Spector Charged With Murder

Ten months after actress Lana Clarkson was fatally shot at his Los Angeles home, record producer Phil Spector has been charged with her murder. Spector, who has been free on $1 million bail since shortly after the February 3rd shooting, was scheduled to be arraigned on the charge late Thursday afternoon in Los Angeles.

The producer -- renowned for his work with such artists as the Ronettes, Ike and Tina Turner, and the Beatles -- has denied killing the forty-year-old Clarkson. His attorney Robert Shapiro released a statement Thursday restating Spector's innocence: "We have assembled a team of scientific experts which is among the most respected and prestigious in the world. Based on this team's findings of this horrible human event, any jury will conclude that Phil Spector is not guilty. We will prevail."

After an eight-month investigation, sheriff's deputies turned over "a lot of information" to the district attorney's office last month, according to Lt. Dan Rosenberg of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Homicide Bureau. At the time, police officials said they determined that the bullet that killed Clarkson was fired by Spector. He is expected to remain free on bail as he awaits a preliminary hearing, which is expected to take place within several weeks, according to a district attorney's office spokesperson.

Spector and Clarkson reportedly met for the first time on the night of her murder at the House of Blues in Los Angeles, where she was working as a hostess. They then returned to Spector's estate and exited his chauffeur-driven car. The car's driver called police around 5 a.m., claiming that he heard shots fired in the house. Police arrived and found Clarkson lying in the foyer of Spector's mansion with a gunshot wound to her face. A gun was found near the body.

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Song Stories

“Youth Knows No Pain”

Lykke Li | 2011

“Like on 'Youth Knows No Pain' — we are the ones that should demonstrate, because we can take it,” Likke Li said. “We can pierce ourselves, take Ecstasy, dance all night and still go to work at our McDonald's jobs.” Despite the hedonistic sentiment in the song, the Swedish singer also admitted in hindsight her youth had repercussions. “I remember when I was 18-19 and feeling that I know it all,” Li said. “I always feel that I know it all. But that song is about realizing you don’t, and reflecting, ‘Boy, if I only knew what would follow.’”

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