Spector Appeal Denied

SPECTOR APPEAL DENIED: Phil Spector's murder conviction was upheld yesterday by a California appeals court, ensuring the famed Wall of Sound music producer will remain behind bars for killing actress Lana Clarkson in 2003. The ruling by a three-justice panel from the 2nd District Court of Appeals comes less than three weeks after Spector's attorneys argued his 2009 conviction of second-degree murder resulted from a prejudiced trial, arguing that jurors should not have heard testimony from five women who said the convicted killer had threatened them with a gun. Presiding Justice Joan Klein sided with prosecutors who said the testimony from the women was crucial to the case. Spector's first murder trial ended in a mistrial in 2007 after jurors deadlocked. (5/3a)