The judge presiding in the Phil Spector murder retrial gave prosecutors the OK to use Court TV footage testimony of a witness now deceased.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Larry P. Fidler will make a final decision after viewing a DVD of witness Dianne Ogden‘s testimony. Judge Fidler admitted viewing footage was more accurate than reading transcripts.
Spector’s defense team had motioned that jurors read transcripts only.
"Demeanor can’t be shown in a transcript," Fidler ruled.
The legendary music producer’s attorneys are protesting the admissibility of Ogden and four other witnesses who told jurors in the previous trial that Spector menaced them with firearms decades prior to the shooting death of B-movie actress Lana Clarkson (Amazon Women On the Moon) in 2003.
The witness in question, Ogden, died in December of an accidental OD of prescription medicine.
Spector, 67, the legendary music producer who pioneered the use of multi-track recordings to create the renowned Wall of Sound in the 1960s, attended the hearing with his wife and two bodyguards.
Spector has maintained that Clarkson, 40, killed herself in his Alhambra mansion.
Jury selection is set to begin October 2.
