Actress May Have Shot Self in Spector Case

LOS ANGELES – An actress killed at music producer Phil Spector's (search) home was shot with a gun inside her mouth and had gunshot residue on both hands, indicating she may have fired the weapon, according to a coroner's report obtained by The Associated Press.

The forensic analysis involving the .38-caliber Colt revolver was prepared four days after the Feb. 3, 2003, death of Lana Clarkson (search) at suburban Alhambra home of Spector, who has been charged with murder and is free on $1 million bail.

"Analysis revealed several highly specific particles and many consistent particles of gunshot residue on both the right and left hand. ... Therefore, the decedent may have discharged a firearm or had (her) hands otherwise in an environment of gunshot residue," the report said.

The gun had one spent round and five live rounds in the cylinder, the report showed.

DNA analysis of blood found on the gun's exterior and inside the barrel matched Clarkson's DNA, the report showed.

Autopsy drawings show that Clarkson had a broken acrylic fingernail on her right thumb which defense attorneys are expected to argue came from firing the gun.

Other reports in the thick coroner's file showed that Clarkson had alcohol and the prescription painkiller Vicodin (search) in her system when she died.

Her purse, which still hung from her shoulder when she was found by police slumped in a chair in the foyer of Spector's mansion, contained over-the-counter cold and pain medications such as Tylenol and Alka-Seltzer cold medicine.