Phil Noir: The Human Stain

If this is true, they must be the only ones in the defense entourage to feel this way, as Judge Larry Paul Fidler seems to continually rule against Spector’s attorneys. Roger Rosen made a motion Tuesday to have the proceedings declared a mistrial, but the judge swatted away the move with only a few words, even though the crux of the request was Fidler’s own alleged tilt against the defense.

The latest example of Fidler’s supposed bias came only that morning, when he twice claimed the sole reason Spector’s lawyers planned to call Hollywood madam Jody Babydol Gibson was “to dirty up” Clarkson, since Gibson, in her memoir, Secrets of a Hollywood Super Madam, claims she employed a call girl very much fitting Clarkson’s description. It was an eyebrow-raising pronouncement from the judge, and offered the day’s only real drama.

In fact, since Fidler, at the start of the trial, declared there would be no theatrics in his courtroom, the spotlight has mostly been trained on the bench. As the court’s dramaturge, Fidler has pre-empted Spector’s most theatrical lawyer, Bruce Cutler, from turning the cross-examination process into lush melodrama along the lines of Reginald Rose’s 12 Angry Men, and instead imposed an anti-drama regime of Brechtian Verfremdungseffekt. And so, while Spector’s DNA might have been on Lana Clarkson, it is Larry Paul Fidler’s fingerprints that remain all over this trial.

More Phil Noir:

Like Watching Blood Dry  A slow trial suddenly goes ballistic

The Tooth of Crime A coroner gets examined and cross-examined

Doth the Doc Protest Too Much? Criminalist Henry Lee lashes out at critics

Hassle in the Castle The night the cops had Phil Spector by the short hairs

Murder As a Second Language As questions about defense attorney Bruce Cutler’s effectiveness circulate, immigrant witnesses place new accents on shooting timeline

Marlowe vs. CSI? The Tycoon of Teen’s Gun Problem The Phil Spector verdict is months away and Bruce Cutler’s wardrobe has not yet begun to fight.Accidental Suicide Guns, slips and semioticsA Spectator at the Spector Trial Tell it to the judge: Bruce Cutler's California adventure