02x01 - Hunting Phil Spector

[bunniefuu]

[ambient traffic sounds]

[helicopter blades whirring]

[vehicle accelerating]

[mysterious music playing]

[Spector] You have me locked up
like some g*dd*mn f*cking turd.

You have me jerking around
when somebody comes over to my house

and then blows her f*cking head open.

Then you people come around,

and arrest me,
bang the sh*t out of my f*cking a*s,

and beat the sh*t out of me.

I'm gonna make you f*cking people
pay for this. This is bullshit.

[cryptic music playing]

Waiting at the Alhambra Police Department
in custody was Phil Spector.

[man 1] I knew from the phone call
from my lieutenant

that he was a very wealthy music producer.

Me, personally, I'd never heard of him.

[reporter] Spector's style
is often credited

with changing how we hear pop music.

This case was going to be
what I call "red ball,"

a case that's gonna
draw a lot of attention.

And you have to recognize that going in.

And I think we all did.

[suspenseful music playing]

[man 2] The LA County Sheriff's Department
is the best of the best.

[man 3] Some of the highest-profile cases
are tried in Los Angeles.

[woman 1] You have to be dedicated 110%.

[man 4] This is m*rder.
There's no more serious crime.

[man 5] It boils down to a passion
and a sense of duty.

Justice comes from finding the truth.

[suspenseful music trailing off]

[tense, quizzical music playing]

[man] There's something special
and different about celebrity cases.

And it's always been Los Angeles

that seems to be
the epicenter of those cases.

Everybody thinks of Los Angeles
and they think of Hollywood.

Hollywood and actors
and directors and producers.

There's so much more to it than that.

However, that is
sort of the... the heartbeat of this city.

LA is a funny place,

and the LA County sheriffs
serve the entire county,

from the worst poverty
imaginable in America

to the greatest wealth in America,

to $100 million oceanfront estates.

We police all of that.

So it's quite a variety.

[man 2] My ultimate goal was Homicide.

And I was fortunate enough
in 1999 to make it.

At the time,
my children were seven and nine.

People were saying they're too young,

because it's a lot of hours
and there's always something to do,

but we worked around our family life.

If that meant we're going in the office
at ten o'clock at night to get it done,

that's what we were gonna do.

[tense, cryptic music playing]

My partner Paul Fornier and I
were about to get off call

when we received a message from the desk

that we were being assigned a case
in a mansion in Alhambra.

[tense, dramatic music playing]

And the only information we had...
That a woman was found dead,

and a music producer was involved.

I was a bit surprised that there was
this large palatial property there

in this kind of small town

that's really just a suburb
of downtown Los Angeles.

[Tomlin] Alhambra is a sleepy hollow.

It's middle-class,
single-family residence.

And now you have this monstrosity,
if you will, in the middle of nowhere.

[taut, suspenseful music playing]

So as we got closer, we saw a large crowd
behind yellow crime scene tape.

And I remember Paul said,
"Put on your big-boy pants."

A female had been shot
inside of the residence.

The victim has been pronounced dead
at the location.

[siren wailing]

When I got there, it was an absolute zoo.

The news copters were up above
and news vans up and down the street.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Tomlin] When we arrived on scene,

we first talked
to Alhambra police officers.

Let me explain how it works.

The sheriff's department
covers a large area of LA County.

And in that county,
you have smaller municipalities.

They have their own police department.

However, they don't have the resources
that the sheriff's department has.

There are 100 homicide detectives
in the LA County Sheriff's Department,

so they will reach out to us,

and we will assume responsibility
for the case.

Alhambra police officers told me

that they had received a 911 phone call
from Phil Spector's chauffeur.

When they arrived,
they could see Phil Spector

walking back and forth
in the upstairs window.

They're trying to get his attention,
to come downstairs.

And the guy's not complying.
He's not coming out.

They entered the home
where they confronted Phil Spector.

He's not cooperative.

They see a woman slumped over in a chair,
obviously dead.

Phil is ranting, "This is the most
devastating thing I've ever seen."

One of the officers
had the whole thing recorded.

[Spector] This is
absolute f*cking nonsense.

I don't know what that f*cking lady...
what her problem is.

But she was with security
at the House of Blues.

And I don't know
what her f*cking problem was,

but she certainly had no right
to come to my f*cking castle,

blow her f*cking head open.

What the f*ck is wrong with you people?

[Tomlin] They have to tase him.

I believe they even used
a ballistic shield to knock him down.

The Alhambra officers conducted
a very preliminary investigation.

Based on that investigation,
they took Mr. Phil Spector into custody.

I've been around long enough to know

that people take death
in a myriad of ways.

You have to take into account everything.
You have to keep an open mind.

And based on what Spector is saying,
suicide is a possibility.

[dark, enigmatic music playing]

Back door was open.

As we enter in, I see a young lady.

She's sprawled out
in a chair in the foyer.

There's a .38 caliber handgun by her foot.

You could see she was suffering
from a g*nsh*t wound inside of her mouth.

We didn't know who she was.
We didn't know if they had a relationship.

Maybe something went sideways.

Is this a crime? Is this a suicide?
Could this be a horrible accident?

A three-pronged investigation.

We treat all death investigations
on the surface, at first glance,

as if they're a m*rder.

