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In today’s edition of Celebrity Justice, we have an update on the Phil Spector murder case. It seems that the jury was unable to come to a unanimous decision, hence leading to a verdict of “mistrial.”
The twelve-person jury deliberated for an arduous twelve days, and in the end they found themselves in 10-2 deadlock. According to a court representative the majority of the jurors believed Spector was indeed guilty, however the remaining two jurors kept the guilty verdict from being handed down.
Maniac record producer Phil Spector and his numerous wigs got off on account of a hung jury. Who goes to an insane gun-crazy producer's house to shoot themselves in his foyer? Huh? Who? Who does that? What's with this jury? At least convict him on account of those hairstyles. That's reason enough to imprison someone. Look, even the seeing eye lawyer that's escorting him had to avert her eyes from that mess.
The judge has declared a mistrial in Phil Spector's murder trial because the jury was deadlocked 10-2 and could not reach a verdict, it was announced Wednesday. The Los Angeles jury had been deliberating for 12 days.Jurors told Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler they were split, but did not indicate which way they were leaning. Later, a court representative said 10 jurors had voted for guilty and two for not guilty. Fidler discharged the nine men and three women, thanking them for their service.
More Phil Spector hair misses are after the jump.
Music producer Phil Spector wears his crazy on his sleeve just like Michael Jackson. He just looks the part of a rich, unbalanced eccentric, but despite all the circumstantial evidence that he shot a B movie actress at least two people thought it was too much of a logical leap to declare the guy a murderer. After a trial that lasted five months, and deliberations for eight days, the jury said it could not reach a verdict and a mistrial was declared. The jury announced for a second time that it was hung on whether to find Spector guilty of second degree murder, and said they were divided 10-2. It is unknown which way they were leaning.
After a week of deliberation in which they remained deadlocked 7-5, the judge was considering giving the jury the option to consider an involuntary manslaughter charge, but it was not offered to them. Spectors lawyers said that would make the appeals case stronger and the judge agreed.
Spector was being tried for the February 3, 2003 murder of a B-movie actress that he picked up when she was working as a hostess at the House of Blues that night. Spector asked 40 year-old Lana Clarkson to come back to his mansion for a drink. She was found the next morning, dead in a chair in his foyer from a shot to the mouth. She had a .38 revolver at her feet and someone had tried to clean up the blood with a diaper.
Spector’s chauffeur testified that he saw him in the driveway that morning and that he said “I think I killed somebody.”
Spector’s lawyers claimed Clarkson committed suicide and was depressed in the months leading up to her death. A friend of the victim testified that she said “I don’t want to live anymore… I want to end it.” Prosecutors note that Clarkson had her purse over her shoulder, indicating that she was shot when she tried to leave.
According to evidence submitted by the defense, the blood spatter pattern on Spector’s jacket shows that he was too far away to have put the gun in Clarkson’s mouth and pulled the trigger.
Spector has a history of threatening women and it’s possible he killed Clarkson, but at least two people thought there wasn’t enough hard evidence to convict him of second degree murder.
Spector is known for his crazy permed giant afro hair, but changed his look to a bowl cut toupee in March before jury selection. He is shown in the header image with his wife, struggling actress and singer Rachelle Short. They were married in September, 2006.
Filed under: Celebrity Justice
TMZ.com: The judge in the Phil Spector murder trial has declared a mistrial, as jurors announced they were hopelessly deadlocked.In the courtroom today, the jury foreperson told the judge that they were deadlocked 10 - 2 -- with 10 jurors voting for a guilty... Read more
