Larry Fidler

Valley Girl Rachel Lee, Accused Of Robbing Lindsay Lohan's Hollywood Home In 'Bling Ring' Spree, Gets Off As Easy As LiLo Herself

Lee's got the "Talk to my lawyer" princess glare down​The young Calabassas hoodlums known as the Bling Ring -- who glamorously raided the homes of equally young, unequally loaded celebrities for whatever their hearts desired in 2008 and 2009 -- just saw their ringleader skip off scot-free. As ... More >>

Phil Spector's Lawyers Appeal Murder Conviction

The Man, The Myth, The Hair​Rolling Stone reports that Phil Spector's lawyers have appealed his 2009 conviction for the murder of Lana Clarkson at his house in 2003. His lawyers have requested a new trial on the grounds of "judicial error and prosecutorial misconduct": In papers filed Wednes ... More >>

Full Court Press: 99 Candles — Phil Spector Sentenced to Life ... Clarkson Family Speaks

Spector faces civil suit next

Phil Spector Sentencing Has Begun

11:04 a.m. Dept. 106, Standing Room OnlyPhil Spector has just entered the courtroom wearing a chalk-striped suit with red tie and handkerchief. Judge Larry Paul Fidler as taken the bench. Alan Jackson is here for the prosecution although co-prosecutor Truc Do is absent. Doron Weinberg is here for th ... More >>

Wall of Years: The Spector Verdict

And then he was gone, like Don Giovanni pulled into the underworld by the commendatore's ghost

Wall of Years: Phil Spector Faces Mandatory Life Sentence

In the end, the jurors for Phil Spector's second murder trial did what the first jury did: They let Judge Larry Paul Fidler know their deliberations had reached a conclusion -- but late enough in the morning so that they would get one more catered lunch out of the case. The two panels' denouements w ... More >>

Nail Biter: Spector Jurors Ask About You-Know-What

As far as murder juries go, Phil Spector's second panel doesn't seem to be knocking itself out. They got the case on the afternoon of March 26 and almost immediately took off on a four-day weekend for the Cesar Chavez holiday. When jurors returned on April 1 it was to learn that one of their number ... More >>

Accidental Suicide? New Involuntary-Manslaughter Option in Phil Spector Murder Retrial

The final arguments: Shifting sand dunes, or rock-solid mountains?

Phil Spector Trial About to Resume

From Criminal Courts Building, Dept. 106Pre-trial hearing. Doron Weinberg complaining about not being told yesterday that Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson was going to run 30 minutes past the closing hour of 4 p.m. with his closing rebuttal argument. Turns out Jackson had previously informed Ju ... More >>

Doron Weinberg Returns -- Again -- To Close Phil Spector's Defense

Well, it didn't take long for that AP logo to get pulled off the podium mike that Doron Weinberg's been using. Possibly fearing that the podium could soon resemble a NASCAR pace car plastered with corporate logos, Alan Parachini, the chief public information officer for the Superior Courts, had th ... More >>

Phil Spector: The Burden of Truth

Like Woodrow Wilson, Doron Weinberg had 14 points he wanted to share with his audience. These had nothing to do with the status of Alsace-Lorraine, however, but with the emotional state of Lana Clarkson, the House of Blues VIP hostess who took a one-way ride to music producer Phil Spector's mansion ... More >>

Phil Spector's Lawyer Begins Closing Argument

From Superior Court, Department 106Defense lawyer Doron Weinberg has begun his closing argument on behalf of Phil Spector. Prior to the entrance of the jury in the second-degree murder trial, Weinberg had protested a video shown yesterday by prosecutor Truc Do, in which Judge Larry Paul Fidler appea ... More >>

Last Words from Phil Spector's Lawyer Continue

Yesterday I wasn't feeling the star power of Deputy District Attorney Truc Do, after watching the first hour or so of her closing argument. Do, who has co-prosecuted several high-profile cases over the past few years, including the Santa Monica Black Widows murder case and the Chester Turner serial ... More >>

Morning Sixpack: A News Roundup

Murder Takes a Holiday L.A. County homicides are down 15 percent from last year, according to the Coroner's office. The Sheriff's Department cites greater funding for increased patrols as one reason for the decline. San Gabriel Valley TribuneSparta Beats Troy USC lost its bid to upset the Michigan S ... More >>