We send homicide cops to every suicide

that occurs in the jurisdiction
of the Los Angeles County Sheriff.

Every accidental death,
with the exception of a traffic collision,

we send a homicide cop.

I'm starting to look at the paraphernalia
in Mr. Spector's home,

and I am starting to grasp the importance
of this person in that industry.

[reporter] Phil Spector's fame
as a producer

at times eclipsed the artists
he worked with.

[Tomlin] You see Tina Turner. You see
pictures of the Righteous Brothers.

You see the Beatles,
the Grammy nominations,

and all the awards
that he had gotten over the years.

[Tomlin] As the lead investigator,

if this thing works out well,
kudos to you.

But if it goes sideways,
you are held responsible.

We assigned Mark Lillienfeld,

one of the most seasoned detectives
at Homicide,

to do the scene

because we knew
that was going to be a critical part

in this whole investigation.

Big cases and Mark Lillienfeld
kind of go hand-in-hand.

High-profile cases can stress cops out,
and I couldn't care less.

We put the same amount of effort

and resources and diligence
into every m*rder scene.

[cryptic music playing]

The house was in horrible shape.

It was poorly lit.

It was filthy.

And there were mice and rats and roaches.

For somebody of such extreme wealth,
it was like, well, a bit out of character.

You'd think he would live
this extravagant lifestyle.

[Smith] There was everything
in that house. I mean, literally.

Like he was a multi-millionaire pack rat.

You're like, "I know I need to make sure
that I don't miss something."

But you're also like,

"Spector probably hasn't
been in this room for six years."

It was the most unique
crime scene investigation

I'd ever been involved in,

and truthfully,
one I'd never wanna have to do again.

It was awful, it was terrible,

because it was so convoluted.

[Lillienfeld] So we knew
we had the decedent remains right there.

We had physical evidence of blood,
the g*nsh*t wound that was visible.

She'd been shot in the mouth.

So there were teeth and fragments of teeth
that were spread out amongst her remains.

They were on the carpeting.
They were across the room on a stairway.

We collected it, we photographed it,
we diagrammed it, we held it for DNA.

You gotta get past the ick factor
and the emotional part of that.

You gotta get past that.
"What do these things tell me?"

[Smith] We're there to speak for the dead,

and they leave us clues
with physical evidence.

[dark, moody music playing]

All of us knew that when
you're standing over a dead person,

that's an awesome responsibility,
and you have to take it seriously.

[Tomlin] You have to take
a somewhat spiritual ideology.

I could look at a dead body,
have no effect.

That's just a shell,
and the person's spirit is already gone.

I do think it has an accumulation,
being in the presence of death.

The job can take its toll.

Now you focus on solving it.

[suspenseful music pulsing]

And so we just methodically
took our time before releasing the scene.

Usually, you hold a scene, maybe...
if there's a lot of evidence,

maybe seven, eight hours.

On this one, we held it over a day.

[cryptic music playing]

[Lillienfeld] On the floor
was a loaded .38 caliber revolver

manufactured by the Colt firearms company,

and there was one spent cartridge
in the cylinder of that weapon.

There was, mixed in with that,
a thumb-lock device

off of the back door to the home.

Most people have a deadbolt
and it goes from the door into the frame,

and it provides that extra security.

In order to throw that deadbolt,

you twist this thumb device,

and that was off of the lock itself
and was lying on the floor.

It was very unusual.
Like, "How did that happen?"

Some people would say, "It looks like
the g*n was placed by her foot."

The problem is you could never reenact
where a g*n would land.

You know, g*n drops,

and it just flops around.

[Lillienfeld] A leather snap holster
was in a drawer of the bureau,

and it was clear that that leather holster

fit the two-inch
Colt blue-steel .38 caliber revolver.

So, uh, that... that weapon
came from that holster.

[erratic, cryptic music pulsing]

It was about 5:00 p.m.,
almost 12 hours later.

The coroner's office
finally had confirmation

of the identity of the victim.

This was Lana Clarkson.

At that point, we were able to obtain
the mother's information.

We're heading over to see Donna.

[woman] I got a phone call
from Lana's sister, Fawn.

She said,
"Something could have happened to Lana."

"I don't know. Something's wrong."
I said, "What do you mean? What's wrong?"

Fawn got a phone call from somebody,

but she didn't really know too much.

She said it could've had something
to do with the news on the television

about a possible m*rder in Alhambra.

Lana was supposed to call me,
but I hadn't heard from her.

I thought perhaps there'd been a party,

and she was being held along with
other people for investigations.

I ended up calling the sheriff's office.

[Tomlin] While we're going to see Donna,

she actually connected
with my partner Paul on the phone.

I thought he was calling me back.
He said, "Where can I meet with you?"

I was, like, taken aback. "Meet with me?"

And, um...

Excuse me.

He told me Lana's address on the canal.

He says, "Well, can we meet you there?"

Then I was really concerned.

I didn't know what was happening.
That wasn't a good sign.

[somber, sorrowful music playing]

I pulled into the parking garage,
and I'm trying to keep my wits about me,

and not be, you know, too upset,
not... without knowing anything.

So I'm kind of cleaning the car up,

and I pulled up a pair of shoes,

and I remember holding the shoes, saying...

"This can't be Lana. Here's her shoes."

[sobbing] Sorry.

And then all of a sudden,
the detectives pulled in.

