LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Scientific evidence will prove that the B-movie actress allegedly shot dead by music producer Phil Spector in fact killed herself, defense lawyers told jurors here Thursday.

Spector, 67, the eccentric genius who pioneered the “Wall of Sound” recording technique during the 1960s, is accused of murdering statuesque blonde Lana Clarkson at his castle-like residence on February 3, 2003.

Prosecutors told Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday that Spector had a “sinister and deadly” side to his character and was a man with a history of flying into drunken, gun-toting rages directed at women.

But continuing opening defense statements on Thursday, Spector’s legal team said scientific experts would testify that Clarkson had killed herself, just hours after meeting Spector for the first time.

“We have one unimpeachable witness who has no motive for or against anybody, no motive to lie for or against any person, has no memory problems and no language problems,” defense lawyer Linda Kenney-Baden told jurors.

“The evidence will show that the science proves Philip Spector is innocent. Not only does he stand before you presumed innocent, the scientific facts will tell you that he is factually innocent.

“The science will tell you that Philip Spector did not shoot Lana Clarkson, that he did not hold the gun, and that he did not pull the trigger.”

Kenney-Baden said that “a lot” of gunshot residue had been found on Clarkson’s hands and jacket. But when Spector’s shirt and the right sleeve of his jacket were analyzed, police found none.

“Why? It’s an absence of evidence,” Kenney-Baden said. “And it proves that this means he did not shoot that gun. He was too far away to be holding the gun and get GSR (gunshot residue) on his clothes.

“It’s not supposition, it’s not hypothesis, it’s scientific fact.”

Spector, who denies murder, sat impassively through the morning’s hearing after arriving at court wearing platform shoes and a dark three-piece suit featuring a trademark knee-length jacket.

Famed for his work with The Beatles, Tina Turner, The Righteous Brothers, The Ronettes and the Ramones, Spector faces up to 15 years in prison if he is convicted of second-degree murder.

The hearing is the highest-profile celebrity case to be televised since the OJ Simpson murder trial in 1995 and is expected to last two to three months.

Prosecutor Alan Jackson earlier told the court that a chauffeur who had been at Spector’s home on the night of Clarkson’s death saw the producer emerge from his house holding a pistol before saying: “I think I killed somebody.”

Jackson played a tape of the 911 call for emergency services the driver, Adriano De Souza, made after the shooting.

“I think my boss killed somebody,” De Souza was heard telling the operator, adding that he had seen Spector holding a gun.

Spector’s defense lawyer Bruce Cutler, famous for defending New York mafia boss John Gotti, said Clarkson had killed herself and that police had rushed to judgment when they first began investigating the circumstances of the death.

The hearing continues.