Claims Spector pulled guns on women to be heard at trial

Published on Wednesday 25 May 2005 01:33

PROSECUTORS in the murder trial of the music producer Phil Spector can present evidence involving four incidents in which he allegedly pulled guns on women, a judge has ruled.

The Superior Court judge Larry Fidler acknowledged that allowing the evidence was "a dangerous path to go down" but said the cases seemed to illustrate the prosecution's theory in the case.

A motion filed in February by the prosecution said the incidents showed Spector had a "common plan" of using guns "to intimidate women into staying with him".

Doug Sortino, prosecuting, says Spector used guns to threaten or intimidate people in "an ongoing course of conduct that happens again and again and again".

But outside court, Spector insisted he had "never pulled a gun on these women".

The producer, known for creating the "wall of sound" recording technique in the 1960s, is charged with shooting dead the B-movie actress Lana Clarkson at his Los Angeles mansion in 2003. He has pleaded not guilty and is free on $1 million (546,000) bail.

The four incidents allowed by the judge occurred between 1988 and 1995 and involved women who claimed to have dated Spector and accused him of waving or pointing a gun at them. Six other alleged incidents were not permitted to be introduced as evidence.