Phil Spector jury trial ends in mistrial; retrial likely

The jury in Phil Spector's murder 2 trial was unable to reach a unanimous verdict, with 10 jurors reportedly voting for guilty but two for not guilty.

Spector's defense team will now have a chance to bone up on their case as a retrial seems certain.

Spencer is accused of killing actress Lana Clarkson by putting a gun into her mouth and making her pull the trigger; Spencer's attorneys argue that Clarkson's death was either accidental or suicidal. Clarkson's death was said to have come after a night of drinking.

Sheesh. When will this stubborn world realize that nothing good happens when you combine weapons and heay drinking?

The latest turn in the Phil Spector trial

It’s looking like all or nothing for Phil Spector.

The music producer, accused of murdering actress Lana Clarkson, is on trial for second-degree murder. The prosecutors say Spector killed Clarkson while Spector said Clarkson killed herself (whether accidentally or intentionally).

The jury, earlier this week, was locked up at 7-5. Is it 7 for guilty and 5 for innocent or 7 for innocent and five for guilty? Don’t know. The jury’s not saying. They told the judge they were deadlocked.

Judge Larry Paul Fidler, who’s presiding over the case, rejected Spector’s attorney’s request for a mistrial and said on Tuesday that they could consider a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter.

Now, the judge has said he will withdraw this instruction because, as BBC News reported, “…it misreads US law.”

Now, according to the story, jurors now “…no longer have to conclude that Mr. Spector held a gun to Lana Clarkson’s mouth before the weapon fired to find him guilty.”

Which way will the jury go? Not a clue. If there’s a hung jury and a mistrial, my limited understanding of law tells me that Spector can either be retried or he will go free. Sometimes, a mistrial is just as good as an acquittal. There are exceptions; John Gotti Jr. was tried thrice on racketeering charges. After three hung juries, prosecutors finally decided not to retry Junior.

There are two things I speculate will happen in this case. One, if Spector is convicted, he will appeal. With this crazy turn of events, that’s automatic now. Two, if Spector is acquitted, Clarkson’s family will almost certainly sue him for wrongful death. And again, because Spector is probably worth several hundreds of millions of dollars, it’s probably something he can live with. Clarkson wasn’t an A-List actress, so it probably won’t dent Spector’s pocketbook too much.

(Photo of Judge Fidler courtesy of AP)

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.