Prosecutors want to show real Lana Clarkson · 2007-04-07 16:08
Prosecutors in the Phil Spector slaying case asked a judge Friday to limit the defense from suggesting shooting victim Lana Clarkson was suicidal because of a declining career, AP news agency reported.
Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson said in court documents that the defense “will attempt to attack the character of victim Lana Clarkson by painting her as the kind of person who might kill herself, despite a medical history showing no depression or suicidal” ideas.
Lana Clarkson was shot on February3, 2003, in Spector’s suburban Alhambra home.
Prosecutors allege Spector shot Clarkson to death.
The coroner’s office called it a homicide, but also noted Clarkson had gunshot residue on both of her hands and may have pulled the trigger.
Spector has pleaded not guilty and has suggested the shooting was an accident.
Prosecutors also said that the defense has been tardy in revealing the statements of some witnesses and should be precluded from calling them to the stand.
Among them is a woman identified as “Punkin Pie” Laughlin, a friend of Clarkson. According to the motion, Laughlin asserts that the “victim was trained to handle guns because of her movie roles, felt humiliated by her job as VIP hostess at night club, used Vicodin recreationally and twice told Punkin Pie that she wanted to kill herself.”
Defense witness Jennifer Hayes calls Clarkson “a depressed unsuccessful actress and a horrible stand-up comic who ‘didn’t handle rejection’” and felt humiliated by her nightclub job, according to the prosecution motion.
Spector’s attorney Roger Rosen defended the use of the witnesses.
“They want to prevent us from showing jurors a full picture of who Lana Clarkson was,” he said.
“This presents Lana in a different light than they want to paint her,” Rosen said. “They feel if this goes to the jury they (jurors) will conclude it was what we have said, a self-inflected gunshot wound.”
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