Category: Lawsuits

Charlie Sheen arrested on Christmas
ASPEN, Colo. ó Charlie Sheen was arrested Friday in the Colorado resort town of Aspen on charges related to domestic violence, police said.
The star of CBSí ìTwo and a Half Menî was taken into custody on suspicion of second-degree assault and menacing, both felonies, along with criminal mischief, a misdemeanour, Aspen police spokeswoman Stephanie Dasaro said.
Police arrested the 44-year-old actor after responding to a 911 call regarding a report of domestic violence at 8:34 a.m. at a historic house up for sale for $7.5 million. The alleged victim in the case, whose name was withheld, did not have to be taken to the hospital, police said.
Police said Sheen will be held without bond until his first court appearance in this ski resort town about 200 miles west of Denver. The court was closed for Christmas, and no date for his appearance has been set.
Jail officials said Sheen wasnít available to comment. After-hours messages left for his managers werenít immediately returned.
Dasaro said Sheen would be advised of any bond conditions when he appears in court. Colorado law requires protection orders between people arrested in domestic violence cases and their alleged victims.
Sheen is the son of actor Martin Sheen. He is married to Brooke Mueller Sheen, who gave birth to the coupleís first children, twin boys, in March. They married in May 2008 following Sheenís bitter divorce from Denise Richards.
Charlie Sheenís screen credits include ìPlatoon,î ìWall Streetì and the ìHot Shots!ì movies. He nearly died of a drug overdose in 1998 but received court-ordered rehabilitation.

Rockers No Doubt sue Activision over “Band Hero”
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ñ Rock band No Doubt sued video game publisher Activision Blizzard Inc over the use of their likeness on its new “Band Hero” product, accusing the company of turning the rockers into a virtual karaoke act.
No Doubt and Activision had a contract allowing the company to use the band members in the game, but Activision, which is based in Santa Monica, California, went beyond the agreement by allowing gamers to use avatars of the band performing songs from other rock groups, the lawsuit states.
“Band Hero” is a variation on Activision’s “Guitar Hero” game, which was launched in 2005 and passed the $2 billion sales mark at the beginning of this year.
The lawsuit was filed on Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, a day after “Band Hero” hit stores, and it accuses Activision of fraudulent inducement and breach of contract.
In one instance of how “Band Hero” allows for unauthorized use of No Doubt’s likeness, a feature on the game has the band’s Gwen Stefani singing Rolling Stones song “Honky Tonk Women,” the band’s lawsuit states.
The feature “results in an unauthorized performance by the Gwen Stefani avatar in a male voice boasting about having sex with prostitutes,” the lawsuit states.
In a statement the company said: “Activision believes it is within its legal rights with respect to the use and portrayal of the band members in the game and that this lawsuit is without merit.”
With its lawsuit, No Doubt is seeking unspecified damages and an injunction preventing Activision from distributing the game. No Doubt wants Activision to recall existing copies.
No Doubt hails from the suburban community of Anaheim, California, south of Los Angeles, and the band scored hits with the songs “Don’t Speak” and “Underneath It All.”
In September, Courtney Love, the widow of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, criticized Activision for using Cobain’s likeness in “Guitar Hero 5” in ways that she did not approve of, including singing songs from other bands.

Bachman brothers battle over BTO name
Canadian rocker Randy Bachman is in a court fight with his younger brother Robin over the rights to the name of their iconic 1970s group Bachman-Turner Overdrive.
Robin Bachman and Blair Thornton, both former BTO members, have launched a lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver.
The suit claims Randy Bachman and Fred Turner, the other member of the rock quartet, signed away their rights to the names Bachman-Turner Overdrive, BTO and any similar brands when Randy left BTO in 1977 to go solo.
Thornton and Robin Bachman claim Randy Bachman’s company trademarked the name Bachman-Turner and Bachman-Turner Union in Canada and the United States earlier this year.
The pair claim those names could be confused with the BTO identity.
