I’ve been following the sad case of music producer Phil Spector who was convicted on April 13 of second-degree murder in the shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson at his mansion six years 
ago. Our agency does public relations work for law firms and I’m going to ask one of our clients, “How do they come up with “second-degree” murder? Isn’t it murder when you kill someone? Murder is murder, right?” Anyway, I’ve leave the definition to the legal system.
No one can question that he was a genuis as a rock music producer. However, while he obviously lost his way, he appears to have never lost his hair. As I have gotten older, I see the importance of keeping your dignity and the foundation of who you are as a person. Spector made a spectacle of himself and that’s likely to be the final image we’ll see of him in this life.
The PR laugh for me is that first impressions and not always lasting impressions. Even if someone does not end his or her public image with a murder conviction (e.g. Mel Gibson’s DUI) it critical to keep your guard up and not let the demons in.