Prosecution rests in Spector case

Phil Spector has always denied murdering Lana Clarkson in 2003

Prosecutors have rested their case in the murder retrial of music producer Phil Spector in Los Angeles.

The final witness was Donna Clarkson, the mother of 40-year-old actress Lana Clarkson who was shot dead at Mr Spector's mansion in 2003.

Ms Clarkson testified about spending her last day with her daughter shoe-shopping for her job as a club hostess.

Defence lawyers plan to begin their case on Monday. Mr Spector denies shooting the actress.

Ending nine weeks of evidence, Ms Clarkson added her daughter - who starred in the 1980s cult film Barbarian Queen - had hoped to return to acting in movies and TV.

Mr Spector's lawyer Doron Weinberg said outside court that his presentation should take about three weeks, concluding in February.

The defence claims that Clarkson, down on her luck and despondent about her future, pulled the trigger on the gun that killed her. The prosecution maintains that Mr Spector shot her to death.

Jurors failed to reach a decision in Mr Spector's first trial, which ended in September 2007 and lasted five months.

The producer, who worked with The Beatles and the Righteous Brothers, faces between 15 years and life in prison if he is found guilty of second degree murder.

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