"I miss you so," she whispered. With the criminal case over, her wrongful-death suit against Spector will proceed in civil court.
Spector's attorney said the defense sympathized with the Clarkson family's loss, but insisted that Spector was innocent. "The evidence did not establish Mr. Spector's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt," Doron Weinberg told the judge.
Five jurors who convicted Spector attended the sentencing and exchanged glances as the defense lawyer argued against their verdict.
The defense did not file a routine motion asking that the judge grant a new trial instead of proceeding with the sentencing. Such motions are almost never granted, but Fidler said he had found an old case suggesting that the defense was required to make the request.
Weinberg, who made no secret of his disdain for the judge's evidentiary rulings during the trial, said he didn't see any point in raising the issues again, but agreed to make the motion orally.
"For all the erroneous rulings the court made . . . we move for a new trial," the lawyer said.
Fidler smiled, then denied the San Francisco lawyer's motion. The judge also ordered Spector to pay about $26,000 for Clarkson's funeral expenses and the cost of counseling provided to her mother and sister.
Jackson, the prosecutor, spent years preparing and trying the case, but never got to question Spector, who did not to testify in his own defense.
He said the only thing he had to say to Spector would require traveling back in time to the morning that Clarkson was shot: "Take the gun out of your hand, sir. She doesn't deserve this."
Despite Spector's age and failing health -- he had surgery this week for precancerous polyps in his throat -- the prosecutor said he felt no sympathy for him.
"He's getting exactly what he deserved," Jackson said.
Spector's 28-year-old wife, Rachelle, told reporters that she was dedicated to getting her husband "out of that awful place and home where he belongs."
She decried the prosecutor's portrait of her husband as "a monster."
"He is the most kind and gentle and giving man I have ever met in my life," she said.
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harriet.ryan@latimes.com
