The Phil Spector Trial: We Watch Court TV So You Don't Have To (08/23)

WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY? The prosecution called their final rebuttal witness to the stand, Dr. John Andrews, a forensic neuropathologist, who helped refute Dr. Michael Baden's powerful testimony the jury heard last week. Baden testified that Lana Clarkson's spine was not completely severed after coming in contact with the bullet that ended her life, making it possible for her to breathe blood onto Phil Spector. Andrews, more of a specialist on the subject than Baden, testified that even if Clarkson's spine wasn't completely transected, it was attached by mere fibers, which was not enough of a connection to allow involuntary motor skills (though Andrews involuntarily made the court giggle when he said contractions of the sphincter were still possible). The term "spinal shock" was banded about, which reinforced the impossibility of Baden's hypothesis. Andrews also combated against the "chicken without a head" theory by stating poultry is lower on the evolutionary scale, and thus an anomaly to the rule.

IS THIS GOOD OR BAD FOR SPECTOR? Possibly bad. Baden's testimony was the golden ticket to reasonable doubt for Spector, and any theories to the contrary can only help sway the jury back to the prosecution's side.

MEANWHILE, BEFORE COURT WAS IN SESSION: The defense outlined the potential witnesses for their own rebuttal case. Clarkson's "best friends" Punkin Pie and Jennifer Hayes-Riedl will return, as will a third "buddy," to weigh back in on the Michael Bay incident. Other witnesses will include more forensic experts to reinforce the Baden testimony, as well as a paramedic who treated Clarkson for a broken wrist a year before her death.

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Song Stories

“The A Team”

Ed Sheeran | 2011

This debut track from the then-20-year-old British singer-songwriter has a dark story behind it. Sheeran says he culls songwriting inspiration from "viewing other people's situations," which, for the heroine in "The A Team," involves drug addiction and prostitution that began as a teen. Sheeran paints the woman's trials with haunting imagery such as "But lately her face seems/Slowly sinking, wasting/Crumbling like pastries." "I did a gig at a homeless shelter, [and the song] is about one of the women there. It's her story," he said.

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