Forensic expert reaffirms testimony: Spector case is a homicide

Forensic pathologist, Dr. Louis Pena, who performed the autopsy on actress Lana Clarkson, testified again on Wednesday that the death was an intentional killing and not a suicide, thus negating Phil Spectors’ claims and was cross questioned by defense lawyer all morning.

On his second day as prosecution witness, Deputy Coroner Louis Pena reasserted the jury that the death was a homicide. When cross questioned by defense lawyer, Pena reaffirmed that presence of gun residue on the victim’s hand does not necessarily mean that she shot herself.

He even explained how gun residue could drop on a person when he’s being shot by somebody, by putting his hands around his face and chest.

"There are two ways to look at it. It implies the person could have been holding the weapon or been in the vicinity when the weapon was discharged," Pena said.

He also told the defense lawyer that even the person who has the gun in hand may not have traces of gun powder after the shot.

The prosecution witness disclosed that after examining Clarkson’s body he discovered bruises on her tongue, her right arm and hand which brings out a possibility that she was being threatened with a gun in her mouth and was under the pressure of her murderer.

When cross questioned by the defense lawyer about the possibility of the presence of the bruise on the tongue due to the gunshot, the doctor answered that such occurrence was “not normally seen”. He also added that there was no way to confirm how fresh the bruises were considering the fact that Lana took a lot of pain medications.

He also said that while collecting evidence they found large amount of Clarkson’s blood in the left pocket of Spector’s pants which suggests that the gun had been placed in the pocket and was also wiped.

Being asked to analyze the entire situation, Pena disclosed that he had a different picture of Clarkson in mind. All that he could gather from various sources about her is that she was a hopeful person and had no records of suicide attempts or depression. He also added that a suicide with purse on one shoulder at a stranger’s place was a rare possibility and it is a simple case of murder.

"It bothered me a lot that she had her purse on her right shoulder," Pena said yesterday. "It's difficult for someone to take a weapon and shoot herself with the purse staying on her shoulder. It should be off."

Defense attorney Christopher Plourd also asked him if there was a possibility that the handbag stayed on her shoulder due to a self inflicted wound. Pena confirmed the possibility but added that the circumstantial and physical analysis made him reach the conclusion that the death was a homicide.

The defense attorney tried to shoot down the witnesses stand by saying that it was only once in the court that the forensic expert mentioned the significance of the purse and it was not mentioned anywhere in his reports or notes to which the doctor agreed but insisted that he mentioned it in a meeting once before.

When asked about any mistakes that Pena’s team made during the investigation, he answered that one of his dental investigators lost one of Clarkson’s teeth which was kept in a vial. Pena was given a taped vial, which seemed to have been assembled after breakage and wasn’t told about the incident for several months.

"There were three vials collected to be examined by the odontologist," Pena said. "What happened is on review in meeting with the odontologist he admitted he broke one of the vials and the tooth fragment was lost. It flew around the room somewhere."

He also told the jury that the dental investigator sealed the vial again but the fragment was never found.
He also conceded that Clarkson’s body was moved in a wrong manner which caused blood to flow out of her mouth making it difficult to evaluate her dress for blood spatter.

Forensic expert Henry Lee, was also under the doubt umbrella as a retired sheriff's investigator who worked for Spector's initial attorney told the court he saw Lee hold a piece of fingernail in a handkerchief at the time of inspection of the scene in an earlier hearing.

The prosecutor confirmed the incident by showing the jury a photograph of the actress’s bloodstained right hand, which showed that part of her acrylic thumbnail was missing. According to prosecution this finding directly pointed towards a rift that must have happened between Spector and Lana before the killing. They also hinted that the defense hid the evidence to save their case.

The defense lawyer cross questioned the doctor all morning and also asked a lot of questions on defense experts Vincent DiMaio and Werner Spitz, whose textbook Pena was consulting during the investigation.

The testimony will resume tomorrow at 9:30 a.m.

Harvey Phillip Spector, 67, is accused of shooting actress Lana Clarkson, 40, through the mouth on 03 February 2003 early morning in his mansion. Spector who is presently free on $1-million bail, on the other hand claims that Lana committed suicide.

Spector, 67, the American musician songwriter and record producer will face 15 years of life imprisonment if convicted of murder.

Actress Lana Clarkson was famous for her notable performance in the movie Barbarian Queen.