Court hears of Spector gun threats

A SECURITY guard for Joan Rivers testified in Phil Spector's murder retrial that the music producer was ejected from two of the…

A SECURITY guard for Joan Rivers testified in Phil Spector's murder retrial that the music producer was ejected from two of the star's Christmas parties for brandishing a gun and declaring that all women should be shot.

Rivers' manager, who dated Spector in the 1990s, also took the witness stand and told of being threatened by him with a gun.

Vincent Tannazzo, a retired New York City police detective who now occasionally works for Rivers, testified that Spector turned towards a woman leaving a party and said: "I ought to put a bullet in her head right now."

He also said Spector was "ranting" and used an obscenity to describe women.

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"He kept saying over and over again," Mr Tannazzo testified.

"He was out of control. He was just yelling over and over again," said Mr Tannazzo.

Spector is being retried on charges of murdering 40-year-old actress Lana Clarkson, who was shot through the mouth in Spector's mansion in 2003.

The jury in Spector's first trial deadlocked last year on a 10-2 vote with the majority favouring conviction on second-degree murder.

Mr Tannazzo testified Spector repeatedly used the word at two holiday parties a year apart and that Spector said: "They all deserve a bullet in their heads."

He said he didn't know whether Rivers was notified of the incidents but her manager Dorothy Melvin, who was dating Spector, asked Mr Tannazzo to eject Spector from one Christmas party.

Mr Tannazzo described a star-studded party in which every guest was famous and he knew he had to handle problems discreetly.

"What was your concern with Mr Spector?" deputy district attorney Truc Do asked.

"Just getting him the hell out of there," Mr Tannazzo said.

Defence attorney Doron Weinberg attacked Mr Tannazzo's account, saying Mr Tannazzo changed the dates he had given for the incidents when he testified at Spector's trial last year.

Mr Tannazzo said he couldn't remember what years the parties occurred.

He said he worked for Rivers for seven or eight years and still does occasional work for the TV personality.

Ms Melvin, one of five women set to testify about Spector's past, repeated a harrowing story she told last year of Spector threatening her with guns at his Pasadena home in 1993.