Phil Spector Murder Conviction Upheld

A California appeals court has rejected Phil Spector‘s bid to overturn his 2009 murder conviction for the 2003 killing of actress Lana Clarkson in the foyer of his mansion.

Photos: Phil Spector Before the Fall

Spector’s attorneys had argued that his conviction resulted from a prejudiced trial and that jurors should not have heard testimony from five women who claimed that the legendary record producer had threatened them with a gun years before Clarkson was shot dead in Spector’s home. Ultimately the three-justice panel agreed with prosecutors that this testimony was relevant to the case.

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“The evidence showed that, when fueled by alcohol and faced with a lack or loss of control over a woman who was alone with him and in whom he had a romantic or sexual interest, Spector underwent a sharp mood swing, exhibited extreme anger and threatened the woman with a gun when she refused to do his bidding,” Justice Joan Klein wrote in an 81-page ruling on behalf of the panel.

Spector will continue to serve a prison sentence of at least 19 years.