Wall of Guilt

Perhaps you have been following the Phil Spector murder trial. If not (I have no idea how much play this is getting outside of LA), here's the deal:

1) Spector, who wrote and/or produced some of the most memorable pop and rock music of the 60s and 70s, is accused of murdering Lana Clarkson, a non-celebrity actress, at his home, well castle, in a suburb east of LA.

2) His defense team, which has several folks on it who defended O.J. Simpson, maintains that Clarkson was feeling shitty about her career, was depressed and shot herself that night.

3) The prosecution has a witness (Spector's driver) who says Spector came out of the house and told him that he just shot someone. They also paraded through several women who testified that Spector had previously gotten drunk and threatened them with guns.

I cannot imagine him being found not guilty for a couple of reasons. First is that Spector looks odd. He dresses flamboyantly and has weird hair. Second, the defense's theory is preposterous. Why would this woman go home with a famous record producer who could turn her career around and then shoot herself? Also, less than 1/3 of female suicides are caused by firearms (the method of choice for men). Finally, while I don't have the statistics to back it up, my guess is that very few attractive women kill themselves by blowing off their faces.

Since this doesn't have the racial or sexual overtones of the O.J. case, I don't see the jury being as swayed by the defense's crap. Then again, you never know.