A Los Angeles jury convicted Phil Spector of second-degree murder Monday, making the legendary record producer who worked with the Beatles and a host of other pop stars the first celebrity found guilty of murder on Hollywood's home turf in at least 40 years.
The verdict read in a tense, standing-room-only courtroom came six years and two trials after police found Lana Clarkson, a statuesque blond actress, shot to death in a chair in Spector's 30-room Alhambra mansion.
As a Superior Court clerk pronounced the word "guilty," Spector's mouth gaped slightly, but he quickly returned to the stoic expression he has worn throughout his legal proceedings. His wife, Rachelle, who is 41 years his junior, began weeping in the front row of the spectators' gallery.
The verdict of second-degree murder -- the most severe option offered to jurors -- with the use of a firearm means the 69-year-old Spector faces a mandatory life prison term when he is sentenced May 29. He must serve at least 18 years before being eligible for parole.
The verdict was a cause for rejoicing in the Los Angeles County district attorney's office, where high-profile defeats in the murder trials of O.J. Simpson and Robert Blake still sting.
Though not a current A-lister -- Spector's renown derived from behind-the-scenes work that peaked in the early 1970s -- he had the deep pockets and glamorous connections frequently cited when celebrity cases fall apart
"Celebrity cases are always a little different," said Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley, who called the Blake jurors "incredibly stupid" after the actor's 2005 acquittal. "Sometimes the laws of gravity as we know them don't work in celebrity cases."
Asked to recall the last celebrity convicted of murder, district attorney's office spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said, "I know there has not been one in the last 40 years and beyond that, I cannot say."
Spector's attorney immediately said he would appeal. The lawyer asked that Spector remain free on $1-million bail until the sentence was imposed, but a prosecutor protested, citing Spector's history of menacing people with guns and his incentive to flee the jurisdiction.
During the trial and a 2007 proceeding that ended in a hung jury, Judge Larry Paul Fidler heard extensive testimony from women who said Spector terrorized them at gunpoint, and he ordered that Spector be taken into custody immediately.
"Public safety and public protection are paramount," Fidler said.
