Judge won't dismiss Phil Spector legal fee dispute

[December 15, 2010]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A Los Angeles judge says a jury should decide whether imprisoned record producer Phil Spector should receive $1 million he paid to criminal defense attorney Robert Shapiro after his 2003 arrest.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Malcolm Mackey on Tuesday rejected a bid by Shapiro's lawyers to have Spector's claims dismissed, saying it would be up to jurors to decide whether the fee was nonrefundable.

Shapiro, a member of O.J. Simpson's defense team, was Spector's first attorney and bailed him out of jail after he shot a woman at his mansion in 2003.

Spector later replaced him and was convicted of second-degree murder in 2009 after two trials. He is serving 19 years to life in state prison.

His dispute with Shapiro is scheduled to go to trial in March.

[Associated Press]

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