Oct 30, 2008 7:45 pm US/Pacific
Juror Injury Halts Testimony In Retrial Of Spector
LOS ANGELES (AP) ―
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Testimony on the first day of Phil Spector's retrial was canceled due to an injury to an alternate juror.
AP
The first day of testimony in Phil Spector's murder retrial was canceled Thursday after an alternate juror fell in the court parking lot and broke his foot.
Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler said he spoke with the juror, who wanted to get medical attention and return Monday. The trial is not in session on Fridays.
The judge said he was reluctant to lose an alternate juror this early in the retrial for the 68-year-old music producer and would await the man's return. Six alternates were previously selected to be available in case a regular juror has to leave.
The first scheduled witness, retired New York City police Detective Vincent Tannazzo, was in court ready to testify and was ordered to return Monday.
Spector lawyer Doron Weinberg said in his opening statement that he would show Tannazzo "is not who he says he is."
Tannazzo testified at the first murder trial that Spector had been ejected from two Manhattan Christmas parties given in the early 1990s by comedian Joan Rivers after yelling obscenities against women and shouting, "They all deserve a bullet in their heads."
Weinberg called the claim "preposterous" and said the words were never spoken.
The testimony was the subject of pretrial disputes, with the defense claiming the incendiary language attributed to Spector was prejudicial.
Tannazzo is expected to be followed on the stand by Dorothy Melvin, one of Spector's old flames.
The retrial opened Wednesday with Weinberg casting the shooting of Lana Clarkson as a probable suicide and with prosecutor Alan Jackson promising to show jurors "the real Phil Spector," a violent woman-hater.
Spector met Clarkson while he was out on the town in 2003 and she was working as a club hostess. He took her to his home, where she was found dead in the grand foyer, a gunshot through her mouth.
There were no witnesses to the shooting. The prosecution has said Spector shot her after she resisted his sexual advances.
The in Spector's first trial a year ago deadlocked 10-2, with the majority favoring conviction on second-degree murder.
Spector, the renowned inventor of the "Wall of Sound" recording technique, produced some of the biggest songs in rock music history, including "Be My Baby" and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'."
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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