Burton Katz
‘I think my boss killed somebody’-the Phil Spector trial
Adriano DeSouza, Phil Spector’s Brazilian chauffeur, gave testimony for the third day under a steady and relentless cross-examination by defense attorney Bradley Brunon. Relentless, because the defense has no other choice; relentless because a great part of the entire case rests on the chauffeur’s testimony that while sitting in Spector’s Mercedes-Benz, after hearing a gunshot, Spector suddenly came out of his house, holding in his bloody hand a gun, saying “I think I killed somebody.”
In an effort to impeach the witness, Brunon confronted him with a transcript of a statement he made the day following the alleged murder of Lana Clarkson, in which he told a detective “I think so, I think-I’m not sure. It’s my English,” when asked if he could recall the exact words of Spector following the shooting. Brunon pointed to another statement the witness made to the cops in which he used the word “shot” rather than “killed.” The defense attorney, seizing on those discrepancies, insisted that DeSouza had difficulty understanding English, was in fear and could not comprehend Spector’s slurred speech.
Brunon went so far as to attack DeSouza’s claim that he actually saw Spector holding a gun, suggesting that DeSouza simply concluded that Spector had a gun after hearing the gunshot. The defense asserts that he was fearful and panicky after hearing the gunshot and misperceived the events. This theory is fortified by the fact that DeSouza couldn’t remember Spector’s address when calling for help on his cell phone and had to drive outside Spector’s property to the street to get it.
It is one thing to claim that one becomes excited and agitated following a traumatic event such as a shooting, and another to deny that DeSouza, who served in the Brazilian military, could not discern the presence of a gun at close range, the presence of blood on the fingers gripping the gun and the essence of a chilling and spontaneous statement, to wit, “I think I killed somebody.” We know from our own experience that we often fail to observe many fine details of an event, unless we are trained to observe them. What we do know is that we remember the essence and the substance of a meaningful event. “He had a gun, I saw it.” “He said he shot her, or he said, ‘I killed her,’ I heard him say it.” These are the kind of things that become embossed on our memory synapses. We remember, even when we don’t want to.
Listen to DeSouza’s answers to Brunon’s questions whether the witness was certain as to what Spector had said: “Yes.” “Completely sure?” “Positive?” “Yes.” “No doubt?” “Yes.” “Those very words and no other words?” “Yes.”
Brunon is an experienced and able lawyer against whom I have tried cases in the past. The fact that he persistently and directly challenged the witness’ credibility only to elicit repeated confirmation from the witness that he is “certain” of what he says he saw and heard that night is risky. But it is a risk that an experienced lawyer felt he had to take. It causes the jury to focus on this witness, perhaps more than the defense wants, given that the heart of their case will come from the defense’s forensic analysis of the crime scene evidence.
The jury will recall the unequivocal answers that tend to reinforce the witness’ testimony because the district attorney won’t let them forget. They will now expect the defense to either show damning inconsistent statements that fundamentally render the testimony unbelievable or to present crime scene evidence that destroys the testimony. Can the defense devastate DeSouza with the same ease and power as F. Lee Baily’s destruction of Detective Furman who got “caught” in a false denial of the use of the “N” word in O.J.? Not likely.
One of the stronger challenges Brunon made was when he referred to DeSouza’s statement to the cops following the shooting that he was unsure whether he saw blood: “Maybe on his hand, but I’m not sure.” DeSouza had testified that he, in fact, saw blood dripping from the fingers clutching the gun. When confronted with this inconsistency, DeSouza was unable to explain why his memory is better today than four years ago when one would expect the events to be fresher in the witness’ memory. A point scored.
Perhaps the most difficult thing for the defense to overcome with DeSouza is his dramatic 911 call in which he identifies himself as Adriano and says: “…I’m Phil Spector’s driver. I think my boss killed somebody…” That immediate statement, at least for the time being, is in harmony with his testimony.