Their statement of claim asks for an injunction, saying Randy Bachman and Turner are confusing the public and businesses into believing their other companies are connected with the business of Bachman-Turner Overdrive.
Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s hits, such as Taking Care of Business and Hey You, climbed the charts in the 1970s. Randy Bachman, 66, is currently host of the CBC Radio show Randy Bachman’s Vinyl Tap.

Suspect’s lawyer says Letterman ‘manipulates’
NEW YORK ñ The defense lawyer for the CBS News producer charged with trying to extort $2 million from David Letterman is calling the talk-show host “a master at manipulating audiences.”
Attorney Gerald Shargel defended Robert J. “Joe” Halderman on Monday during a round of interviews on network television morning shows.
Shargel says the charge against his client is “so obviously out of character to the point of not making any sense.”
He says that Letterman manipulates audiences for a living and that to think he “gave the entire story and there’s nothing more to be said is simply wrong.”
Halderman is a producer for the true-crime show “48 Hours Mystery.” He pleaded not guilty Friday in Manhattan to attempted first-degree grand larceny.
Shargel says he’s looking forward to cross-examining Letterman.

DA: Man charged in Letterman plot was deep in debt
NEW YORK ñ A CBS newsman who prosecutors said was desperate and deep in debt was charged Friday with trying to blackmail David Letterman for $2 million in a plot that forced the late night comic to acknowledge having sex with some of the women who have worked for him.
The bizarre case created a messy legal and professional problem for one of CBS’ most valuable personalities. Commentators and bloggers quickly accused Letterman of hypocrisy because he has made a career of mocking politicians mercilessly, often for their sexual transgressions.
From a strictly business perspective, Letterman’s revelations on Thursday’s show were an immediate success: His overnight ratings were up 38 percent over the same night a week ago, the Nielsen Co. said.
It remains to be seen whether Letterman will suffer long-term damage just as his career appears to be peaking. Letterman has taken over as the king of late-night in the ratings this summer, and last week he beat NBC’s Conan O’Brien for the first time among young viewers.
Robert J. “Joe” Halderman, a producer for the true-crime show “48 Hours Mystery,” pleaded not guilty in a Manhattan court as he was arraigned on one count of attempted first-degree grand larceny, punishable by five to 15 years in prison. He was released after posting $200,000 bail.
Halderman’s connection to Letterman was not immediately clear, but public records show that until August, he lived in Norwalk, Conn., with Stephanie Birkitt, a 34-year-old woman who works on the “Late Show” staff and used to work at “48 Hours.”
Birkitt was an assistant to Letterman on the “Late Show” and frequently appeared on camera with the host in comedy bits. Last month, Birkitt moved to Manhattan’s upper West Side. There was no answer Friday at a phone listed in her name.
It was unclear how many women were involved in relationships with Letterman, 62, who married longtime girlfriend Regina Lasko in March. The couple began dating in 1986 and have a son, Harry, born in November 2003.
All the affairs took place before Letterman’s marriage, said Tom Keaney, spokesman for Letterman’s production company, Worldwide Pants. Keaney also said Letterman “is not in violation” of the company’s harassment policy “and no one has ever raised a complaint against him.”
CBS issued a statement Friday: “We think it was appropriate for Dave to disclose the matter publicly as he has, and we are continuing to cooperate with authorities.”
CBS would not address questions about whether Letterman faced any disciplinary actions for relationships with subordinates. CBS News also declined to address questions about whether Halderman’s alleged actions call into question any of the work he has done for the news division.
David Lande, a New York City-based civil attorney whose cases have included sexual harassment, said Letterman presumably was in a position of power with a voice in hiring, firing and promotions.
“So, to the extent that he had control over these factors with the women he was involved with, he could be subject to liability,” he said. “I am sure CBS lawyers are reviewing the matter very carefully.”
Shanti Atkins, president of ELT, a firm that consults on ethics and sex in the workplace issues, said Letterman, his company and CBS could also be vulnerable to claims of sexual favoritism by others in the company if they believe people got ahead because they were sleeping with the boss.
