Surprise Witness Claims Phil Spector's Lawyers Withheld Evidence

The murder trial of Phil Spector took a potentially significant twist last night after a surprise witness told the court that a lawyer representing the legendary producer had removed evidence from the crime scene.

Greg Diamond, a clerk who worked for Spector's original defence lawyer Robert Shapiro, testified in a special hearing held without the jury that, one day after actress Lana Clarkson was shot to death at Spector's mansion in 2003, he watched another lawyer, Sarah Kaplan, retrieve a small piece of tooth or fingernail that had been overlooked by police from Spector's foyer.

However, a former member of the Spector defence who Diamond alleges held the evidence that day, forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden, denied Diamond's account when it was his turn on the witness stand. The prosecution has levelled charges of withholding evidence at Spector's defence team in the past, but the allegedly missing evidence has never turned up.

Spector has changed legal teams twice since his arrest, and Diamond's testimony was given without a jury after the trial proper was suspended due to the ill health of the current lead defense attorney, Bruce Cutler. Judge Larry Paul Fidler convened the special hearing because Diamond had come forward to authorities in the past few weeks with his account.

Diamond was reluctant to testify, repeatedly trying to assert his rights against self-incrimination and asking for a postponement of the hearing.

Ordered to take the stand by Fidler, Diamond told the court that he went to the crime scene with Shapiro, Baden, Kaplan, famed forensic scientist Henry Lee and other members of Spector's defence team.

There, Diamond said, he saw Kaplan find a small white object and hand it to Baden. He said the object was then passed around to the rest of the defence team.

"Dr. Baden did make mention of what the item was," Diamond said. "He said it was a fragment of a tooth ... Everyone had seen the item in some capacity."

Baden, called to the stand by Spector's lawyers, denied that Kaplan ever found anything at the crime scene or handed him any potential item of evidence.

In 2004, prosecutors filed a motion demanding that Spector's lawyers turn over a piece of Clarkson's fingernail that they believed had been found by the defense at the crime scene. Spector's attorneys responded at the time that no such evidence existed.

Diamond is expected to resume his testimony today, followed by additional witnesses. It was not immediately clear when Fidler would make findings in the matter.