Milestones

By Melissa August, Mitch Frank, Unmesh Kher, Nadia Mustafa, Kate Novack, Joel Stein and Aatish Taseer

PLEADED NOT GUILTY. PHIL SPECTOR, 63, legendary record producer best known for creating the "wall of sound"; to one count of felony murder in the shooting death of B-movie actress-model Lana Clarkson; in Alhambra, Calif. If convicted, Spector could face life in prison.

CONVICTED. JOHN ALLEN MUHAMMAD, 42, first of two men tried in the sniper attacks that killed 10 in the D.C. area last fall; on all four counts with which he was charged, including capital murder; in Virginia Beach, Va. The jury must now decide whether to sentence Muhammad to death or life in prison without parole.

FOUND. Remains that are probably those of CHARLES DEAN, younger brother of Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean; in central Laos. Dean was 24 when he vanished in 1974 while traveling along the Mekong River.

DIED. KEN BRETT, 55, former major league baseball pitcher and brother of Hall of Famer George Brett; of brain cancer; in Spokane, Wash. One month after his 19th birthday, in 1967, Brett became the youngest pitcher to take the mound in a World Series game--a record that still stands--when he threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings for the Boston Red Sox against the St. Louis Cardinals.

DIED. MICHAEL KAMEN, 55, Grammy-winning, Oscar-nominated composer who scored more than 80 movies and television shows, including all four Lethal Weapon films, three Die Hard pictures and HBO's Band of Brothers series; of an apparent heart attack; in London.

DIED. DOROTHY LOUDON, 70, brassy comic actress best remembered for her Tony-winning performance as the dastardly Miss Hannigan in the Broadway musical Annie; of cancer; in New York City.

DIED. DON GIBSON, 75, Country Music Hall of Famer and songwriter known as the "sad poet"; in Nashville, Tenn. His compositions included I Can't Stop Loving You--which was recorded by more than 700 artists, most popularly by Ray Charles--Sweet Dreams and Oh Lonesome Me, which broadened country's appeal by infusing it with a pop sound.

DIED. MITCHELL PAIGE, 85, retired Marine Corps colonel who received the Medal of Honor--the military's highest award for valor--for serving in the 1942 Battle of Guadalcanal; in La Quinta, Calif. With all 33 men in his platoon dead or injured, Paige single-handedly staved off some 2,000 Japanese soldiers, moving between machine-gun stations before reinforcements arrived at dawn.

DIED. LOTTE BERK, 90, German-born dancer who created a body-conditioning program based on a hybrid of yoga, dance and calisthenics; in Hungerford, England. The Lotte Berk method--with its sometimes suggestive positions and names (e.g., the Prostitute)--attracted a cult following among women in swinging 1960s London.

DIED. LUTHER HOLCOMB, 91, minister who worked for racial integration in the 1950s and '60s and who 40 years ago last week met President John F. Kennedy at the airport in Dallas and later announced to a shocked crowd that the President had been shot; in Henderson County, Texas.