Her sister pulled in and brother.

We all quietly walked around
to the front of the cottage

and we went inside,

and Detective Fornier looked at the floor,
and said it was Lana.

[tearfully] Sorry.

[Smith] It doesn't matter
if that child is an adult or a little kid.

I mean, it's just...
There's nothing worse and more unnatural

than your children dying before you.

And it's a tough, tough thing.

[Lillienfeld] Making the notification
of a death of a loved one...

Unequivocally, absolutely
the singular worst part of being a cop,

and there's a lot of crappy parts
to being a cop.

You need to find out everything
that's critically important

as quickly as you can

because it may affect
how we collect physical evidence.

Me, my partner,
and the other eight detectives

were still processing the scene.

[Smith] The more you know about a victim,

the more likely you are
to understand how they died.

These people have to process
what you're telling them,

and now I'm gonna ask them too,

"By the way, she was over
at Phil Spector's house."

"Do you know who Phil Spector is?
Does she know who Phil Spector is?"

"Do you know why she would be there?"

And Donna says,
"No, she didn't know this man."

[mysterious music playing]

[Donna] In the entertainment industry,
everybody socializes after hours.

I'm not surprised.
Lana was always networking.

She had a lot going on.
Lana was a working actor.

Well, I got a bus to catch.

You know where to?

Yeah, wherever it's going.

[Donna] Lana did
a lot of TV shows in the '80s.

She was in the Barbarian Queen movies.

Lana fractured both her wrists,

and it was really a big setback for her.

She accidentally fell.

And to brace her fall,
she ended up breaking both her wrists.

She had to have pins placed in them.

[Donna] That was the beginning
of a whole year of recovery for her.

We didn't stay long.

Let them grieve privately.

[music trailing off]

[mysterious music playing]

[Tomlin] Right after
the incident happened,

Phil Spector was arrested,

and he told the Alhambra officers
that he wants an attorney.

Soon as he said... uttered those words,

it's hands off,

and he immediately posted
a million-dollar bail.

[man] The DA's office attitude was,
"We're not gonna file this case."

"We're going to wait
until everything gets investigated."

[Tomlin] During the initial debriefing
by the Alhambra police officers,

they said they did have one witness,
the chauffeur.

The person who made the initial 911 call,
Adriano De Souza.

So we need to get to that chauffeur.

-Detective Paul Fornier.
-Detective Richard Tomlin.

And we're here with...

Adriano De Souza.

[Tomlin] When we spoke
to Adriano De Souza,

he said he'd probably worked for Phil
ten to 15 times in the past.

[distressing music playing]

Adriano said Phil Spector
came out seven o'clock sharp,

like he normally does.

[tense music playing]

Then went to dinner and drinks
in West Hollywood.

About 1:15, 1:20 in the morning,

he was now directed
to go to the House of Blues.

Later on, the House of Blues is closing.

It's a little bit after 2:00,
and Lana is helping a drunk Phil Spector.

He said, "I believe he was drunk."

She takes him
and puts him in the back seat of the car.

She gets in,
and they drive to Phil Spector's home.

[music trails off]

Adriano said he was parked
around the back of the residence.

He was playing a bit of music.
He was dozing off.

At about 5:00 in the morning,

Adriano said he heard
a loud popping noise.

[distant popping]

It was enough to startle him,
for him to get out of his car.

Suddenly, the back door opened up.

He saw Phil Spector
wearing a white jacket.

I saw his face.

And when I saw him,
he had a g*n in the front.

Adriano could see blood on his hand.

I did like this movement,

and I saw the legs.

-I saw the lady in the chair...
-Okay.

...with blood all over the face.

Spector looked at Adriano and said...

He told me, like,
"I think I... I k*lled somebody."

Adriano felt that his life was in danger,
just started running.

[foreboding music playing]

He called Phil's manager.
It immediately went to voicemail.

[De Souza] Michelle.

Michelle, you have to come
to Mr. Phillip's house.

I think he k*lled a lady.

I'm gonna call the police right now.

Adriano said,
"I think Mr. Phil just k*lled somebody."

He hung up the phone,
and then he dialed 911,

and he told the dispatcher the same thing.

[sirens wailing]

[tense music playing]

In Los Angeles County,

it can go as long as a week and a half
before an autopsy is performed.

We're supposed to treat 'em all the same,

but the reality is
it ain't always that way.

This has gone all the way
to the sheriff himself.

They wanna know what's going on.

This autopsy was done, I wanna say,
the next day, which was unheard of.

The major findings from the autopsy was

there was one g*nsh*t wound
inside of her mouth.

Where the g*nsh*t was
and how it was lodged,

Lana died instantly.

The b*llet was on a downward angle.

If you committed suicide,

are you going to point the g*n downward?

It'd be more like it'd be level
or maybe even an upward angle.

[Lillienfeld] Mode of death is

a legal determination
left to a medical doctor.

He only has five choices.

Homicide, suicide,
accident, natural, unknown.

It's the coroner that determines that.

Not a judge, not a jury.

It's the coroner, the medical examiner,
makes that lawful determination.

Dr. Pena was very, very thorough
to draw those conclusions.

Part of it is experience,

part of it is common sense,

part of it is science.

[Tomlin] In this case,
Dr. Pena deferred the findings,

and wanted to wait
for all the reports to come back

before making a final determination.