Assistant District Attorney Judy Salwen told the judge Halderman was in debt, but did not elaborate.
“The evidence is compelling,” she said. “It shows the defendant is desperate, and he is capable of doing anything.”
The prosecutor said Halderman gave the talk show host a package of materials that “contained clear, explicit and actual threats that indicate this defendant … (wanted to) destroy the reputation of Mr. Letterman and to submit him and his family to humiliation and ridicule.”
Halderman, hands cuffed behind his back, stared at the floor during most of Friday’s court hearing and said only “not guilty.”
His lawyer, Gerald Shargel, said Halderman worked at CBS for 27 years and had no prior criminal record. He described him as an involved father who coached soccer, baseball and football and has two children, ages 11 and 18.
“This story is far more complicated than what you heard this afternoon,” Shargel said outside court, but he would not elaborate.
Halderman earned about $214,000 in 2007. He was ordered in 2007 to pay his ex-wife $6,800 per month in child and spousal support until May 2011, when the payments will be reduced to $5,966 until May 2014, according to papers filed in Stamford Superior Court.
He had asked for a reduction to $2,039 per month because his ex-wife, Patty Montet, was sharing a house in New Canaan with a man. But Montet argued ó and the judge agreed ó that her living arrangement was for convenience and not romantic. Montet also claimed Halderman was getting $1,500 a month from Birkitt.
“Mr. Halderman claims he is struggling financially, but it is difficult to see what, other than mismanagement and extravagant spending, is the reason for this,” Montet’s attorneys said in the court file. “His is a world of golf trips, vacations, increasing 401k assets, comprehensive benefits, security in employment, earnings as an award-winning producer for CBS, and home ownership.”
Halderman allegedly left an envelope in Letterman’s car early Sept. 9. According to authorities, he wrote that he needed “to make a large chunk of money” and said that Letterman’s world would “collapse around him” if damaging information about him were made public.
Letterman acknowledged that the letter contained proof that the late-night host had sexual relationships with members of his staff.
Three meetings between Letterman’s lawyer and Halderman subsequently took place in Manhattan’s Essex House hotel, the last two with the lawyer recording the conversations and prosecutors listening in, District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said.
At the last meeting, on Wednesday, the lawyer gave Halderman a phony check for $2 million, Morgenthau said.
Halderman deposited the check Thursday in a Connecticut bank and was arrested later that day outside CBS News’ Manhattan office, he said.
Halderman has been described by colleagues as a talented and occasionally volatile producer. His boss, Susan Zirinsky, called “48 Hours” staff members into a meeting on Friday to discuss the case, calling it a personal tragedy.
Marcy McGinnis, who was Halderman’s boss when she was CBS’ London bureau chief, said she had him work on many important stories, like Princess Diana’s death and the war in Bosnia. She said she was shocked by the alleged extortion.
“The idea of it is so unbelievable. This is a very smart guy. There must have been some sort of mental breakdown. I’m no expert, but it just seems like it was 100 percent out of character.”
It’s the second set of embarrassing headlines for Letterman in four months. He apologized on the air earlier this summer for a crude joke involving Sarah Palin’s family. But when the controversy continued to swirl, he came back after a weekend to offer a stronger mea culpa.
Letterman’s contract with CBS runs through next August, although the network has been in negotiations to continue that through 2012.
Advertisers spent $145.2 million on the show from January through June this year, according to TNS Media Intelligence. They appear to be holding firm behind the late night host.
“We haven’t seen any clients nor do we anticipate any clients looking to move inventory out of the show,” said Laura Caraccioli-Davis, an executive vice president and director at Starcom. “We believe that he handled it with full transparency. Consumers are looking for that authenticity and honesty.”

Lawyer: Polanski will fight extradition to the U.S.
ZURICH (AP) ó Imprisoned director Roman Polanski is in a “fighting mood” and will battle U.S. attempts to have him extradited from Switzerland to face justice in California for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl, his lawyer said Monday.
