A second celebrity came under fire Wednesday in the Phil Spector murder trial: forensic scientist Henry C. Lee. Judge Larry Paul Fidler ruled that Lee withheld evidence from prosecutors, raising questions about the credibility of the respected and ubiquitous expert witness.
At issue was a small white object that three people said they saw at the crime scene. Two of the three -- a former Spector defense lawyer, Sara Caplan, and a defense investigator -- said they saw Lee pick up the object in the foyer of Spector's mansion in Alhambra.
Prosecutors say it was a piece of Lana Clarkson's acrylic fingernail, which Deputy Dist. Atty. Patrick Dixon said in court could show that Clarkson's hand was in front of her face when she was shot and that "her hands and her fingers were not on the trigger."
Spector is charged with murdering Clarkson, who was found shot in the mouth in his home Feb. 3, 2003. He says Clarkson shot herself and has pleaded not guilty. Spector's attorneys say Lee still will be a key witness for them; he is expected to testify that Spector was not standing close enough to Clarkson to have shot her.
Regarding the alleged fingernail, Lee had testified before Fidler last week that Caplan was mistaken, that he did not pick up such an object.
Fidler on Wednesday called Lee a "world-renowned expert" but said, "I have to choose between the two, and Miss Caplan is more credible than Dr. Lee." Fidler ruled that "Dr. Lee did recover an item that was flat, white and irregular around the edges."
Fidler said he couldn't say whether the item was a fingernail, but he ruled that jurors could be told about the missing item. They then can decide for themselves what it may have been and whether Lee hid it from prosecutors. Fidler said his conclusion that Lee withheld a fingernail-size item would not be told to jurors.
Also, the jury would be told not to hold any perceived infraction involving that item against Spector because there was no evidence that he knew about the breach, which was committed by his former defense team. Spector, a producer of records for the Beatles and other stars, is free on $1-million bail.
An assistant to Lee -- Valerie Shook -- said in an e-mail that Lee was out of the country and unavailable to comment for this story.
Stanley White, a defense investigator at the scene that day, said he saw Lee holding in a handkerchief a piece of fingernail stained with gunshot residue. White testified that he told Lee the object was a fingernail, and that Lee called him crazy.