I am leaning more towards

it's a m*rder or accident.

We still have to develop, though,
could it be suicide?

Was she depressed?
Was she in financial distress?

[delicate, somber music playing]

We talked to her landlords.
Said she was a model tenant.

That threw out that she's "struggling"
and doesn't have money to make ends meet.

Anybody and everybody that we thought
had some relationship with her,

whether business or personal,
we spoke to them.

[Donna] Everybody has
their down-in-the-dumps moments.

But she always pulled herself up,
and she got out of it,

and if she really needed something,
she could call me.

[Tomlin] No one said
she ever tried to hurt herself.

No one ever said
that she even talked about suicide.

She's a positive person
who'd never think about hurting herself.

[woman] In a perfect world,
Lana'd go straight back to acting,

but as she had been
out of the scene for a year,

and she wasn't top of mind
for all the casting directors,

she had to figure out a way to survive,

and this opportunity came
at the House of Blues.

[vibrant, upbeat club music playing]

Clarkson was working
as a hostess at the House of Blues.

[Hudson] She was excited to be working.

She was excited
that she had healed and was healthy.

It was a privilege to be asked
to be the hostess of the Foundation Room.

The Foundation Room at the House of Blues
was a very prestigious place.

It was the who's who of Hollywood.

As a guest of Lana's,
I met George Clooney there one night.

If you were famous and in Hollywood,
you were visiting the Foundation Room.

[vibrant music continuing]

[music trailing off]

[Tomlin] Paul and I
went to the House of Blues.

We spoke to the manager,
the head of security,

and then the waitress
that actually served Spector.

Spector had come in,

and Lana was working
as a hostess that evening.

He said, "Don't you know who I am?
I'm Phil Spector."

She, not realizing, stated,
"Well, Ms. Spector, you can't come in."

She thought he was a female.

That didn't go over too well.

The head of security ran over to her
and said, "Hey, no."

Pulled her to the side and said,
"Treat this guy like gold."

So at that point,
Lana escorted him over to a special table,

apologizing profusely.

During the early morning hours,
the place is now closed.

They were seen leaving together.

We asked, "Was there video footage?"

We watch the video.

It appears that Lana was actually
helping Spector into the car.

According to Adriano, Spector was drunk.

He kept repeatedly inviting her,

"Come to my castle.
You have to see the castle."

And she said, "Okay."

And that's how, uh, the journey began.

[foreboding music playing]

It's eerie,

watching and knowing that this young lady
is gonna lose her life within two hours.

A lot of our questioning was
along the lines of, "Attractive woman..."

You know, men are pigs.

She's in Hollywood,
home of the term "casting couch."

How did she react when somebody
made an inappropriate remark

or did something inappropriate to her?

[Hudson] Lana, she knew
how to rebuff attention,

and very delicately.

It's easy for people to make big leaps
and make assumptions

about a woman going to a man's home
in the middle of the night.

But I knew Lana,

and I knew exactly why
she went to his house.

She didn't go because she was
interested in him romantically.

There wouldn't be anything intimidating

about going to have a drink
with Phil Spector.

He was 5'6" to her 6' tall.

She took care of herself.

I can absolutely see

where Lana would be intrigued
with somebody like Phil Spector.

This is Hollywood.

Let me tell you,
networking is highly valuable.

[cryptic music playing]

I'm the one person that knew
both Phil Spector and Lana Clarkson.

What an unusual, dubious distinction.

It was around 1966
when I first met Phil Spector

and witnessed him work.

When I was 15,

Gold Star Studios was the big deal.

I'd sneak in and sit on the couch.

This engineer,
he invited me into the studio.

Eventually, I was in
Phil Spector's sessions.

Phil Spector had the Wall of Sound.

The Wall of Sound was about having
four guitar players at once

and three piano...

But nobody did stuff like that.

Two drummers, it's completely crazy.

I never witnessed anybody like him,

just the way he was in the sessions,
the way he behaved.

He was like a little dictator in a way,

but he sure knew what he wanted,
and he got it.

Lana was one of my closest friends,

but we had never had any occasion
to discuss Phil Spector.

The last time I saw him was 1978, I think.

And I met Lana Clarkson in 1984
before I moved to New York.

So Lana had no idea of Phil's reputation.

Phil Spector was
a very dangerous character,

unstable and very unpredictable.

Had I been there
when the House of Blues closed that night,

this would have never happened.

I would've never
let her leave there with Phil, but...

[music trails off]

[suspenseful music playing]

[Tomlin] Everybody had
a heightened sense of,

"This is going to be
a very scrutinized case."

"And we're gonna need
as much information as we can."

Our lab got the results of the DNA swabs

that were obtained
during the crime scene investigation.

[Lillienfeld] In the master bedroom,

we found a white dinner jacket
that Mr. Spector had been wearing

during his evening out
at the House of Blues.

There was blood spatter
on the sleeve of the jacket.

Also in a guest bathroom,
there was a cotton diaper.

[Tomlin] Something I learned.

When people have g*ns,

they will wrap them in diapers.

[Lillienfeld] That diaper had blood on it
and it was moist.

We learned that Lana Clarkson's blood
was on that diaper and in that bathroom,

that her blood
was on Phil Spector's jacket.