An international tug-of-war over the 76-year-old director escalated Monday as France and Poland urged Switzerland to free him on bail and pressed U.S. officials all the way up to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the case.
Polanski was in his third day of detention after Swiss police arrested him Saturday on an international warrant as he arrived in Zurich to receive a lifetime achievement award from a film festival.
Polanski has told Swiss officials that he will contest a U.S. request that he be transferred to the United States, attorney Herve Temime said in an e-mail. Temime said Polanski’s legal team would try to prove that the U.S. request was illegal and that the Oscar-winning director should be released from Swiss custody.
“Taking into account the extraordinary conditions of his arrest, his Swiss lawyer will seek his freedom without delay,” Temime said.
He also told France-Info radio that he was able to speak with Polanski from his Zurich cell.
“He was shocked, dumbfounded, but he is in a fighting mood and he is very determined to defend himself,” Temime said.
A complicated legal process awaited all sides. While France expressed hope that Polanski would be freed shortly, Swiss officials said there would be no rash decision.
The Swiss Justice Ministry on Monday did not rule out the possibility that Polanski, director of such classic films as “Chinatown” and “Rosemary’s Baby,” could be released on bail under very strict conditions that he doesn’t flee Switzerland.
Justice spokesman Guido Balmer said such an arrangement is “not entirely excluded” under Swiss law and that Polanski could file a motion on bail. But he said Switzerland’s top criminal court would undertake a thorough examination of evidence before deciding on any request, and that would take time.
“This is a legal story,” Balmer told The AP. “There is no room for political pressure.”
Authorities in Los Angeles consider Polanski a “convicted felon and fugitive.”
Polanski at the time had pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse and was sent to prison for 42 days of evaluation. Lawyers agreed that would be his full sentence, but the judge tried to renege on the plea bargain.
On the day of his sentencing in 1978, aware the judge would sentence him to more prison time and require his voluntary deportation, Polanski fled to France.
In Paris, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said he hoped Polanski could be quickly freed by the Swiss, calling the apprehension a “bit sinister.” He also told France-Inter radio that he and his Polish counterpart Radek Sikorski wrote to Clinton on the case.
Polanski was “thrown to the lions,” said French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand. “In the same way that there is a generous America that we like, there is also a scary America that has just shown its face.”
Polanski, who has dual French-Polish citizenship, has hired Swiss attorney Lorenz Erni to represent him in Switzerland, according to the law firm Eschmann & Erni.
Polanski seems most likely to spend several months in detention, unless he agrees to forgo any challenge to his extradition to the United States. Under a 1990 accord between Switzerland and the U.S., Washington has 60 days to submit a formal request for his transfer. Rulings in a similar dispute four years ago over Russia’s former atomic energy minister Yevgeny Adamov confirmed that subjects should be held in custody throughout the procedure.
That means the procedure for extradition could also be lengthy for the United States. Its request for Polanski’s transfer must first be examined by the Swiss Justice Ministry, and once approved it can be appealed at a number of courts.
The 2005 saga over Adamov’s extradition, eventually to Russia and not the U.S., took seven months. The case also sets a possible precedent for France, which may wish to try one of its own nationals in a domestic court rather than in Los Angeles.
For now, Polanski is living in a Zurich cell where he receives three meals a day and is allowed outside for one hour of daily exercise.
Rebecca de Silva, spokeswoman for the Zurich prison authorities, refused to say exactly where Polanski was being held for security reasons, but said cells are usually single or double occupancy and that each room contains a table, storage compartment, sink, toilet and television.
Family and friends can only see Polanski for an hour each week, but that does not include official visits from lawyers and consular diplomats, de Silva said.
The Justice Ministry insisted Sunday that politics played no role in its arrest order on Polanski, who lives in France but has spent much time at a chalet in the luxury Swiss resort of Gstaad. That has led to widespread speculation among his friends and even politicians in Switzerland that the neutral country was coerced by Washington into action.
