5/25/07 (CA):
Spector Expert Withheld Evidence, Rules Judge
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Renowned Forensic Scientist Henry Lee 's extraordinary reputation is under attack. The judge in Phil Spector's murder trial has ruled that Lee removed something from the scene where actress Lana Clarkson was shot and withheld it from the prosecution.
"Dr. Lee has a lot to lose here," said Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler, who cast doubt on the expert's credibility. The judge heard testimony from several witnesses over a period of weeks on the mystery of a piece of fingernail missing from the crime scene.
The judge concluded that only one, former Spector lawyer Sara Caplan, told the complete truth. She said she saw Lee pick up something and place it in a vial.
"I find the following," Fidler said. "Dr. Lee did recover an item. It is flat, white, with rough edges. I cannot say if it is a fingernail. It has never been presented to the prosecution."
The judge declined to hold Lee in contempt of court, and he rejected a prosecution bid to instruct jurors that Henry Lee is not a credible witness.
But he will allow jurors to make that decision themselves. And so, he will allow prosecutors to present evidence about the fingernail to impeach Lee's credibility if he testifies for the defense.
Lee denied during a hearing last week that he found such an item. He said his only findings were some white threads and a piece of bloodstained carpet.
The prosecution contends Lee withheld a piece of fingernail with the trace of a passing bullet. Prosecutors say it would show Clarkson resisted having a gun placed in her mouth. Her right thumb was missing a piece of acrylic fingernail after her death.
Lee's resume is a who's who of celebrity cases, including O.J Simpson, William Kennedy Smith, Kobe Bryant, JonBenet Ramsey, Scott Peterson, Chandra Levy, Michael Skakel, Vincent Foster and the Branch Davidian compound fire.
He has written books on famous cases, had a Court TV show on trace evidence and teaches at the Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science at the University of New Haven, which trains crime lab experts.
University of Southern California Law professor Jean Rosenbluth, who has been attending Spector's trial, noted the judge did not sanction Lee and issued what she called a "benign and narrow ruling." But she said it could smudge his career.
"Any time he takes the stand now he can be impeached with a finding by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge that he failed to turn over evidence," Rosenbluth said. "It's certainly not helpful."
But the defense attorneys who hired him to testify for Spector seemed unfazed by the ruling.
"Dr. Lee is a very credible witness," attorney Christopher Plourd said. "He didn't do anything wrong. Let the jury consider his credibility."
Plourd, who is handling scientific evidence, said: "We think it's an act of despair by the prosecutors because they don't like what the science shows. So they go after the scientist."
Prosecutors promised to call witnesses to impeach Lee as a witness. The trial continues Monday.
Although the substance of Lee's anticipated testimony is not known, he will most likely interpret trace evidence including blood spatter patterns to support the defense claim that Clarkson killed herself in Spector's home.
© X-Pro 2007
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