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Spector trial delayed again over lawyer's illness

Testimony was postponed until next week in the murder trial of legendary rock producer Phil Spector Tuesday due to the illness of his lead defense attorney, court officials said.
/ Source: Reuters

Testimony was postponed until next week in the murder trial of legendary rock producer Phil Spector Tuesday due to the illness of his lead defense attorney, court officials said.

Court was unexpectedly recessed Monday and jurors sent home after defense lawyer Bruce Cutler became ill.

Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler initially told the nine-man, three-woman jury that testimony would resume on Wednesday, but Cutler's health issues will require further delays, a court spokeswoman said.

Prosecutors and the rest of Spector's defense team were now expected to meet without the jurors Wednesday to hammer out legal issues.

Among them are a request by prosecutors to bar the testimony of several defense witnesses -- possibly including forensic scientist Henry Lee -- because, they say, Spector's attorneys had failed to provide discovery materials on time.

No details have been made public about Cutler's illness, though the hard-charging lawyer, best-known for defending New York mob figure John Gotti, has told Reuters that he was undergoing further tests.

He could not immediately be reached for comment on Tuesday.

Spector, 67, is charged with shooting actress Lana Clarkson to death in the foyer of his castle-like mansion outside Los Angeles shortly before 5 a.m. on Feb. 3, 2003.

Prosecutors say Spector, best known for his innovative "wall-of-sound" recording technique, has a long history of brandishing guns at women.

Defense attorneys say evidence will show that Clarkson, 40-year-old star of such films as "Barbarian Queen" and "Amazon Women on the Moon," was holding the gun when it went off.

Jurors have so far heard from only one witness in the trial, a former girlfriend of Spector, who testified that he threatened her with a snub-nosed revolver and a shotgun after a night of heavy drinking in July 1993.