LATEST: Music producer PHIL SPECTOR has slammed the judge and jury overseeing his murder trial - insisting they will find him guilty because they ‘don’t like him’.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry Fidler ruled last week (ends07Sep07) jurors can only consider whether the music producer is guilty of second-degree murder or not; they cannot consider manslaughter charges against the star, who is accused of the fatal shooting of B-movie actress Lana Clarkson at his Alhambra, California mansion in 2003.
Spector alleges Fidler’s attitude is that of a foregone conclusion - that he is guilty, despite his pleas to the contrary.
He says, "The judge doesn’t like me. He’s already said that if I made a plea bargain he’d give me eight years. Because someone died. "And he keeps saying that every time I go in court. To the jurors, the first thing out of his mouth was, "Remember today we’re here because someone died.
Even though I was 8 feet (2.44 metres) away from her when she died, and it can be proved forensically I didn’t kill her, it doesn’t matter. Somebody died, somebody killed her. That’s his frame of reference. That’s what he thinks." And Spector believes those sitting on the jury are biased - with their Republican loyalties harming his chances of being released a free man.
He explains, "When you are accused, you are guilty, and that’s just the way it goes. "I went to the jury selection when they interviewed the first 300 jurors. We had a jury questionnaire that they filled out, 45 per cent of them wrote they believed I was guilty and 20 per cent wrote that I was insane.
"The only thing that concerns me is the verdict. And for that I’m in the hands of 12 people who voted for George Bush."
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