Spector Lawyers Say Actor Shot Herself

An actor shot dead at music producer Phil Spector's home may have pulled the trigger herself, according to medical experts consulted by his defence.

Mr Spector's lawyers say that their experts' conclusions contradict the findings in the Los Angeles county coroner's report.

The coroner's office concluded that the Lana Clarkson's death was murder. But defence lawyers say that they consulted forensic scientists who say the evidence shows that she shot herself.

"The physical evidence is not consistent with homicide," Marcia Morrissey of Mr Spector's defence team said in an interview. "The coroner rejected the obvious implication of the evidence: that this was a single, self-inflicted gunshot wound."

The defence say the report shows that Clarkson was killed with the gun in her mouth, and that it confirms earlier reports that gunshot residue was found on Clarkson's hands and that "the decedent may have discharged a firearm".

Clarkson also had a broken thumbnail, which the defence say supports their argument that she fired the gun. Toxicology records show that Clarkson's body tested positive for alcohol and hydrocodone, an addictive painkiller.

Clarkson died on February 3 2003 from a single gunshot wound from a handgun which was found under her leg. Mr Spector was charged with her murder the following November.

Prosecutors allege that Mr Spector, famed for his "wall of sound" production technique in the 1960s, killed Clarkson at his Los Angeles mansion after meeting her at the House of Blues nightclub that night. He is free on $1m bail and faces a life sentence if convicted.

Traces of gunshot residue on Clarkson's hands is not regarded by the prosecution as evidence of suicide; any gunshot would, they say, generate a cloud of residue that would have dusted her hands even if they were in her lap.

They also say that police investigating the killing found the victim's blood and gunshot residue on Mr Spector as well as evidence that he wiped and moved the murder weapon.

Mr Spector's driver, Adriano Desouza, told investigators he was waiting outside after he dropped the two off at the mansion when he heard a single gunshot. Mr Spector came outside with a gun in his hand, according to allegations in court files, and told Mr Desouza that he thought he had killed someone.

The claim that Clarkson had taken her own life is one already made by Mr Spector himself in an interview last year. He told Esquire magazine that Clarkson had "kissed the gun" in a bizarre suicide carried out in front of him.