He points guns at mens too: Spector trial update
Joan Rivers' manager and Phil Spector's ex-girlfriend Dorothy Melvin spent a third day in the witness stand yesterday as the legendary producer's retrial for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson continued.
Having re-told the story of how Spector had turned violent one night in 1993, pistol-whipping her and chasing her off the grounds of his home in Pasadena, Melvin admitted that she continued to see the producer after that incident, albeit never alone. She said Spector was "very charming" and "easy to forgive", adding: "When Phil is not drinking he's the most charming man in the world. He's witty. You want to be with him".
She also admitted she invited Spector back to another of Rivers' Christmas parties, despite seeing him wave a gun in the general direction of a fellow party-goer at a previous festive bash. She said she asked him back on the condition he didn't bring a gun, adding that that time "he had a keyboard and played, and everyone enjoyed it tremendously".
Despite seeing the darker side of Spector, Melvin didn't cut off contact with him until Clarkson's death at his Beverly Hills home in 2003. Under questioning from Spector's defence lawyer, who was presumably keen to suggest that fact meant Spector was never as threatening or scary as the prosecution have claimed, Melvin said of her decision to maintain contact with the producer: "I was stupid. What more can I say?"
While questioning Melvin, Spector's new defence lawyer Doron Weinberg began a new interesting line of questioning. He seems keen to show that while Spector may be prone to violent outbursts, his aggression is not exclusively targeted at women - ie men have been at the receiving end too. Unable to deny his client has been aggressive in the past, Weinberg seems keen to instead downplay the allegations of misogyny, presumably in a bid to improve the jury's overall opinion of the defendant - to combat as best he can the "character assassination" he says the prosecution are relying on in their case.
Melvin admitted that one of the gun waving incidents at Rivers' Christmas party was aimed at a man, and also told the court of another occasion when Spector showed aggression towards another bloke. Weinberg told the court: "It's not raging anger against women", arguing the prosecution were being selective in picking their witnesses' stories in a bid to aid their portrayal of Spector as a dangerous woman hater.
The case continues.
-- From today's CMU Daily, www.cmudaily.co.uk
