Hung Jury in Spector Trial

[Pretty Funky]

Deadlock for jury in Spector murder trial


Dan Glaister in Los Angeles
Wednesday September 19, 2007
The Guardian


The jury in the murder trial of Phil Spector declared that it was unable to reach a verdict yesterday after seven days of deliberation.
The jury's foreman told Judge Larry Fidler that it was hung on a 7-5 vote. It was not revealed which way the majority on the jury was leaning.

In a further development, the judge said that he was considering allowing the jury to consider the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter.


Spector has been tried on a charge of second degree murder in the death of Lana Clarkson, an actor who was found dead of a single gunshot wound in the lobby of the legendary record producer's Los Angeles mansion in February 2003.
If found guilty on that charge, Spector would face at least 15 years in prison. A charge of involuntary manslaughter is likely to lead to a sentence of three to seven years, should the 67-year-old be found guilty.

A trembling Spector - wearing a charcoal pinstripe suit, red tie and handkerchief - listened as the jurors individually confirmed to the judge that they were unable to reach a unanimous decision. Three jurors, including two of the three women on the panel, said that further instruction from the judge might help them in arriving at a different decision. However the foreman, speaking on behalf of the entire jury, told the judge: "I don't believe that anything else will change the positions of the jurors based on the facts."

The development came after the jurors sent a note to the judge at lunchtime yesterday. "The jury has reached an impasse," it read. "We do not feel we can reach a unanimous verdict."

After calling the jury into the courtroom, Judge Fidler sent them home, to return today. "I want you to take a break," he said. "Just set the case aside for the rest of the day."

Spector and Clarkson had met when he visited the House of Blues nightclub where she worked as a hostess in the VIP room.

She agreed to accompany Spector to his home - a "Pyrenees castle" in the Los Angeles suburb of Alhambra - for a nightcap. According to testimony from Spector's chauffeur, some hours after they arrived, a shot was fired and Spector emerged from the house holding a gun to declare: "I think I killed somebody."

Clarkson was killed by a bullet fired from a gun inside her mouth. Spector's defence contended during the five-month trial that she had many personal problems and killed herself either by accident or suicide.

Spector found fame as producer of hit records decades ago, creating what became known as the "Wall of Sound" recording technique.

Clarkson had modest success as the star of Roger Corman's 1985 cult film Barbarian Queen.

[Bicyclerider]

If the jury is deadlocked it's because the defense has created reasonable doubt that Spector killed Clarkson, which means some of the jury feels Clarkson may have killed herself.  Lessening the charge to manslaughter shouldn't have any effect on that reasonable doubt - either you think he did it or you think she may have done it.  I think this means he's off the hook.

[Ron]

They can't lessen the charge to manslaughter anyways without immediately giving grounds for a retrial.  The defense has been told the entire time that the case was either aquittal or 2nd degree murder, if the judge lessens it now, it'll send a signal to the jury "O.K., well the judge thinks then that maybe you should give him this sentence instead of letting him walk" any defense attorney in the world could get an appeal out of that.  Also the judge said in the beginning of the trial that he saw no 'evidence' to support a charge of involuntary manslaugter... so there's no way the judge is going to do that, I don't know why he even mentioned it. 

Personally, I think Spector should have been sent down the river, he's obviously guilty. 

[mikee]

If the jury is deadlocked it's because the defense has created reasonable doubt that Spector killed Clarkson, which means some of the jury feels Clarkson may have killed herself.  Lessening the charge to manslaughter shouldn't have any effect on that reasonable doubt - either you think he did it or you think she may have done it.  I think this means he's off the hook.

I suspect that some of the jury has reasonable doubt over whether Spector VOLUNTARILY killed Lana Clarkson.  It is typically relatively difficult to get a jury to convict on a murder charge because the penalty is so severe.  It appears that this was likely an idiotic reckless accident and the jury knows it.  They were not likely to render a 1st or 2nd degree murder conviction because of that.  The prosecution made a major error in not charging Spector with the specific crime ( a lessor degree of manslaughter) that apparently occured and that they presented strong evidence of. 

[endofposts]

I'm still not sure exactly what happened there, and who pulled the trigger, or how it was pulled.  It would seem likely that Phil either was threatening her, or maybe even just playing with the gun in front of her, and it went off.  But even at that, the evidence is not clear that he pulled the trigger.  It's also not clear that she pulled the trigger.  It's a very odd case.  I think both sides did not have a slam-dunk scientific forensic case for exactly what happened at the crime scene.  The prosecution definitely did not, or they wouldn't have been so dependent on the testimony of the chauffeur and the women who had been previously threatened by Spector.  I believe both Spector and Clarkson were under the influence of drugs and drink, making it even more difficult to prove what either one of them was thinking or doing at the time.  I also agree the prosecution overreached by asking for a murder conviction.  They should have offered Phil a manslaughter plea deal (I'm not sure if that was done or not), and if he didn't agree, then bring it to trial under that charge. 

[Bicyclerider]

i'm not sure the jury knows she was accidentally killed by Spector - the blood spatter doesn't fit with him being close enough to have pulled the trigger with the gun in her mouth, which it was, plus the powder residue on Clarkson's hands (and not on Phil's) points to her pulling the trigger - not that I believe it, but that was the forensic evidence presented to the jury by the defense, and the prosecution never explained away that evidence satisfactorily.

[Dr. Tim]

I only followed this fitfully but if the prosecutors deliberately did not charge manslaughter offenses along with the 2d degree murder, as Ron says, that's amazingly stupid.  I would think you at least charge aggravated manslaughter, which would contain lesser included offenses like reckless or negligent homicide.  Unless the California criminal code is such you have to make a choice about what you charge, murder vs. manslaughter (or as Benny Hill calls it, "Man's Laughter").

[cleanasfire]

"I know ya gonna love Phil Spector"...BB's

[Ron]

"I know ya gonna love Phil Spector"...BB's

Yeah, one of the guys must have been a big fan or somethin'!