Temime, Polanski’s lawyer, told the daily Le Parisien that the filmmaker stayed in Gstaad for months this year.
“He came here, but I have no idea how frequently,” said Toni von Gruenigen, deputy mayor of Saarnen, where the famously discreet community is located. “He kept a low profile.”
The U.S. has had an outstanding warrant on Polanski since 1978, but the Swiss said American authorities have sought the arrest of the director around the world only since 2005.
Polanski has asked a U.S. appeals court in California to overturn a judges’ refusal to throw out his case. He claims misconduct by the now-deceased judge who had arranged a plea bargain and then reneged on it.
His victim, Samantha Geimer, who long ago identified herself publicly, has joined in Polanski’s bid for dismissal, saying she wants the case to be over. She sued Polanski and reached an undisclosed settlement.
Earlier this year, Superior Court Judge Peter Espinoza in Los Angeles dismissed Polanski’s bid to throw out the case because the director failed to appear in court to press his request, but said there was “substantial misconduct” in the handling of the original case.
In his ruling, Espinoza said he reviewed not only legal documents, but also watched the HBO documentary, “Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired,” which suggests there was behind-the-scenes manipulations by a now-retired prosecutor not assigned to the case.
Polanski has lived for the past three decades in France, where his career has continued to flourish; he received a directing Oscar in absentia for the 2002 movie “The Pianist.” He is married to French actress Emanuelle Seigner, with whom he has two children.
He has avoided traveling to countries likely to extradite him. Balmer said the difference during Polanski’s visit this time to Zurich was that authorities knew when and where he would arrive. The Alpine country does not perform regular passport checks anymore on arrivals from 24 other European countries.
Balmer also rejected any hint that the arrest was somehow aimed at winning favor with the U.S. after a series of bilateral spats over tax evasion and wealthy Americans stashing money at Swiss banking giant UBS AG.
“There was a valid arrest request and we knew when he was coming. That’s why he was taken into custody,” Balmer told The AP. “There is no link with any other issues.”
The arrest prompted angry criticism Monday from fellow filmmakers and actors across Europe.
“It seems inadmissible … that an international cultural evening, paying homage to one of the greatest contemporary filmmakers, is used by police to apprehend him,” says a petition circulating in France and signed by artists including Costa Gavras, Stefen Frears and Monica Bellucci.
Oscar-winning director Andrzej Wajda and other Polish filmmakers also appealed for the immediate release of Polanski, a native of France who was taken to Poland by his parents, escaped Krakow’s Jewish ghetto as a child during World War II and lived off the charity of strangers. His mother died at the Nazis’ Auschwitz death camp.
Polanski has already “atoned for the sins of his young years,” Jacek Bromski, head of the Polish Filmmakers Association, told The AP. “He has paid for it by not being able to enter the U.S. and in his professional life he has paid for it by not being able to make films in Hollywood.”

Swiss police: Roman Polanski arrested for 1970s sex case
ZURICH (AP) ó Director Roman Polanski was arrested by Swiss police as he flew in for the Zurich Film Festival and faces possible extradition to the United States for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl, authorities said Sunday.
Polanski was scheduled to receive an honorary award at the festival when he was apprehended Saturday at the airport, the Swiss Justice Ministry said in a statement. It said U.S. authorities have sought the arrest of the 76-year-old director around the world since 2005.
“There was a valid arrest request and we knew when he was coming,” ministry spokesman Guido Balmer told The Associated Press. “That’s why he was taken into custody.”
Balmer said the U.S. would now have to make a formal extradition request.
Polanski fled the U.S. in 1978, a year after pleading guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with the underage girl. The director of such classic films as Chinatown and Rosemary’s Baby has asked a U.S. appeals court in California to overturn a judges’ refusal to throw out his case. He claims misconduct by the now-deceased judge who had arranged a plea bargain and then reneged on it.
The Swiss statement said Polanski was in “provisional detention for extradition,” but added he would not be transferred to U.S. authorities until all proceedings are completed. Polanski can contest his detention and any extradition decision in the Swiss courts, it said.
