LOS ANGELES — Did Lana Clarkson die immediately after a gun discharged in her mouth, or did she survive long enough to take a few blood-choked breaths?
The length of time between gunshot and death has turned into a critical issue in Phil Spector's murder trial as the case slowly come's to a conclusion.
The Spector's defense has suggested Clarkson may have aspirated blood, offering a benign explanation for some of the prosecution's most damning evidence — tiny red drops on Spector's jacket.
A defense expert insisted that blood in Clarkson's lungs is proof she breathed in after a bullet from a .38 Special struck her spinal cord Feb. 3, 2003.
Dr. Werner Spitz, a Michigan forensic pathologist who testified previously in the case, returned to the stand to describe a mixture of air and blood in the air sacs of Clarkson's lungs, which he said could only be the result of a drawn breath.
He rejected a prosecution expert's testimony earlier this week that gravity forced the blood into Clarkson's lungs.Prosecutors claim Clarkson was immediately incapacitated by the injury. They have said the 18 spots on Spector's white dinner jacket are proof he was standing within 3 feet of Clarkson when the gun went off.
"I didn't even know that until I read this. There will be an intake of air and expulsion of air for a period of time," Spitz said.
Spitz, whose career spans 54 years, acknowledged that it had been five decades since he studied physiology, but refused to concede the point.
He said that perhaps the bullet had only partially torn the spinal cord, allowing some nerve signals to get through, but that in the end, the blood in the lungs left no doubt that breathing took place.
Only one of the 17 panelists took notes consistently during his time on the witness stand.And that is never good.
The defense is to call the final witnesses in the trial Monday. Scheduled to testify are two of Clarkson's friends, Jennifer Hayes-Riedl and Punkin Irene Elizabeth Laughlin. Both women previously described Clarkson as depressed at the time of her death.
Spector, 67, faces 15 years to life in prison if convicted of murder. His defense claims the actress shot herself.
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