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It's possible the people of America have other things on their mind this week, but over in LA the second edition of the Phil Spector Trial got properly under way after that short delay last week caused by a juror hurting his foot in the courthouse car park. And as expected, the prosecution, who get to go first, set about wheeling in witnesses who would testify to the legendary producer's potty mouth, his misogynistic views, and his tendency to wave guns at women.

First up was retired police officer Vincent Tannazzo, who encountered Spector while working as a security guard at not one but two Joan Rivers Christmas parties. He was the guy who saw Spector lose it with a woman as he was leaving one of those parties, and who claims the producer shouted "I ought to put a bullet in her head right now". The former officer told the court: "He was out of control. He was just yelling over and over again", adding that the producer's ranting was rather sweary, and that, according to Spector, all women were cunts and "they all deserve a bullet in their heads".

He told the court that Dorothy Melvin, Rivers' manager, who was dating Spector at the time and was the reason the producer was there in the first place, asked him to eject the producer from the party. He added that the incident particularly shocked him because of who Spector was. He told the court: "It wasn't just the average person saying it. It was Phil Spector saying it. I knew who he was. I was familiar with his work. I couldn't believe it, but those were the words coming out of his mouth".

Spector's new defence rep Doron Weinberg tried to throw doubt on Tannazzo's seemingly vivid recollection of the incident by arguing that the witness had changed the dates of the alleged incident since giving a similar testimony at the first trial last year. If he couldn't remember specifics like that, the defence argued, how accurate was the rest of Weinberg's depiction of the events that happened at that party? Tannazzo countered that he had worked at Rivers' Christmas parties seven or eight times and couldn't remember exactly at which one this particular Spector incident occurred.

The aforementioned Spector ex Melvin also retook to the stand yesterday to again recount an incident that took place at Spector's Pasadena home in 1993. Having been dating the producer on and off for a while, Melvin says she agreed to go to his home one evening. What began as a pleasant evening turned nasty after she dozed off after Spector left her alone in his house. She woke to find the producer pointing a gun at her car. When she protested he allegedly smacked her in the face with the gun, and then refused to give her back her purse as she tried to leave. She fled in her car anyway, seemingly with Spector chasing her down his driveway.

Asked about whether she reported the incident at the time, she says she did ask for police help in retrieving her purse. When they called at his house, Spector initially denied having the purse, but police did subsequently find it there. Melvin chose not to press charges, though, explaining: "He's Phil Spector, music legend, and I'm Joan Rivers' manager. I really don't like publicity and there would have been publicity because of Joan Rivers' name".

With her story told, the prosecution began to question Melvin about Tannazzo's testimony, to get her take on the incident at Joan Rivers' Christmas party. However, the defence called "objection your honour" on the basis that this line of questioning had not been pursued at the first trial and that, it seems, makes such questioning this time round unfair.

Defence man Weinberg found more to object about too. He argued, not for the first time, that the stories of Spector's altercations with women in the past were not relevant, that the prosecution were pursuing a case that centred on character assassination rather than an analysis of the facts relating to the actual alleged crime, and that therefore another mistrial should be called. Judge Larry Paul Fidler disagreed, saying these testimonies, of which there will be five in total, were relevant, albeit in a very specific way that he would explain to the jury later in the trial. Fidler didn't rule on whether or not the questioning of Melvin on the Rivers party incident could continue, saying the matter would be considered today.

Spector, of course, is accused of shooting dead actress Lana Clarkson at his Beverly Hills mansion in 2003. He claims she shot herself. The case continues.

-- from today's CMU Daily, www.cmudaily.co.uk