When the projectile struck Ms. Clarkson
and blood came out,

it got on Mr. Spector's weapon,
it got on his sleeve, it got on his hand.

And during her exam of the diaper
and exam of the weapon,

Dr. Lynne Herold was able to conclude

that the diaper had been used
to wipe the g*n down.

And that's where the moisture
and the blood evidence

was transferred
from the weapon to the diaper.

Bloodstain pattern evidence
is circumstantial evidence of the crime.

How did the g*n go off?
Where was the g*n when it went off?

What effect did the g*n going off have?

It was difficult
because we're dealing with

bloodstain pattern evidence
on dark red carpet.

When all these findings came back,
suicide is out of the window.

Did we believe it's a m*rder?

Could there be
an inkling that it's an accident? Yeah.

But the problem with that is

he's not saying that.

[Spector] I dunno what that f*cking lady...

what her problem is.

Just blows her f*cking head open
in my f*cking house.

The coroner's office finally did come back
and say, "No, this was a homicide."

[dramatic music playing]

The medical examiners determined
that Lana Clarkson was m*rder*d,

but the LA County DA's office
declined to file homicide charges.

The LA coroner's office
made this announcement.

Not only did they say it was a homicide,
they fingered Phil Spector.

When are we gonna we hear
from the LA district attorney?

[interviewee] Spector's big.

And it's big for this DA's office,
who's lost so many high-profile cases.

I remember,
when the Spector case came along,

I knew who Phil Spector was.

"Who's Lost That Loving Feeling."

My granddaughter
loves that music from Top g*n.

There was a... I don't want to say paranoia.

But the office got burned very badly
in the OJ Simpson case.

We wanted more time
to file criminal charges against Simpson.

But there was
a lot of pressure from the media,

and we had to file the case.

What happened in the OJ Simpson case?

We weren't ready.

We want to make sure justice is served
and they're going to do their time.

Now you're focusing on,

"How can we strengthen proof
that it is a m*rder

without a reasonable doubt?"

And, "What could be any hiccups
to stop us from getting that conviction?"

Everybody wanted
a piece of the media attention.

[Smith] It's sad,
but it's the nature of our media.

They're gonna follow cases
that have a lot of flair and interest.

Phil Spector liked to talk.
He was giving interviews left and right.

[reporter] In a magazine interview,
he claimed Clarkson "kissed the g*n."

He fabricated information,
and he was fairly hostile about Lana,

and was maligning her all the time.

Phil Spector's PR machine, they were out
to make Lana look like a bimbo.

People put her down
because she's a B-movie actress,

but she held that proudly.

She knew that she was
a big barbarian queen, and she owned it.

The family requested that none of us,

the intimate circle, speak to anybody.

People would say something,
and they'd twist it,

and it would be published
in a magazine or newspaper.

So I said the best thing
is not to speak out.

[Hudson] And so we were
just in the background,

quietly fuming over the information
that was being spewed forth

by Phil Spector and his team.

It was horrible.

It showed what he was about.

You can't but help say,

"No, you're trying to hide something,
and you have committed m*rder."

[Tomlin] Without a doubt,
this was the most media-driven case.

My friends and relatives,
that's all they talk about.

"Are you on that case?"
And everybody's got their theory.

But you have to have balance.

And one of the things that I do,

I rarely talk about
what I do for a living.

I don't feel special.

This is just what I choose to do,
and I enjoy doing it.

And on this case, I was low-keying it.

Like, "Oh, yeah, working on this.
Yeah, it's gonna be on TV."

And at the time, my kids were 13 and 11.

And so my kids knew what was going on,
but I think they took a cue from me,

and they never...

I always laugh.
They were never too impressed with me.

[reporter] I heard Spector described...

read him described
in the newspaper this morning

as being 90% charming, 10% trouble.

[man] Yeah.

Did you have any experience
with that 10% of him?

I never did, certainly,
but there were many stories.

[Tomlin] We're focusing on,
"Why did we believe it's a m*rder?"

We have to get into
the life of Phil Spector.

We see there was at least one time
where he was arrested with a g*n.

[Lillienfeld] He possessed g*ns,
owned g*ns.

I learned from other people
that he had this long, sordid history

of waving g*ns around.

There was story after story
of him actually waving a g*n

during the recording
of a song by the Ramones.

He's pissed off at John Lennon
and he fires a g*n into the ceiling.

We had to go track that down.

Phil Spector pulling a g*n on people
has more to do with who's in control.

If you have real power,
you don't need a g*n.

He was a chickenshit.

He carried loaded g*ns for a reason,
because he could bully people with them,

from John Lennon to Leonard Cohen.

[Fraboni] They're getting ready
to wrap a music recording session.

Phil Spector says to Leonard Cohen,

"Go out and put a vocal on this."

And Leonard says to Phil,
"Well, you know what? Man, I'm tired."

He said, "I could do it tomorrow."

And then Phil gets the g*n out.

Points it at Leonard and says,
"You're gonna go sing this now."

[cryptic music playing]

It didn't deter Leonard Cohen.

This is the first day.

Leonard told me this story, right?

He was still so intrigued

by the possibilities of what would happen
by working with Phil,

but Leonard knew that
that g*n was there at all times.

[Tomlin] He was very powerful,

so people were very hesitant.

Especially people in that music world.

They felt he had enough power
to derail their career.

