Chauffeur's video statement played in Spector trial
A videotape of Phil Spector’s chauffeur saying he heard the music producer, gun in hand, say “I think I killed somebody” was played in a US court.
Murder detectives made the tape five hours after actress Lana Clarkson was shot inside Spector’s home as the driver waited outside.
The driver was the only person to see Spector in the moments after the shooting.
The defence has sought to show that Brazilian immigrant Adriano De Souza, whose native language is Portuguese, could not understand English well enough to testify accurately.
The defence has also questioned whether he was aiding authorities in an effort to resolve his own immigration problems.
But the tape, played in court in Los Angeles yesterday, showed that De Souza easily handled English when he was questioned by detectives and, although clearly upset, stuck to his story.
The defence claims Clarkson shot herself.
Spector rose to fame in the 1960s and 70s, transforming rock music with what became known as the Wall of Sound recording technique.
Clarkson was best known for the 1985 film Barbarian Queen.
According to De Souza, Spector came out of his house in the early hours of February 3, 2003, with a gun in one hand and made the statement as Clarkson’s body lay slumped in a chair in the foyer behind him.
At one point as the detectives questioned him in an interview room, De Souza asked, “You think I’m in danger because this guy is too rich?”
The detectives told him he was not in danger but warned him that the case was going to be “high profile” and the story would be newsworthy and that he could expect to be contacted by investigators for Spector’s lawyers.
At one point during the lengthy tape, De Souza appeared to become flustered as the detectives continued to question him about the words that Spector used.
He was asked again and again if he was sure that what was said was, “I think I killed somebody.”
De Souza hesitated and said, “I think so. I think so. I’m not sure.”
When De Souza returned to the witness stand at the end of the tape, defence attorney Bradley Brunon seized on that point and asked if the chauffeur indeed said he was not sure.
“Yes, I said that,” said De Souza. But he added, “I told him that because I thought he does not understand what I said.”
Later yesterday, defence lawyer Linda Kenney-Baden elicited details of how Spector was stripped nude after his arrest and subjected to extensive examination.
“Would it be fair to say he was cooperative?” she asked.
“Yes,” replied police Officer Sean Heckers, who said Spector was calm.
Clarkson was killed around 5am on the morning after De Souza chauffeured Spector on a restaurant- and bar-hopping night from Beverly Hills to the Sunset Strip.
Clarkson, a hostess at the House of Blues, agreed to go with Spector to his suburban mansion after finishing work.
