40-minute gap

What did Phil Spector do in the 40 minutes between the time Lana Clarkson was shot and police arrived at his Alhambra mansion, the scene of her death?

Some of the most impassioned arguments during the last two days has centered on the lost minutes.

Prosecutor Alan Jackson played recordings of a series of 911 conversations in which Spector’s chauffeur tried desperately to get help after the shooting. Despite 14 telephones in his house, Spector himself did not call for help. Spector has not testified, so jurors haven’t heard his account.

This afternoon, defense lawyer Linda Kenney Baden physically recoiled when she recalled Jackson’s claim that Spector used the time to “clean up” and plant a gun on Clarkson -- “to stage a suicide.” Baden was at her assertive best in stating there is “no evidence whatsoever” of any staging.

“He wasn’t trying to hide or wipe anything,” she said of Spector.

She may have not fully blunted the power of Jackson's arguments yesterday, however.

Spector was “panicking and trying to clean up what he had messed up,” Jackson said of those critical 40 minutes. “And of all things -- by God -- he chose toilet water to wipe on her face. “

Jackson said the evidence showed that Spector used a diaper to wipe Clarkson’s face in death -- a diaper that he moistened in an upstairs toilet.

The rock producer’s actions were “disgusting, barbaric, monstrous,” said Jackson, who argued they showed consciousness of guilt.

This afternoon, Baden insisted Spector did not wash his hands and was not involved in a coverup.

-- John Spano