Phil Spector
© AFP Gabriel BouysLOS ANGELES (AFP) - Six alternate jurors were confirmed after two days of questioning by lawyers at Los Angeles Superior Court, following the selection last week of a 12-member jury to here the case.
Spector, 67, is accused of shooting dead B-movie actress Lana Clarkson at his castle-like home in Los Angeles on February 3, 2003.
The case is the highest-profile celebrity trial in Los Angeles since O.J. Simpson was acquitted of murder in 1995.
Prosecutors say Spector, famed for his work with The Beatles, Tina Turner, The Ronettes and the Ramones, killed Clarkson hours after meeting her for the first time at the Hollywood night club where she worked as a hostess.
Spector is regarded as one of the most influential figures in pop music history. In the early 1960s he produced hits including "Da Doo Ron Ron," "Then He Kissed Me," "Be My Baby, Baby" and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin."
Spector, who denies committing the murder, is alleged to have told police officers who arrived at his imposing mock chateau immediately after the shooting: "I didn't mean to shoot her."
A few weeks before the shooting, Spector described himself as "relatively insane" and tortured by "devils inside me." He told Esquire magazine in 2003 that Clarkson shot herself. "She kissed the gun," said Spector.
Clarkson starred in movies such as 1987's "Amazon Women on the Moon" and 1991's "The Haunting of Morella" but her career had stalled at the time of her death.
©AFP