During this, there was
a lot of people we spoke to

that would not go on the record,

but they spoke of how
he would keep people in his house.

It was men and women.

You had a good time with Phil,
and wanted to leave,

he would say, "Okay, just wait here,"

and it was always in that foyer area.

And he literally would disappear
at times for hours

until he was ready for you to go.

How he would keep them in...

Remember the deadbolt lock
that was found on the floor?

He would remove the lock,
and now they're stuck.

It was another opportunity
for him to control others.

And that was what set him apart.

He was manic, if you will, about control.

[Lillienfeld] Ms. Clarkson was
basically imprisoned.

She wasn't free to leave on her own will
because she couldn't open the door,

because Mr. Spector
had taken that lever device,

that thumb device
off of the deadbolt on the door.

[eerie, haunting music playing]

We'd heard rumors,
but rumors don't float in a courtroom.

So we had to have hard evidence.

Rich Tomlin and his team
tracked down every single lead,

and they turned these rumors into fact.

We found actual witnesses,
a bunch of them.

[Lillienfeld] Sometimes it'd be
a one-date relationship,

sometimes it'd be women he knew for years,

but all of these women
had the signature in common

of having been held hostage,

having been deprived
of their liberty by Mr. Spector.

[Tomlin] You have these women
saying how he was very charming,

conscious to their needs, very appealing,

a great conversationalist,

then the switch would go off.

Phil Spector had a habit
of bringing women over to his house,

wanting sexual favors from them,

and when they didn't comply
or satisfy him,

he would pull out a g*n.

[Smith] That's an MO,

and it means this is a thing that he does,

that he has done,

and the reason that's important is because

if you never... didn't find anyone
that ever said this happened before,

that would probably be
a pretty big defense point.

"That's absurd
to think my client would do that!"

These women were willing to testify
that they were in fear of their lives,

that they thought he was gonna k*ll them.

It's a critical piece of the evidence,

and it's a big part
in showing that there was intent.

It certainly wasn't a suicide,
but it wasn't an accident either.

He had these aggressive tendencies,

and sooner or later,
this was gonna be the outcome.

[suspenseful music playing]

If you base it on talking to people
who had historically gone through this,

I think he didn't want her to leave.

He left her in that foyer area
for an hour or more.

She was dozing off,
and for what reason we'll never know,

he grabbed that g*n,
and he decided to shove it in her mouth,

and she panicked, and he kills her.

Realizing what he'd done,

Phil Spector has more than enough time

to now try to stage the crime scene.

We were in continual contact
with the district attorney's office.

It was a collaborative effort.

November of 2003,

the decision was made, and m*rder charges
were actually filed against Phil Spector.

[tense music playing]

[reporter] In early court appearances,

he had famed OJ attorney
Robert Shapiro at his side.

Now, he's on his third set
of high-profile lawyers.

[Bowers] One thing with Phil Spector,

he didn't want to spend one day in prison.

Every time there was a new
defense attorney, there was a continuance,

and the judge would have to give them
time to get up to speed.

Phil Spector is on bail,
meaning he is out.

He had gotten married.

As long as he can stretch this case out,
he's a free man.

[woman] Mr. Spector?

[suspenseful music playing]

It was kind of
a circus atmosphere you had.

[Tomlin] Phil Spector would wear
different wigs to the trial.

He had his huge bodyguards.

[Lillienfeld] The defense in this case,

some of their conduct
was incredibly egregious.

One of the defense attorneys,

who's a complete and total
unethical scumbag,

New York Mafia attorney.

He hit me up in the hallway
and in the restroom, followed me in there.

"I can't wait to get you on the stand."

"I'm really gonna F you up."

Like, really? I'm a little guy.

You think I haven't had
my a*s kicked before? Are you blind?

Look at this face. Look at me.
I've built a career getting my a*s kicked.

I'm not the greatest testifier,

but I can tell the truth,
which is pretty g*dd*mn easy to do.

Maybe I appeared "intimidateable,"
if that's even a g*dd*mn word.

I'd like to think that I wasn't.

[tense music playing]

At stake in this trial was justice
for Lana Clarkson and her family.

There was a subtext
to this trial as well, however.

The LA DA's office had not won
a high-profile case in 40 years,

even though there was significant evidence

that celebrities
were involved in criminal activity.

My first year
in the district attorney's office

was the trial of OJ Simpson.

I was a young, brand-spanking-new DA.

There were enormous lessons
that were learned from that trial.

Jurors look at celebrities different.

They consider some identity with them.

There's a certain amount of sympathy
that's built up,

and there's a lot of pressure on jurors.

They know afterwards they're gonna
be criticized by their friends

if they find some celebrity
guilty of something.

[Jackson] We didn't want to try
Phil Spector the music producer.

We wanted to try Phil Spector the man.

The fact that he was
this massive music producer

who had produced fantastic music,
by anybody's standards,

phenomenal music,

and changed the course of music
and rock and roll as we know it...

It didn't matter.

What mattered was
what happened inside that mansion

on that particular day.

My strategy was
to reveal the real Phil Spector.

Period, full stop.

We had close to 20 incidents
that we wanted to use.

The judge relegated us to five,
which was fine.

There was a g*n pointed at my temple.

He took the revolver
and smacked me in the side of the head.

