LOS ANGELES (Agence France-Presse) — Legendary music producer Phil Spector held a gun to the head of a former girlfriend and had a history of making threatening remarks to women, prosecutors in his murder trial say.
Mr. Spector, who is on trial in Los Angeles for shooting a B-movie actress at his mansion in 2003, pointed a gun at Devra Robitaille’s head after a party at his home in the mid-1970s, court documents filed late Tuesday purported.
Prosecutor Alan Jackson said the woman had a romantic relationship with Mr. Spector for about one year while she was working at his record company.
According to court documents, the gun ordeal happened when Mr. Spector tried to prevent her from leaving his home after a party.
“She heard something, turned and suddenly Spector was holding a large shotgun, or rifle, using both hands,” Mr. Jackson wrote in the court document.
“He placed the gun against her forehead. Spector, who was drunk, made some sort of joke and then said, ‘Just so you know, I’ll blow your [expletive] head off’ or ‘If you try to leave, I’ll blow your [expletive] brains out.’ ”
Miss Robitaille told Mr. Spector to “knock that off and put that away,” the court papers said, and she eventually was allowed to leave.
She purported a similar incident occurred in the mid-1980s, when Mr. Spector again put a gun to her head in the foyer of his home.
Prosecutors will ask a judge on Tuesday to allow the testimony, arguing that it is evidence of a pattern of threatening behavior involving guns from Mr. Spector whenever women try to leave him.
Four other women who claim Spector threatened them are expected to testify in his trial, for which jurors are being selected. Opening statements are expected toward the end of this month.
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