Phil Spector Trial Catchphrase Definitely No ‘If It Does Not Fit’

Opening arguments for the Phil Spector murder trial began yesterday and resume today live on Court TV (WigWatch: A Level-8 Blonde Shag), where current title-holder of Hardest Working Man in Show Business, attorney Bruce Cutler, continues to lay out the groundwork of his defence. Phase One: Convince the jury Spector’s long history of pressing guns to the head of women who refused to put out for him has no bearing on the trial. Phase Two: Coin your own nonsensical catchphrase, in the hopes that repeating it ad nauseam will somehow get your guy off:

He implied that Clarkson may have been using the gun as a sexual prop.

“Playing with guns in a provocative or salacious manner can result in death,” he said.

He told jurors police had rushed to judgment because of Spector’s fame and wealth.

“They had murder on their minds,” he said, raising his hands above his head and waving his fingers. It was a phrase he repeated a half dozen times.

He jumped quickly between topics, listing some of the musicians Spector had worked with including Tina Turner, John Lennon and the Rolling Stones and then describing scientific evidence which he said would prove Spector was too far from Clarkson to have pulled the trigger.

Luckily for the prosecution, the exhaustive Celebrity Sycophancy Inventory personality test administered to the jury pool weeded out most people who may have been swayed by the accused’s impressive rock n’ roll friends, most of whom appear to have erected a Wall of Silence regarding their former producer’s strength of character anyway.

• Phil Spector’s defense forced to change course from the beginning after prosecutors’ surprise [CourtTV.com]