Coroner testifies in Phil Spector murder trial, says actress' death was homicide

Lana Clarkson's death was a homicide, a coroner testified Tuesday in record producer Phil Spector's murder trial, describing the actress as a hopeful person with no history of depression or suicide attempts.

Dr. Louis Pena said her gunshot death with a purse on one shoulder at a stranger's home was not typical of someone taking their own life.

Pena's testimony was offered to undermine the defense claim that Clarkson placed the gun in her own mouth and pulled the trigger in an act of suicide.

Spector, 67, is accused of murdering Clarkson, 40, on Feb. 3, 2003, after she agreed to accompany him to his suburban mansion from her job as a hostess at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip.

Pena was asked by prosecutor Alan Jackson to make a judgment beyond those facts determined on the autopsy table.

He cited a chauffeur's account that Spector came out of his house with a gun in his hand, evidence that the gun had been wiped and a large amount of Clarkson's blood in the left pocket of Spector's pants, which could indicate the gun was placed in the pocket.

He also said Clarkson did not possess a gun and he cast doubt on the scenario of Clarkson looking around Spector's house for a gun.

The coroner said Clarkson had been taking two drugs, Elavil and Paxil, which are psychiatric medications generally given for depression, but that the actress had been seeing a neurologist who prescribed them for chronic headaches and was attempting to see if they were effective. He noted that if she wanted to commit suicide she could have saved enough of those pills in a few months for an overdose.

Rather, he said, "I found her to be a hopeful person from the notes I read."

And unlike the withdrawal from society that is typical of a clinically depressed person, "she loved to go out," Pena said.

He suggested that as an actress Clarkson may have thought Spector was someone who could have career connections for her, and he said there was no evidence she had been putting her affairs in order in advance of a suicide.

"And based on all of those totality of circumstances, based on everything you have just told us about, what is your opinion as to the manner of Miss Clarkson's death?" Jackson asked.

"This is a homicide," Pena declared.

Pena testified that based on scientific findings the barrel of a gun may have been forced into Clarkson's mouth, bruising her tongue before the gunshot that killed her.

Pena acknowledged it was the first time he testified about the bruise, which was not mentioned earlier in the case.

Pena said he was asked by prosecutors to go back and examine it and he also said he discussed the matter with his colleagues before reaching a conclusion.

"The bruise is very unique and is consistent with blunt-force trauma. Something struck the tongue," Pena said.

Asked whether the bruise was made before the shot that killed Clarkson, Pena said it was.

Jurors were shown graphic, sometimes shocking, photos of the damage done to Clarkson's face and the inside of her mouth.

At least one juror looked away from the large display on a movie screen, and for the first time Clarkson's mother and sister were not present in the courtroom.

Pena gave a powerful description of the moment that the actress died. He said the gun was in her mouth and the recoil from the shot shattered her top front teeth, blowing them out of her mouth.

Jackson asked Pena to describe the incapacitation that followed the shot.

Pena said that the shot went through her head, severed her spine and death would have been almost instantaneous.

Pena also testified that there were bruises on Clarkson's right arm and wrist and described two of the bruises as "significant."

Spector rose to fame in the 1960s with what became known as the "Wall of Sound" recording technique that changed pop music. Clarkson was best known for her role in Roger Corman's 1985 cult film "Barbarian Queen."