Campaign 2008

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chatterbox: Gossip, speculation, and scuttlebutt about politics.

Blogging SpectorOur revels now are ended.

By Timothy Noah
Updated Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007, at 6:17 PM ET

(Continued from page 10)

"He never put the gun in your mouth, did he?"

"No."

"And he never asked you to put the gun in your mouth, did he?"

"No."

So there's the Spector defense, at least so far. Spector threatened women with guns when they said they wanted to leave. He may even have pressed gun barrels to their faces. But he never would be such a bounder as to place a gun inside a woman's mouth.

On redirect, the prosecutors get Melvin to establish that Spector threatened to sue Melvin if she made a fuss about the 1993 incident.

A Word From Your Blogger
April 26, 6:50 p.m. ET

I should probably explain that I am not blogging from the courtroom. I'm on the opposite coast, in Washington, D.C., watching the proceedings on my laptop.

Spector's hands are shaking again today, especially the right hand as he clasps it to his left.

Dorothy Melvin's Cross-Examination
April 26, 6:35 p.m. ET

Spector's attorney, Roger Rosen, is cross-examining Dorothy Melvin.

"He never grabbed your or held you down physically during this, didn't he?"

"No."

[...]

"Did you slam the door in his face?" [when Melvin returned to the house on orders from Spector as he held a gun on her]

"No."

Rosen also establishes that Melvin never took off her clothes when Spector ordered her to.

So what?

A slightly more promising line of inquiry concerns some e-mails sent back and forth between Melvin and Spector after the gun incident. On one occasion, Rosen says, she sent Spector a couple of jokes.

Melvin and Phil
April 26, 6 p.m. ET

We've just heard Dorothy Melvin's testimony. She added some gothic details to Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson's summary from yesterday of the 1993 incident (see below). Melvin said Spector backhanded her with the pistol not once, but twice. While he held her at gunpoint in the foyer, "he told me to take my clothes off and go up to the third floor." Melvin didn't comply.

When going through Melvin's purse, Spector took out a lipstick, held it up, and said accusingly, "What is this?"

After she sped away, Melvin was able to retrieve her purse only by threatening to press charges. After she received the purse, she decided not to press charges. How come? asked Deputy District Attorney Patrick Dixon. "I didn't want it to become a National Enquirer cover," she answered. (Melvin was Joan Rivers' personal assistant.)

The Players
April 25, 5:50 p.m. ET