Polanski has lived for the past three decades in France, where his career has continued to flourish, and he received a directing Oscar in absentia for the 2002 movie The Pianist.
Polanski has not been extradited from France because his crime reportedly was not covered under treaties between the United States and France.
He has avoided traveling to countries likely to extradite him. For instance, he testified by video link from Paris in a 2005 libel trial in London against Vanity Fair magazine because he did not want to enter Britain for fear of being arrested.
In Paris, Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand said he was “dumbfounded” by Polanski’s arrest, adding that he “strongly regrets that a new ordeal is being inflicted on someone who has already experienced so many of them.”
Those comments referred to the fact that Polanski, a native of France who was taken to Poland by his parents, escaped Krakow’s Jewish ghetto as a child and lived off the charity of strangers. His mother died at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp.
Mitterrand’s ministry said Sunday that he was in contact with French President Nicolas Sarkozy “who is following the case with great attention and shares the minister’s hope that the situation can be quickly resolved.”
Polanski worked his way into filmmaking in Poland, gaining an Oscar nomination for best foreign-language film in 1964 for his Knife in the Water. Offered entry to Hollywood, he directed the classic Rosemary’s Baby in 1968.
But his life was shattered again in 1969 when his wife, actress Sharon Tate, and four other people were gruesomely murdered by followers of Charles Manson. She was eight months pregnant.
He went on to make another American classic, Chinatown, released in 1974.
In 1977, he was accused of raping the teenager while photographing her during a modeling session. The girl said Polanski plied her with champagne and part of a Quaalude pill at Jack Nicholson’s house while the actor was away. She said that, despite her protests, he performed oral sex, intercourse and sodomy on her.
Polanski was allowed to plead guilty to one of six charges, unlawful sexual intercourse, and was sent to prison for 42 days of evaluation.
Lawyers agreed that would be his full sentence, but the judge tried to renege on the plea bargain. Aware the judge would sentence him to more prison time and require his voluntary deportation, Polanski fled to France.
The victim, Samantha Geimer, who long ago identified herself publicly, has joined in Polanski’s bid for dismissal, saying she wants the case to be over. She sued Polanski and reached an undisclosed settlement.
Zurich Film Festival organizers said Polanski’s detention had caused “shock and dismay,” but said they would go ahead with Sunday’s planned retrospective of the director’s work.
The Swiss Directors Association sharply criticized authorities for what it deemed “not only a grotesque farce of justice, but also an immense cultural scandal.”

Tolkien estate, New Line settle lawsuit over films
LOS ANGELES ñ The heirs of J.R.R. Tolkien and a movie studio that produced the blockbuster “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy have settled a lawsuit over the films’ profits, it was announced Tuesday.
The out-of-court resolution clears the way for a two-film prequel based on Tolkien’s novel “The Hobbit” and will benefit charities around the world, according to a joint press release announcing the settlement.
The lawsuit had sought to rescind New Line Cinema’s rights to make films based on the book.
Tolkien’s heirs sued New Line Cinema in February 2008, claiming the studio owed it millions in profits from the movies released between 2001 and 2003. The films earned an estimated $6 billion in sales of movie tickets, DVDs and merchandise.
No settlement paperwork has yet been filed with a Los Angeles court. The terms of the deal are being kept confidential.
“We deeply value the contributions of the Tolkien novels to the success of our films and are pleased to have put this litigation behind us,” said Alan Horn, president and chief operating officer of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Warner Bros. acquired New Line in March 2008.
One of the main beneficiaries of the settlement is The Tolkien Trust, a British charity that supports causes around the world.
Christopher Tolkien, one of the author’s trustees, said the lawsuit was regrettable, but the estate is “glad that this dispute has been settled on satisfactory terms that will allow The Tolkien Trust to properly pursue its charitable objectives.”