This Is Not a Screensaver: Final Arguments Begin in Phil Spector's Trial

When Phil Spector, his wife Rachelle and Spector's bodyguard emerged from their black Lexus this morning, it was, finally, to an awaiting squad of TV news cameramen huddled at the top of the Superior Court's pedestrian ramp. After half a year of testimony that went largely ignored by the media, Sp ... More >>

Full Court Press: Dominick Dunne's Cameo at Phil Spector Retrial; Anand Jon's Explosive Evidence of Juror Shenanigans

Phil Spector Trial: Dominick Dunne Drops By, A Juror Drops Out

The murder retrial of music-producing legend Phil Spector resumed today with the momentary return of Dominick Dunne, the Vanity Fair correspondent who'd sat through the first trial in all its melodramatic glory. Dunne arrived at Department 106 this morning solely for pleasure and had not come to tow ... More >>

Jurors In Phil Spector's Retrial Visit Death Mansion

When jurors in the first Phil Spector murder trial toured his Alhambra mansion two years ago, their visit occurred on a witheringly hot day. Today the jury in Spector II, however, was spared those high temperatures as it examined the now-infamous foyer where police found the body of actress/House of ... More >>

Phil Spector Rings in 2009

It's an almost forgotten fact, but the murder retrial of legendary pop music producer Phil Spector, 68, is still unfolding in Judge Larry Fidler's downtown courtroom. You may remember that Spector's five-member legal team managed to win him a hung jury in 2007 -- leading to Spector II, which began a ... More >>

A Noir Gift From Phil Spector

How a struggling murder trial earned a sequel

9 L.A. Flashpoints

Phil Noir: Phil Spector’s Dark Victory

Trial wrap-up: A juror’s Lana Clarkson fantasies and failed casserole strategy as the Wall of Sound architect gets away with — what?

Phil Noir: Fidler Out of Tune

The judge gets threatened, the jurors get defensive, and Phil Spector beats his murder rap — for now

Phil Noir: Strangers On a Train Wreck

The jury that hangs together gets hung

Phil Noir Bulletin: Deadlock

On the scene as the Phil Spector jury reaches an impasse

Phil Noir: Killing Time

Hanging a jury, listening to Phil Spector’s basement tapes

Phil Noir: The Dark at the Top of the Stare

Phil Spector’s trial reaches its endgame

Phil Noir: The Left-Handed Gun

Spector trial mirages, red herrings and no shows

Phil Noir: Murder of an Anatomy

Spector’s surreal surrebuttal. Updated Wednesday, August 30.

Phil Noir: Court Gesture

Dr. Baden’s ah-ha! moment

Phil Noir: If He Did It

Warning: Spector verdict spoiler

Phil Noir: Avenue of the Scars

The jurors see Lana Unleashed

Phil Noir: Spattered

Doctor Death’s trigger-nometry lesson, plus reluctant witness Sara Caplan speaks to L.A. Weekly

Phil Noir: In a Lonely Place

With friends like Punkin Pie...

Theater of Pain

What made Lana run?

Phil Noir: The Heart of the Spatter

Jurors get put on a strict science diet

Phil Noir: The Human Stain

How Spector left his mark on Lana Clarkson

Phil Noir: Like Watching Blood Dry

A slow trial suddenly goes ballistic

Phil Noir: The Tooth of Crime

A coroner gets examined and cross-examined

Phil Noir: Doth the Doc Protest Too Much?

Criminalist Henry Lee lashes out at critics

Phil Noir: Murder As a Second Language

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

Phil Noir: Accidental Suicide

Guns, slips and semiotics

Phil Noir: A Spectator at the Spector Trial

Tell it to the judge: Bruce Cutler's California adventure

The Rampart Verdict

The deeper meaning of LAPD’s biggest scandal may never be known

Judging the SLA

Rethinking the brutal, sometimes misunderstood excesses of a bygone era

Guilt Trip

The transformation of Kathleen Ann Soliah into Sara Jane Olson

Mum’s Not the Word

Deputies have to turn over reports on off-duty bar fight

Fairness Delayed

LAPD belatedly agrees to review all arrests made by two troubled cops

TV Trial

The scrutiny of Sara Jane Olson et al.

Trying for Justice

The deep meaning of the deeply flawed Rampart trial