Phil Spector to be sentenced tomorrow to at least 15 years in prison

Phil Spector’s six years in Los Angeles County’s justice system, that started with an arrest for shooting a actress Lana Clarkson in 2003 will conclude Friday morning when he is sentenced to prison for murder. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler, who presided over the music producer’s two trials, has little discretion in punishing Spector, for the shooting– a death that jurors decided last month was second-degree murder.

The conviction carries a mandatory 15 years to life in prison, so the judge’s only choice will be whether to add on three, four or 10 more years to the minimum sentence for the use of a firearm. The music producer also could get three, four or 10 additional years for using a firearm in the killing that occurred at his Alhambra mansion in 2003.

Spector has been in jail since his April 13 conviction and has vowed to appeal his conviction. This appeal is likely to raise issues regarding the trial admissibility of testimony from five women who said Spector menaced them with guns in a manner that prosecutors said were similar to the circumstances of Clarkson’s death in the foyer of his Alhambra mansion—sometimes called “prior bad act” evidence.


Comments about this post can be directed to Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney William Weinberg (714) 834-1400.