Fingernail evidence

Judge Larry Fidler this afternoon opened a court hearing into a claim that the defense was hiding a fingernail taken from Phil Spector's Alhambra castle after actress Lana Clarkson's shooting death in February 2003. Prosecutors have raised the issue before; in 2004 they filed a motion saying they had learned the defense had a nail fragment blackened on one side with gunpowder residue, which could indicate that Clarkson shot herself. Prosecutors say Spector shot her. Judge Carlos Uranga at the time ordered the defense to turn over the fingernail, but the attorneys said they had never had it.

Fidler said the issue had been raised again by a former clerk to Robert Shapiro, Spector's first defense attorney. Fidler said he appointed Loyola Law School professor Laurie Levenson to look into the issue, and she came across possible physical evidence the defense should have turned over to the prosecution. The judge said he decided to hold a hearing to see if there is any truth to the secret fingernail report. Leslie Abramson, who succeeded Shapiro on Spector's defense team, is at the hearing. Fidler admonished her not to shake her head when he spoke. She said she was doing so because the issue was "a ghost of Christmas past." A few moments later she shook her head again. "You want me to not be Jewish now ?" she said. "I'm not even going to reply to that," Fidler answered Shapiro has been subpoenaed to come into court as well.