. It has ruffles around the v-neck collar in front. I was surprised to see her in the hallway sitting on a bench by herself. I thought she would be upstairs with the prosecution team. (TMZ has a short clip where they interviewed her outside the rear entrance of the Criminal Court building.)

I introduce myself to her, tell her I know Beth Karas and am covering the case for my blog. I told her that there was a lot of speculation on whether or not she would testify. I ask her if she can talk about her leaving In Sessions. She replies “Sure.” She tells me that they wanted to renew her contract for a 9th year but she decided not to. She’s leaving in June of this year to move back to Southern California. She’s currently in a long distance relationship for the last year and a half. I acknowledge that can be hard. Lisa also mentioned that her daughter is going off to college soon so she will be “free.” She will still have her role as an analyst for CBS news that will be expanding and she has “other projects in the fire.” Lisa asked me how many days is it into the trial. I was at a momentary loss as to what day of trial it was and told her she needed to ask Jackson. (I was stumped because I completely forgot what day we were on and because I know that my day counting is not exactly right. I started from testimony and not from the first day of trial.)

Right after that Jackson and Truc Do approach with their rolling cart. I tell Alan that I didn’t ask her any questions about the case and they head into the courtroom. I stay outside in the hallway to call donchais and give her an update.

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

http://sprocket-trials.blogspot.com/2009/03/phil-spector-retrial-day-fifty-four_10.html.

©Sprocket
March 11, 2009
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, Beth Karas, Dr. Mary Goldenson, Dr. Richard Seiden, Lana Clarkson, Lisa Bloom, Phil Spector, Phil Spector retrial, Sprocket, Tom Messerau, Trials and Tribulations by Sprocket, Truc Do

Defense Witnesses: #16 Dr. Richard Seiden, Ph. D. (psychologist; under first cross examination).

Accredited Press inside the courtroom: Harriet Ryan of the Los Angeles Times & Linda Deutsch of the Associated Press for a short period in the afternoon session.

I have been trying to catch up around the house this evening so I’m sorry that I don’t have much in the way of notes today. I promise to try to get my notes from yesterday finished tomorrow, and notes from today finished over the weekend. I did do Talk Radio One this evening. I come on a little after 9:30 PM PT. The archived show should be up after 11:00 PM, PT.

I will say that on direct examination Dr. Seiden came across different than the other paid experts that have testified in this case so far. As a witness, he’s very dry, and a bit boring. Dr. Seiden admittedly, stated he rarely testifies in trials. Out of the gate, he came across well. I did note that right after he answered what he had been paid in the trial so far, $6,000, two of the jurors in the back row, #5 and #6, looked at each other and smiled. Dr. Seiden’s cross examination began about 10:10 AM this morning and even though court was excused early today, Truc Do is still not finished.

I have to say that, in my opinion, Truc Do did an excellent cross of Dr. Seiden today. In fact, I think this cross was better than her cross of Dr. Lakshmanan and Jennifer Hayes Reidl. The cross was that good that the last hour or so of trial I just sat and listened to her discredit the witness and didn’t take any notes. Truc wasn’t stumped a single time, but Dr. Seiden was. Truc knew the material better than Dr. Seiden, who many times could not remember what he said to Alan Jackson and Truc Do in an interview they did with him on February 6th, 2009.

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

http://sprocket-trials.blogspot.com/2009/03/phil-spector-retrial-day-fifty-three.html.

©Sprocket
March 10, 2009
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, Dr. Lakshmanan, Dr. Richard Seiden, Harriet Ryan, Jennifer Hayes Reidl, Lana Clarkson, Linda Deutsch, Phil Spector, Phil Spector retrial, Sprocket, Trials and Triublations web site, Truc Do

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

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 Clarkson, Mark Lillienfeld, Phil Spector, Phil Spector retrial, Phil Spector retrial "alleged murder", Sprocket, Sprocket coverage of Phil Spector retrial, Truc Do

Prosecution witnesses presented:

#1: Vincent Tannazzo (testimony completed)
#2: Dorothy Melvin (ordered to return Tuesday)

When I finally got home today, I had a bit of dinner and then fell asleep on the sofa, I was so tired. I just woke up about a half hour ago. This is a short entry so I can get to bed. The defense started off the day by again requesting a mistrial, claiming the jury was “poisoned” during opening statements which Judge Fidler promptly denied.

