Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Hung jury in Phil Spector case



If you love suspense, then you have to love what’s going on in the Phil Spector trial.

Jury deliberations have reached a temporary stalemate. Spector, who created that weird thing called “The Wall of Sound” (I’m not musically inclined so I have little idea what exactly it is), is accused of murdering 40 year-old actress Lana Clarkson in the early morning hours of February 3, 2003. Spector contends Clark shot herself. He faces 15 years to life in prison if convicted of the second-degree murder.

KNBC in Los Angeles is reporting the jury is split 7-5 and that nothing can be done to break the deadlock. The judge then announced he might give the jury the option of convicting Spector of the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter. If so, Spector should count himself lucky; on involuntary manslaughter, he might not even have to do any jail time. True, there will be the wrongful death lawsuit to deal with, but Spector—who’s probably worth hundreds of millions, can just quietly settle out of court.

It’s hard to believe a beautiful actress like Clarkson could be at a standstill in her career, but that’s the way it goes, I suppose.

Exactly what happened is hard to tell. Clarkson is dead. Spector, assuming he did commit murder, surely won’t admit to it. Supposedly, Spector admitted to his chauffer that he had shot Clarkson, but the defense pointed out that Spector’s chauffer is Brazilian (his first language is Portuguese) and doesn’t have a strong grasp of English.

My thoughts go out to Clarkson, and my prayers go out to her family. I don’t know what her spiritual condition was like, but, as a Christian, I pray she had a relationship with God.

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