Phil Spector on trial for murder (again)

Legendary music producer Phil Spector went on trial for the second time yesterday for the murder of the B-movie actress Lana Clarkson. He is accused of killing Clarkson with a single gunshot wound to her mouth as she prepared to leave his Los Angeles home around 5.0 in the morning in February 2003.

The prosecutor, Alan Jackson, sought to portray the producer as a man with "a very rich and lively and active history of violence" towards women involving guns, a man who harboured rage and hatred towards woman and once declared: "Woman are all fucking cunts. They all deserve a bullet in their head."

Spector, who arrived at court in a pin-striped three-piece suit with frock coat and braces, accompanied by two towering bodyguards and his young wife Rachelle, showed no emotion as the prosecutor spoke. The first trial ended in a mistrial last September with a deadlocked jury split 10 to 2 in favour of guilt. Spector still denies murder.

Jackson said Spector had toured a variety of Hollywood restaurants and bars, drinking continually, before arriving at the House of Blues nightclub around 2.0 am, where he met 40-year-old Clarkson for the first time. She was working as hostess of the VIP section and he invited her back to his house for a nightcap. Around 5.0 am, Spector's driver heard a gunshot and saw his employer emerge from the back door.

"He had in his right hand a revolver... dripping between his fingers was the tiniest bit of blood," said the prosecutor, adding: "[And then] Philip Spector confessed to what had just happened inside the house. I think I killed somebody".

Jackson said the jury would hear from five other women who had also been threatened by Spector after he had been drinking heavily and they tried to end the evening. The women had all had guns pointed at them, often at their faces, Jackson said, demonstrating Spector's "conscious disregard for human life".

But Doron Weinberg, a San Francisco lawyer who Spector hired after the mistrial, countered by claiming Clarkson had killed herself, saying she was depressed about her "stagnated" career and turning 40. He said she had money worries, an addiction to prescription painkillers and a history of binge drinking. He quoted an email from the actress in which she wrote: "I am going to tidy my affairs and chuck it, 'cuz it's really all too much for just one girl to bear." The trial continues.