Bonnie Eskenazi, an attorney who handled the lawsuit for the Tolkien estate, said the settlement vindicated the heirs and will touch more than just movie audiences.
The lawsuit claimed Tolkien’s trust received only an upfront payment of $62,500 for the three movies before production began but was due 7.5 percent of the gross receipts.
Peter Jackson, who directed “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, will serve as executive producer on “The Hobbit” films. The prequels have already endured a legal path as treacherous as the story’s trek by hobbit Bilbo Baggins to the Lonely Mountain.
Jackson and New Line feuded for a year over the trilogy’s profits before reaching an agreement in 2007 that cleared the way for work on “The Hobbit.”
The two prequels will be directed by Guillermo del Toro, who directed the two “Hellboy” movies and “Pan’s Labyrinth.”

Spector gets 19 years in jail
LOS ANGELES – Phil Spector was sentenced Friday to 19 years to life in prison for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson, who was shot through the mouth in the music producer’s home six years ago.
Spector, 69, looked straight forward and showed no emotion as Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler ordered a term of 15 years to life for second-degree murder plus four years for personal use of a gun.
Clarkson’s mother, Donna, made a brief statement before sentencing, speaking of her daughter’s fine qualities, sense of humour, intelligence and dedication to her craft of acting.
“I’m very proud of Lana, proud to be her mother,” Donna Clarkson said. She added, “No one should suffer the loss of a child.”
The judge also ordered Spector to pay $16,811 in funeral expenses, $9,740 to a state victims’ restitution fund and other fees.
Spector, dressed in his customary dark pinstripe suit with a red silk tie, was led away immediately. His attorney asked that he be transferred immediately from county jail to a state prison. It was not immediately known to which prison Spector would be assigned.
Spector gained fame decades ago for what became known as the “Wall of Sound” recording technique that changed rock music.
Clarkson was most famous as the star of Roger Corman’s 1985 cult film classic “Barbarian Queen.” She was 40 when she died.
Spector’s young wife, who is in her late 20s, attended the sentencing.
“This is a sad day for everybody involved,” Rachelle Spector said. “The Clarkson family has lost a daughter and a sister. I’ve lost my husband, my best friend. I feel that a grave injustice has been done and from this day forward I’m going to dedicate myself to proving my husband’s innocence.”
Spector’s son Louis, accompanied by his wife, also came to the sentencing. He had attended much of the trial.
“I’m torn about this,” he said. “I’m losing my father who is going to spend his life in jail. At the same time, justice is served.”
Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson said afterward that the outcome sent a message: “If you commit crimes against our citizens we will follow you and prosecute you. And no matter whether you are famous or wealthy, you will stand trial.”
Asked how he felt about Spector personally, Jackson said, “I find nothing tragic about him. Everything he did was intentional.”
Jackson said the case was “rock solid” legally and will not be subject to a successful appeal.
Defence attorney Doron Weinberg told reporters that the appeal will be extremely strong.
“Mr. Spector did not kill Lana Clarkson,” he said, “and we hope by the time we are through we will be able to prove that.”
Spector had two trials with essentially the same evidence. His first in 2007 was televised gavel to gavel and spectators flocked to the courtroom. But when the jury deadlocked after a five-month trial, his legal “dream team,” which at times numbered half a dozen lawyers, bailed out.
By the time the second trial started in 2008, interest had waned. The judge ordered cameras turned off and only a handful of spectators and reporters stopped in sporadically to watch testimony.
During jury selection, only a few panellists remembered Spector’s heyday as producer of teen anthems including “To Know Him is to Love Him” by The Teddy Bears, The Ronette’s “Be My Baby,” The Crystals’ “Da Doo Ron Ron” and The Righteous Brothers’ classic, “You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feelin’.” Spector also worked on a Beatles album with John Lennon.
Ironically, Clarkson didn’t know Spector’s music legacy either when she met him only hours before she died at his Alhambra “castle” in February 2003. She was working as a hostess at the House of Blues nightclub on the Sunset Strip, where she had to be told by a manager that Spector was an important man.
