June 28, 2007 7:42

Phil Spector Trial: Day 29

Defence say Lana Clarkson was depressed

The defence team in the murder trial of music producer Phil Spector today pressed ahead with their conclusion that Lana Clarkson died of suicide, and was not a murder victim.

Forensic expert Dr. Vincent DiMaio today testified that Clarkson was a depressed, ageing, out-of-work actress, based on his study of her emails, medical records and more.

Clarkson, 40, was working as a waitress up to the time of her deathn in February 2003. She was found dead at the mansion of Phil Spector, having died from a single shot to the head.

"She had financial problems. She was afraid of being evicted. In one of the e-mails she said she had no job skills," DiMaio told the court. "She was an actress, was 40 years of age. I'm sorry, that's sex discrimination, but that's the way it is."

DiMaio also told the court that Clarkson had been taking Vicodin, and had addiction problems. He also said she had told a doctor that she was “at the end of her rope”

DiMaio testified that it was Clarkson who pulled the trigger, and not Spector. He described how she would have balanced the gun, and used a 3-D model of her tongue and model of her head to illustrate his points.

Clarkson’s mother and sister left the courtroom during DiMaio’s graphic account of how he said she died.

He also recalled statistics of female suicides, claiming the majority of women who commit suicide do so with handguns. The prosecution countered his claim with statistics from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which states most female suicide cases are due to poisoning.

--By our New York staff.
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