-"You try to leave, I'm gonna k*ll you."
-"Leave, I'll blow your ******* head off."

It came out of nowhere.

I think he was wearing a plaid jacket.

I remember thinking
he looked like Elmer Fudd.

The g*n was bigger than he was.

We went up a stairway to his bedroom.
He didn't have to do that.

He could have been romantic,
but he did it by gunpoint.

He wanted to r*pe me.

[Spector on recording]
Be very careful what you say to me.

Because nothing you say to me...
is worth your life.

Goodbye, Dorothy.

[Donna] It was difficult to hear.

There were women baring their souls,

and I really thank them
for being able to do that,

'cause that wasn't easy to get up
in front of all the cameras of Court TV,

and all the people,
and tell their gut-wrenching stories.

The media said,
"We want gavel-to-gavel coverage."

We knew the OJ Simpson case
was disastrous.

[Jackson] People start acting differently.

It becomes a show trial.

Instead of evidence,
you're presenting performances.

So one of the things we tried to do

was make the witnesses,
on our side at least, understand

you were there to simply tell the truth.

Everything else is a distraction.

Just ignore it.

[Lillienfeld] I get nervous
when I speak in public.

I don't like testifying.
It's breaking my ba*ls to talk to you.

I knew Mr. Spector
had unlimited resources.

So he had very expensive, very proficient,
very aggressive attorneys.

So I was at a disadvantage.

There's a couple of very simple rules
in testifying that I live by.

Listen to the question,
answer the question, shut the hell up.

So I go to testify. I'm nervous anyway.

Mark Lillienfeld, bless his heart,
was on the witness stand.

During direct examination,

he's asked to describe
something about Lana,

and he slips and says "her paw"
instead of "her hand."

Soon as I said it, I realized I called
this woman's hand a paw, like a dog paw.

Partly 'cause I was nervous,
partly 'cause I'm a fool.

I look in the audience
and I see her mom looking at me.

Her mom's got this look
of shock and disbelief.

"You just called
my deceased daughter's hand a paw."

I sat there and cringed.

Um, yeah. It was not his finest moment.

[Tomlin] He quickly corrected himself.

Mark felt devastated.

That's the first time I can honestly say...
I had to talk him off the ledge.

He felt so bad.

[Jackson] He's just a canine lover,
has had dogs his whole life.

I was nicknamed after a dog.
I dream about dogs.

I have some dog issues.

And Lana Clarkson's mom,
the only one that mattered to me...

I apologized to her.

I remember him coming up to me
and how sweet he was.

I was very grateful.

I just spoke to her about

it's really an honor
to be a part of a homicide investigation

where the victim
was of such a... a great character.

It was really a pleasure
to know about her life

and how she touched
all these other people's lives.

[clears throat]

[tense music playing]

[Bowers] It took a long time,
the trial itself, several months.

There was a lot of witnesses.

The defense brought in a lot of experts
from all over the United States.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars
were spent.

[Lillienfeld] They were people
that were world-renowned in their field,

and they were proof that,
"If you pay me enough,

I will tell you I am Donald Duck
and that the sky is not blue, it's brown."

When you stick to the objective,
scientific evidence,

it's a suicide.

[Jackson] We weren't just
prosecuting a case.

We were defending the truth.

[Hudson] The only defense
that they could possibly present

for how a g*n went off in her mouth

was to say she did it.

[Jackson] We knew the defense was
going to come after Lana. They had to.

They had to create this persona
of a person who was deeply depressed,

had one foot in the grave
and the other on a banana peel,

and she had nothing to live for.

They had played and introduced a video.

I'll be no man's sl*ve and no man's wh*re.

Phil Spector's wife at the time
sat behind the defense team,

and she started giggling out loud
and laughing at Lana.

You officers can be so resourceful.

Not with Lana, at Lana.

The defense did that on purpose
to mock her

and to suggest
that she was a lesser person,

a lesser actor
who didn't have anything to live for,

and had no career aspirations
or opportunities.

I knew that it hurt Donna and the family.

Well, when your good friend gets m*rder*d,

and gets smeared in the process
and all the rest of it,

I mean, and you're listening
to this stuff go on in court

where they're presenting
these stories about her,

it's... that's painful,
'cause you know it's not true.

[Jackson] I was so frustrated
because I felt like I couldn't protect her

and protect her reputation in a way
that she deserved to be protected.

In California, defense lawyers
for Phil Spector have rested their case.

[Jackson] You meet


and they've never met each other...

It's hard to get people
to agree on what color the sky is, right?

So I never take for granted
that anything's a slam dunk.

But I knew we had marshaled
the right evidence.

I knew we had
the right blueprint for the trial.

I knew that the witnesses,
all of the women who testified,

Adriano De Souza,

everybody did
what they were supposed to do,

and I thought,
"This shouldn't be that difficult."

The jurors have
all of the tools they need.

That was on day one. Um...

My confidence started getting shaken...
shaky on day two,

and that went into day three.

Initially, it's gonna take a few days

just because they have to go through
every piece of evidence.

But then after that...

[Jackson] Day five,
day seven, day eight, day nine.

By that time, I'm a wreck.

Thinking, "What did I do wrong?
How could this be taking this long?"

[man] When the jury foreman
took an initial poll,

it was disheartening.

We're so far apart.

It was four guilty,
five not guilty, four undecided.

