Expert Witness Blog

Prosecutors in the Phil Spector murder case filed a motion requesting the defense team be ordered to disclose the fees that Spector's 13 expert witnesses are being paid before they take the stand in the music producer's trial.

In papers filed with the court, prosecutors claimed they had previously asked Spector's attorneys to see "fee schedules, billing schedules, invoices, canceled checks, cash payments, per diem payments, employment contracts and any other documentary or oral evidence of remuneration or compensation of any form made to each of your experts."

In an email dated March 15, 2007 that prosecutors attached to the motion, Spector's attorney responded that the prosecution's request for financial records was "an appropriate one for cross-examination."

Proscecutors disagree. As reported in California's Orange County Register:

"The defense position is wrong," Jackson wrote in his court papers. "If required to wait until these witnesses testify, the court will be subject to needless delays in the production of verifying documents to determine the credibility and/or bias of these witnesses, owing to the fact that all but one of the defense experts are from states other than California."