Truc Do presented Vincent Tannazzo, a retired security guard for Joan Rivers, as the first witness for the prosecution who testified about meeting Phil Spector at Christmas parties hosted by his boss sometime in the early 90s two years in a row and the several inflammatory, profanity laden statements he heard Spector say. Under relentless cross examination, the defense challenged virtually everything Tannazzo testified to, from his claim that he was a licensed private investigator working for Joan Rivers to what year the events allegedly took place.

In the initial trial, Tannazzo testified that he thought the events took place sometime between 1994 and 1997. Today, he changed his testimony slightly, stating that the events could have occurred in the “early 90′s” from 1991 on. In cross, Weinberg kept asking him “why” he changed his testimony, and hammered home the fact that Tannazzo did not have any corroborating evidence to back up his claim that the events took place. He admitted he did not speak to Joan Rivers or Dorothy Melvin about the incidents afterwards, nor did he try to report it to the police when he discovered Spector was carrying a concealed weapon at one event or note them in a diary. Weinberg tried to paint Tannazzo as someone who purposefully interjected himself in the first trial for the publicity.

Under redirect, by Ms. Do, it was revealed that at the first trial, Tannazzo made a request of the court not to be photographed while testifying on the stand. Tannazzo was finally finished with his testimony in the afternoon and the prosecution called their second witness, Dorothy Melvin.

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

http://sprocket-trials.blogspot.com/2008/11/phil-spector-trial-day-one-of-testimony.html.

©Sprocket
November 4, 2008
Used with the permission of Sprocket – “junkie” crime trial 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: Dorothy Melvin, Lana Clarkson, Lana Clarkson trial for murder, Lana Clarkson trial of Phil Spector, Phil Spector, Phil Spector trial, Phil Spector trial covered by Sprocket, Sprocket, Trials and Tribulations by Sprocket, Truc Do, Truc Do prosecutor, Vincent Tannazzo

Prosecution and defense opening statements were presented today in the retrial of Phil Spector who is facing one count of second degree murder in the February 3rd, 2003 shooting death of Lana Clarkson.

I have lots of notes and I can’t possibly transcribe them all. This will be a very short highlight of today’s events and when I get the free time, I will put up more detailed notes on the opening statements later. Mr. Sprocket came to court with me today but did indicate that he probably won’t be back until closing arguments. There were some familiar faces in the gallery; Linda Deutsch, Harriet Ryan, Donte, Miriam Hernandez, Louis Spector and his companion Frieda, and lots of new ones like blog reader Linda and her friend Paula, who is working towards a degree in criminal justice.

In the afternoon session I see Detective Tomlin as well as Juror #9 who said he is going to come whenever he can. Ciaran McEvoy, now with the LA Daily Journal was also a welcome, familiar face. The Clarkson family and their attorneys were there, sitting in the front row. There were quite a few reporters that I didn’t recognize, but I did get to meet the Telegraph’s US correspondent, Kathryn, who I sat next to in the third row in the morning session.

The courtroom ended up being packed with a mix of general public and seasoned reporters. There were five reporters on laptops in the back row, Harriet being one of them.

A man who was a juror on the Black Widow trial that Truc Do prosecuted, brought his wife to the morning session thinking that Do would be presenting part or all of the opening statement. I believe they left around lunch time when they learned that AJ would be handling the entire opening.

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

http://sprocket-trials.blogspot.com/2008/10/phil-spector-retrial-opening-statements.html.

©Sprocket
October 30, 2008
Used with the permission of Sprocket – crime trial writer and crime trial diary “junkie”.
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: Ciaran McEvoy, Donte, Harriet Ryan, Lana Clarkson, Linda Deutsch, Louis Spector, Miriam Hernandez, Phil Spector, Retrial of Phil Spector - Lana Clarkson "allege" murder, Sprocket, Truc Do