It's almost like a second trial
that happened during deliberations.

Some of us in the jury room
had to, like, re-litigate

for the jurors that either didn't get it

or actually fell for the misinformation

that the experts on the defense side
were giving.

I guess if they repeat a lie
in different ways and often,

it almost becomes fact.

It was the longest, most... Ugh...
painful experience I've ever been in.

We all had to do our job
on the evidence presented to us.

This is the come-to-Jesus moment
for all of us.

I knew how serious it was.

I was being honest
in why I had to convict.

It'd been so contentious toward the end
that we needed to get out of there.

We deliberated 14 days.
This has been going way too long.

I went and hit the buzzer. That was it.

This time, I will find that the jury
is unable to arrive at a verdict

and declare a mistrial in this matter.

I thought it'd be a quick, done deal.
In and out.

And it wasn't.

I was insulted by the defense
and... and the stuff that they threw.

Um, and... and I think...
I think I've said enough.

[gavel banging]

As the gavel hit the bench,

my stomach dropped,

and I thought, "I failed."

Everybody did
what they were supposed to do,

and I felt like I was the one that didn't,

that wasn't able to see it through.

It was a very defeating moment
in my career.

I went upstairs. I started
packing up my briefcase for the evening.

I wanted the press, quite frankly,
to clear out a bit.

There was a lone reporter who stayed back
with a microphone and a camera.

And as I walked out to my car, she said,

"Mr. Jackson,
do you intend to retry this case?"

I stopped in my tracks
and looked at her, and I said,

"I will try this case as many times
as it takes to get justice,"

and kept walking.

[bold, dynamic music playing]

We weren't gonna stop
because of a hung jury.

It was never gonna happen.

So we gather our thoughts,
put the case back together,

and about a year and a half later,
we tried it again.

[tense, exciting music playing]

In the first trial, out of 12 jurors,
ten of them voted for guilt.

So, ultimately, I came to the conclusion
that we had not done anything wrong.

Let's just pick a new jury
and put this case on,

basically blueprinted the same way,
the second time. That's what we did.

[Donna] I didn't know what to expect
in the second trial.

It wasn't as much of a spectacle,

but both trials
were just as emotional for me.

The jury was in deliberation.

And I remember I was
at my son's high school baseball game.

When this case came out, he was 11.

My son's 16 now.

My phone is blowing up.

"Hey, they've come to a verdict."

And I just sat there.

And I thought about it.

I'm always gonna have other trials,
other verdicts.

And on a selfish side,
I won't always have the opportunity

to see my son play baseball.

And so I said,
"No, I'll... I'll watch it on TV."

[Donna] I had my son on one side,
my daughter on the other.

We were holding our breath.

[foreperson] We the jury
in the above entitled action

find the defendant, Phillip Spector,

guilty of the crime
of second-degree m*rder of Lana Clarkson.

[somber music playing]

When they said guilty,
it was like I could breathe, you know?

I just couldn't believe...
Finally, we have a verdict that was true.

The family's pleased
that the jury rejected the distortion

and trashing of Lana Clarkson's life,

which was a part of this trial,

the past trial,
and has been going on now for six years.

No matter your fame, or your wealth,
or your supposed celebrity,

you will stand trial,

and you will be accountable
for your actions.

This was the first celebrity conviction
in 40 years.

Obviously, that was a very, very big deal
for everybody involved.

It was nice to know

that you could put on a case
in Los Angeles

against a well-funded,
very powerful celebrity

and have the satisfaction
that the truth was gonna come out.

[Lillienfeld] Mr. Spector got


There is the...

not the rehabilitative part of the law,
but the punishment part of law.

Sit in your cell
and think about what you've done

the rest of your f*cking life
until the day you die

and you're carried out in a casket.

He's getting exactly what he deserves.

[stirring music playing]

[music trailing off]

[pensive music playing]

[Smith] I was gone before the case
even went to the first trial.

I left the job with PTSD.

I was wound too tight for the job,
honestly.

Danny retired, uh, somewhat young.

I think that Mark is the one
that said one time,

"Everyone's got their number of bodies."

That number is different for everyone,
but at some point,

you've had your fill and you're done.

[Lillienfeld] This job,
it's a magnificent, wonderful job,

and it's been great to me and my family,

uh, but it's a very debilitating job.

It is, uh, emotionally dangerous.

[Smith] I've got friends
who have committed suicide,

other friends who have
drank themselves to death,

and it wasn't called suicide,
but that's what it was.

There's more law enforcement suicides
every year

than there are line of duty deaths.

You know, It's significant.

To do it as long as Mark did it,
you have to be like Mark,

where you really can let things
glance off of you.

[tense, cryptic music pulsing]

[Lillienfeld] In 1994,

I was still a young and new
journeyman homicide detective.

I've only been a m*rder cop two years.

Myself and my new partner assumed control

of the Mickey Thompson
and Trudy Thompson murders.

It's a high-profile case.

Being into cars back then,
I knew that Mickey Thompson was a legend.

[reporter 1] His wife, Trudy,
was also involved in promoting the events.

[reporter 2] The ambush murders
of Thompson and his wife, Trudy,

in the driveway
of the couple's Bradbury home...

[woman] They went after her first.

It was planned to t*rture my dad,
and it did.

[dramatic outro music pulsing]