Spector Lawyer to Appeal to Top Court Judge's Testify-or-Do-Time Ruling
A former defense lawyer for music producer and murder defendant Phil Spector will appeal to the California Supreme Court a trial judge ruling that she must testify in his case or face jail time for contempt.
To accommodate Sara Caplan’s plan to do so, Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler has extended until Thursday the deadline for her to testify in Spector’s case, reports Copley News Service.
Allegedly, Caplan saw an expert collect now-missing evidence from the murder scene, at Spector’s home in Los Angeles. She says she can’t testify, because her impressions are confidential under attorney-client privilege. But the Fidler says the privilege isn’t applicable to destruction of evidence, and and doesn’t apply in this case because Caplan waived it in previous testimony, AP reports.
Spector, 67, whose murder trial is nearing a conclusion, is accused of shooting to death Lana Clarkson, 40, a restaurant hostess and former movie actress, in the wee hours of Feb. 3, 2003. He contends that she shot herself.
