Trial of music producer Phil Spector begins on Monday

LOS ANGELES: The long-awaited murder trial of legendary music producer Phil Spector gets underway here on Monday, four years after he allegedly gunned down a B-movie actor at his Los Angeles mansion.

Spector, 66, a reclusive musical genius who pioneered the unique 'Wall of Sound' recording technique during the 1960s, is accused of shooting dead Lana Clarkson at his hill-top estate on February 3, 2003.

Prosecutors say Spector, famed for his work with The Beatles, Tina Turner, The Righteous Brothers and The Ronettes, killed Clarkson after meeting the statuesque blonde at the Hollywood nightclub where she worked as a hostess.

Spector, who has hired and fired a series of high-powered defense lawyers since his arrest, has been quoted in interviews as saying that Clarkson's death was suicide.

He remains free on $1 million bail. Monday's hearing will begin with jury selection that will see around 300 potential jurors vetted to determine the extent of their knowledge of the case, the most high-profile televised criminal trial since OJ Simpson was acquitted for murder in 1995, analysts said.

The trial has been repeatedly delayed due to legal wrangling and scheduling conflicts, most notably when Spector's lawyers unsuccessfully argued to have potentially damning statements excluded from the trial.

Spector is alleged to have told police officers who arrived at his imposing mock chateau immediately after the shooting: "I didn't mean to shoot her."

Spector, who a few weeks before the shooting described himself as 'relatively insane' and tortured by 'devils inside me' has strongly denied killing Clarkson, telling Esquire magazine in 2003 the actor shot herself.

"She kissed the gun," Spector said in the interview. "I have no idea why -- never knew her, never even saw her before that night. I have no idea who she was or what her agenda was."

Clarkson, who was inspired by blonde Hollywood sex symbol Marilyn Monroe and collected Monroe memorabilia, starred in movies such as 1987's 'Amazon Women on the Moon' and 1991's 'The Haunting of Morella.'

Jean Rosenbluth, a former federal prosecutor who is now a professor of law at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, said district attorneys would present a strong case against Spector.

"I went to some of the pretrial hearings, and from what I've heard, it has a pretty strong case," Rosenbluth said.

"You have the fact that she was killed by his gun. Nobody disputes that she barely knew him, so the fact that she committed suicide at his house seems pretty improbable. If I was the prosecutor, I would let the evidence speak for itself, it seems pretty good."

The introduction of cameras to the court-room, which were notably absent from the 2005 Michael Jackson child molestation trial, would be manna from heaven for Spector's flamboyant lawyer, Bruce Cutler, Rosenbluth said.

Cutler is most famous for defending organised crime figures, most notably New York mafia boss John 'Teflon Don' Gotti.

"He's a real showman. He will make it entertaining. He's very good at spinning a story that makes his client look sympathetic, even though it might not be very relevant," Rosenbluth added.

Robert Thompson, a professor of television and expert in popular culture at the University of Syracuse, said Spector's trial would generate its own momentum even though the producer was not well-known to younger generations.

"The fact that it's going to be on camera, the fact that he is a character. A lot of people who never heard of Phil Spector are going to learn about him. It's going to take a life of its own."