His time had passed. Clarkson’s career also was ebbing. Their fateful meeting, recounted in both trials, led to her death and the end of his life as he knew it. For the next six years he spent millions of dollars on lawyers as he sought to prove that Clarkson killed herself.
But what had happened inside his house was never clear. Clarkson’s body was found slumped in a chair in a foyer. A gun had been fired in her mouth. Spector’s chauffeur, the key witness, said he heard a gunshot, then saw Spector emerge holding a gun and heard him say: “I think I killed somebody.”
Weinberg said forensic evidence proved that Clarkson shot herself and cited her desperation at not being able to get acting work. Jackson said the shooting fit the pattern of other confrontations between Spector and women.
Much of the case hinged on the testimony of five women from Spector’s past who said he threatened them with guns when they tried to leave his presence. The parallels with the night Clarkson died were chilling even if the stories were very old – 31 years in one instance.
Weinberg said Spector’s appeal will assert that the judge erred in allowing the women to testify.

Suit says Ticketmaster violated anti-scalping law
A $500 million class action lawsuit has been launched against Ticketmaster and its TicketsNow subsidiary, accusing the companies of conspiring to force customers to pay inflated prices for tickets.
“We’re hearing from people that … they can’t buy tickets for the face value, and if you want to go to see your favourite artist, you have to pay two or three times the face value,” said Jay Strosberg of Sutts, Strosberg LLP, which filed the suit today in conjunction with Vancouver law firm Branch MacMaster.
“It’s a matter of fairness,” Strosberg said. “It’s also causing a fair amount of frustration.”
Ticketmaster’s practices amount to a violation of Ontario’s Ticket Speculation Act, aimed at preventing ticket scalping, said Strosberg. The claims have not been proven in court.
“Our office has been flooded with calls,” he added. “We have a registration system online and people are registering at a speed which we’ve never seen.” The registration system is at ticketmasterclassaction.com.
Albert Lopez, spokesperson for Ticketmaster, Ticketmaster Canada and TicketsNow, did not return calls for comment yesterday.
Last week, New Jersey residents were outraged after being unable to purchase tickets for an upcoming Bruce Springsteen concert there via Ticketmaster, sparking a demand by a U.S. congressman for a federal investigation into the company’s practices.
Such practices included directing potential buyers to the TicketsNow site, where tickets were priced well above the face value. New York Senator Charles Schumer has since added his voice to the call.
New Jersey’s attorney general pledged to launch a state probe into the matter.
Springsteen himself denounced Ticketmaster for having a conflict of interest and wrung a concession from officials that fans would no longer be directed to TicketsNow. CEO Irving Azoff of Ticketmaster, based in California, also issued a public apology.
On Friday, Springsteen fans hoping to see a show on May 7 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto called the Star to complain that tickets sold out within minutes of going on sale online, but that more than 800 higher-priced tickets were available shortly afterward on TicketsNow, at prices up to $1,338.
Strosberg said he and lawyer Luciana Brasil of Branch MacMaster have been looking at the issue for some time.
The class action suit ñ which could include anyone who has done business with Ticketmaster and TicketsNow since Feb. 9, 2007 ñ was sparked by a complaint from Henryk Krajewski of Toronto, who tried to buy two tickets last September for a Smashing Pumpkins concert at Massey Hall.
Krajewski was unable to purchase the tickets at a face value of $133 from Ticketmaster and was instead forced to pay $533.65 on the TicketsNow site.
“We are interested in hearing about everyone’s experience. People should be able to access entertainment for reasonable prices. That’s what this lawsuit is about,” Strosberg said.
“We’re both younger lawyers, and we know what it’s like to want to go see an event and to not be able to access tickets.”
Both firms, he noted, are also experienced in the area of class action lawsuits. Sutts, Strosberg has recovered more than $1 billion in damages on behalf of its clients, and Branch MacMaster has authored a textbook on class action suits in Canada and acted in more than 80 such cases in four provinces.