If Phil Spector decides to take the witness stand, he should think long and hard about telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Thata??s the cryptic message from Los Angeles Judge Larry Paul Fidler, whoa??s presiding over the a??Wall of Sounda?? producera??s murder trial. Fidler says that while he doesna??t hold grudges against defendants who testify in their own defense, therea??s nothing he despises more than under-oath liars.
a??If you get up there and you pretty clearly lie, I doubt any judge is going to much like that client,a?? the jurist told a Loyola Marymount Law School symposium the other day during a break in the trial. Without mentioning Spector, he added: a??How is this going to affect sentencing? That may be too far down the line, but does anyone like someone who comes in and lies in front of 12 strangers plus the judge? Probably not.a??
Spector, whoa??s charged with blowing away B-movie actress Lana Clarkson, faces 15 years to life if convicted.
The LMU event, hosted by Fidler, drew an eye-popping array of celebrity lawyers, including Tom Mesereau (who repped Michael Jackson), Mark Geragos (for Scott Peterson) and Harland Braun (for Robert Blake) - and they all gleefully took shots at past enemies, The Posta??s David K. Li reports.
Of TV legal pundits, Mesereau said: a??There are some very professional legal analysts out there - but there are also some absolute monstrosities like Nancy Dis-Grace.a??
Geragos also whacked Grace, calling her a a??yapping, bleached blonde former prosecutor on Court TV.a?? He went on to remark on the undue influence of Foxa??s Greta Van Susteren on high-profile cases: a??Our favorite expression coming in the morning before the judge was, WWGS - a??What would Greta say?a?? No matter what the ruling was the night before, whatever Greta would say that night, wea??d have to revisit that ruling if she didna??t agree.a??
Braun joked that he was misquoted when he seemed to have said that anyone who met Blakea??s slain wife, Bonnie Lee Bakley, would have wanted her dead: a??What I said: a??If I was married to her, I would have killed her myselfa?? a?? - drawing big yuks from the crowd.
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