Bruce Cutler, whose medical appointment suspended the Phil Spector trial for today, said he didn't want to talk about the details of his medical condition now. But he said he has another doctor's exam in the afternoon.
"Superman has to get some kryptonite taken out of his system. I want to get through this, so I can keep lifting the world the way I want to," Cutler said.
In a surprise development, Judge Larry Fidler announced this morning that defense attorney Bruce Cutler needed to "see a doctor" and the trial would be delayed until Wednesday.
If you’re thoroughly hooked on the Spector trial, you might have to find the courtroom equivalent of methaone Tuesday.
With massive May Day demonstrations expected at Los Angeles City Hall, directly across from the courthouse, officials are expected to give jurors a break and cancel court.
The live broadcast coverage of the Phillip Spector murder trial is unusual event in California. Just as unusual was prosecutor Alan Jackson’s interview aired over the weekend.
Jackson was interviewed by CBS' 48 Hours on his last case: the successful prosecution of Michael Goodwin for the 1988 murders of famed race car driver and promoter Mickey Thompson and his wife.
Goodwin was sentenced to life in prison, although he was not at the scene and always denied any role in the killings, which he reportedly hired two assassins on bicycle to carry out. By contrast, actress Lana Clarkson died at Spector's house.
Jackson has suggested both killings sprang from the same thing: pride and ego.
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Testimony from the first witness, Dorothy Melvin, settled into a "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" description of Spector, with the defendant described as a compelling and romantic suitor and a genius, who changed into something else. Prosecutors said the other side was "a raging maniac."
"Phil is a really brilliant and charming man, and you really enjoy him when he’s in his charming mode. Then when he’s drinking," Melvin testified today. "He snaps. He turns on a dime and becomes a lunatic."
The first witness, Dorothy Melvin, is one of four women expected to testify that Spector abused them and threatened them with guns. She said the two had been dating when she met Spector at his home in Pasadena in 1993. She watched him drink much of a bottle of vodka. Melvin told prosecutor Patrick Dixon she fell asleep, and then found Spector pointing a handgun at her. He ordered her upstairs and told her to disrobe, then accused her of stealing. He struck her twice in the head, cursed at her, and ordered her to leave, Melvin testified, and then pointed a shotgun at her.
As Melvin talked, Spector sat motionless at the counsel table, hands clasped and resting against his mouth. Baden, one of his lawyers, placed her arm around the back of his chair.
Cutler had belittled Melvin and other Spector accusers as "women with tears and tall tales and stories."
Lunch, delivered by a caterer near the Rose Bowl, was lasagna, asparagus, garlic cheese bread, Italian and antipasto salads, and a dessert of strawberry-covered cheesecake.
Shortly before court resumed at 1:35 p.m., the judge, Larry Fidler, came into court waving an envelope.
"Ladies and gentlemen," he said, "one of the things you’re told when you reported is that no one is exempt" from jury duty. He opened the envelope, his own jury summons, and announced that he doesn't have to respond until August. "So we’re safe." Spector's trial is expected to last two or three months.
The other humorous interlude came when Fidler told Cutler he had some good news and some bad news for him. Cutler, a fierce New Yorker, had made a passing gripe the day before about the lack of drinking water in California courtrooms.
"The good news is, I did supply some plastic cups," Fidler said. "The bad news is that you will be billed at the end of the trial. "
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