Legal tussle

The legal cat fight over allegations the defense took possible evidence -- a broken fingernail -- from the scene of actress Lana Clarkson's shooting involved a role reversal, of sorts. In many criminal cases, the defense attacks the police investigation, and the prosecution defends it. But in day 3 of a hearing over the possibly purloined fingernail, the defense is trying to show the cops did too good a job to have overlooked anything important at Phil Spector's castle-like mansion, where Clarkson died in 2003. Defense attorney Christopher Plourd has spent a good part of the afternoon on this quest, calling a top sheriff’s criminalist, Steve Renteria, to testify that many investigators spent two days going over the house, with a focus on the entry hall where Clarkson was found shot to death. Earlier the man who did the autopsy, Dr. Louis Pena, was called by the defense, also to show how thorough the examination was. Prosecutors have said a broken fingernail could show Clarkson died in a struggle. Defense attorneys argue she shot herself, either accidentally or in a suicide.