Bill Pavelic - William Bill Pavelic

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June 18, 2007 Monday 2:09 PM PST

City News Service

BYLINE: CIARAN McEVOY

DATELINE: LOS ANGELES

One of Phil Spector’s former attorneys was found in contempt of court today for refusing to testify for the prosecution in the music producer’s

murder trial, and she could be sent to jail unless an appellate court overturns the judge’s decision.
Spector, 67, is accused of fatally shooting Lana Clarkson, a 40-year-old ac-tress and House of Blues hostess, in the foyer of his Alhambra mansion

during the early hours of Feb. 3, 2003. He maintains Clarkson’s death was a suicide.
Sara Caplan, a former attorney for Spector, was ordered Thursday to testify despite her insistence that attorney-client privilege should protect her

from being called to take the stand.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler ruled the attorney- client privilege does not apply to Caplan witnessing defense expert Henry Lee

allegedly compromising a possible piece of evidence in Spector’s foyer the day after Clarkson’s death.
Outside the presence of jurors, Caplan was called to the stand by prosecutors today, but she refused to answer any questions. Fidler then said he

had no choice but to hold her in contempt of court.
“I can certainly admire her for taking this stand on her principles, but there’s a difference between admiring her and agreeing with her,” Fidler said.

“The process of the court and the requirement of law insist that she testify.
“As I say, although I can admire what she’s doing and what she’s going through, I cannot allow it,” he said. “And I cannot find it to be an adequate

explanation or basis for refusal to testify.”
Fidler ordered her to be jailed without bail until she testifies, but said he would delay the punishment until 4 p.m. Friday to give a state Court of

Appeal a chance to review his ruling that she be required to testify.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys had tried to hammer out an agreement that would prevent Caplan from being forced to testify — possibly by

developing a stipulation that could be read to the jury.
The prosecution presented a proposed deal to the court earlier today, but it was rejected by defense attorneys.
Prosecutors have called Caplan to testify that she saw Lee pick up a small white object in the foyer on Feb. 4, 2003. Caplan twice provided such

testimony last month outside the presence of the jury but refuses to do so when jurors are present.
On May 23, Fidler ruled that Lee compromised possible evidence and withheld it from the prosecution. He said he based much of his decision on

Caplan’s tes-timony. Lee has vehemently denied allegations of evidence tampering.
Prosecutors have long alleged that defense attorneys withheld evidence — no-tably the small white object, which they contend could be a piece of

one of Clarkson’s fingernails. Prosecutors have said the fingernail could be a sign that Clarkson was trying to push the gun out of her mouth when

she was shot — indicating she and Spector struggled before she died.
Also in court today, attorneys clashed over a defense motion requesting an evidentiary hearing for alleged “outrageous” conduct by the prosecution.
Defense attorney Christopher Plourd, in his motion, included statements that former defense investigator Bill Pavelic made on Court TV alleging that

Deputy District Attorney Patrick Dixon infiltrates defense teams. Pavelic also alleged that Dixon and former defense investigator Stan White have a

working relation-ship, according to the motion. White is expected to testify in the prosecution’s case-in-chief.
Fidler said he would not grant an evidentiary hearing unless Pavelic gave a sworn declaration.
“I’m not going to act on the basis of a television interview and nothing more,” he said.
Shortly afterward, Dixon, who denied Pavelic’s allegations, was heard yelling at Plourd in the hallway outside the courtroom.
In today’s testimony, James Carroll, a Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department criminalist and firearms expert, testified that the Colt Cobra. 38-caliber

re-volver that killed Clarkson was fired from inside her mouth. But he also said he couldn’t say whose finger was on the trigger when the gun went

off.
Criminalist Steven Dowell, who works for the Los Angeles County Coroner’s of-fice, testified that particles of gunshot residue were found on

Clarkson’s hands and tongue.
Clarkson was a Long Beach native best known for her starring role in the 1985 Roger Corman cult film “Barbarian Queen.”
Spector, 1989 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee famed in music circles for his layered “Wall of Sound” recording technique, is free on $1 million bail.

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