LOS ANGELES, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- Prosecutors in Phil Spector's Los Angeles retrial -- on charges he fatally shot actress Lana Clarkson -- painted him as a serial abuser in opening statements.

The famed music producer's first trial ended more than a year ago with the jury deadlocked 10-2 in favor of Spector's guilt.

While Spector's lawyers have argued Clarkson killed herself in Spector's home because she was depressed, prosecutors maintain Spector shot her after she rejected his romantic overtures.

Spector, 68, faces a minimum of 18 years in prison if convicted of second-degree murder.

The Los Angeles Times quoted Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson as telling the new jury hearing the case Wednesday Spector is a man with "a very rich history of violence" and Clarkson, 40, was "simply the last in a very long line of women who had suffered abuse at the hands of Phillip Spector over the years."

Jackson said five women have claimed Spector threatened them with guns in the three decades leading up to Clarkson's death.

However, Spector's lawyer Doron Weinberg objected to Jackson's statement, asking for a mistrial outside the presence of the jury and declaring, "I think the jury has been poisoned intentionally."

The Times said Judge Larry Paul Fidler has ruled the testimony of the women is admissible and denied Weinberg's request for a mistrial, but warned the prosecutor not to use the word "pattern" when discussing Spector's behavior.

"It's true that he has exhibited guns. It's true that he has waved guns, but he has never fired a gun at a living being," Weinberg said of Spector.

Found gun may be linked to Hudson slayings

CHICAGO, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- Chicago Police say a gun, found near where 7-year-old Julian King's body was discovered, is being tested to see if it was used in the Hudson family slayings.

Julian, the nephew of singer and actress Jennifer Hudson, was shot to death and his body found Monday in an abandoned SUV on the West Side of Chicago. Hudson's mother and brother were fatally shot last Friday in their South Side home.

Law enforcement sources told the Chicago Tribune the gun police recovered Wednesday from a vacant lot about a block from where Julian's body was found matched the caliber of weapon used in the slayings.

Some preliminary results from forensic testing on the gun may be available by Thursday, the newspaper said.

Police have named William Balfour, the estranged husband of Jennifer Hudson's sister Julia, as a person of interest in the case. Although he is being held on a parole violation, he hasn't been charged in connection with the triple homicide.

Russell Brand quits BBC radio show

LONDON, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- British comedian Russell Brand says he has quit his BBC radio show after being suspended following a controversial on-air prank.

The BBC this week said it had suspended Brand, who, along with television and radio personality Jonathan Ross, made sexually explicit phone calls to the cell phone voice mail of 78-year-old "Fawlty Towers" actor Andrew Sachs in a segment that aired on Brand's Oct. 18 Radio 2 show while Ross was a guest.

In addition to suspending the hosts, the British broadcaster also pulled Brand's and Ross's shows off the air while it investigates the matter.

More than 18,000 people complained to the BBC. Sachs's granddaughter, Georgina Baillie, has called for the pair to be fired and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown condemned the comedians' antics as "inappropriate and unacceptable behavior." The crude messages left on Sachs's voice mail were about Baillie, 23.

"As I only do the radio show to make people laugh I've decided that, given the subsequent coverage, I will stop doing the show," E! Online quoted Brand as saying in a videotaped statement. "I got a bit caught up in the moment and forgot that, at the core of the rude comments and silly songs, were the real feelings of a beloved and brilliant comic actor and a very sweet and big-hearted young woman."

Ross and the BBC have also publicly apologized to Sachs.

Fans to try for 'Thriller' dance record

NEW YORK, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- Michael Jackson fans and impersonators are planning to set a Guinness Book record for most people doing the "Thriller" dance, People.com said.

The attempt is to take place outside of Madame Tussauds wax museum in New York.

Jackson's song "Thriller" was a huge hit that spawned an iconic video with dancing zombies and special effects that were cutting edge at the time. It debuted on MTV in December 1983.

"I always thought Halloween and 'Thriller' fit each other like a glove," the reclusive pop singer said in a statement issued to People.com.

However, Jackson won't be making an appearance at the group dance, the entertainment Web site said.