SPECTOR APPEAL: A state appellate court panel is set next month to hear the defense's appeal in the case of record producer Phil Spector, who was convicted in the 2003 shooting death of actress and nightclub hostess Lana Clarkson in his Alhambra mansion, and sentenced in May 2009 to 19 years to life, a term he is currently serving. The three-justice panel from California's 2nd District Court of Appeal will hear arguments from the state Attorney General's Office and Spector's appellate attorney at the April 12 hearing in L.A. In papers filed with the appellate court last year, defense attorneys argued that jurors should not have heard about five women who contended that they were involved in gun-related incidents with Spector years before Clarkson's shooting. The Attorney General's Office countered that "appellant's prior assaults with a firearm were distinctive enough to the incident in this case to be highly relevant to the issues of motive, and lack of accident, mistake and suicide ..." (3/11p)