Spector Judge Not Giving Up On Verdict
Jury Given New Instructions To Help Break Deadlock In Murder Trial Of Music Legend
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LOS ANGELES, Sept. 21, 2007
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A starlet is found dead in February, 2003 and, more than six years later, a music legend is convicted of murdering her.
(CBS/AP) The judge in Phil Spector's murder trial has given the deadlocked jury new instructions with several scenarios as to how the legendary record producer might have killed actress Lana Clarkson, including that Spector forced her to put a gun in her own mouth and it went off.
Spector's attorneys had vehemently objected outside the jury's presence that Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler was turning the defense against itself at the last minute because they had presented scientific evidence that Clarkson had probably pulled the trigger herself, either by accident or in a suicide.
The prosecution supported the judge's move on grounds there was "a plethora of evidence" that would support such a scenario, and the judge commented, "It's a reasonable inference that can be drawn."
The jury, which got the case Sept. 10, was sent back into deliberations after also receiving instructions including suggestions such as having new discussion leaders or reverse role-playing in which jurors argue opposing jurors' views. The panel talked for less than an hour before recessing for the night.
At minimum, Cohen adds, "if the jury remains hung up, the judge won't ever feel like he didn't go the extra mile to try to get a verdict. Even if Spector is convicted, this whole episode about the start and stop and start again of deliberations surely will come up on appeal."
Spector, 67, is charged with killing Clarkson in the foyer of his Alhambra, Calif., mansion on Feb. 3, 2003, a few hours after she met him at her job as a nightclub hostess and went home with him. During the trial, prosecutors called five women who claimed that Spector threatened them with guns in incidents long ago.
The defense presented expert witnesses who maintained that Clarkson, 40, was depressed and shot herself through the mouth, either on purpose or by accident.
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It''s obvious, however, that the judge wants a conviction. I suspect he wants to be able to brag about "getting a celebrity convicted". (As if Phil Specter is really still any kind of celebrity!)
Being the gun owner, having time to clean up afterwards, failing to call the cops, and a claim by a non-english speaking chauffeur that Specter said "I think I killed someone" is NOT sufficient evidence for a conviction. There are reasonable explanations for all of these facts. Plus, the forensic evidence simply does not prove that Specter did it. In fact, it seems to support the hypothesis that she killed herself.
I hope the jury received better information than the news media has reported to us, but given that the jury is hung, it doesn''t appear that they have. So, there''s no surprise that they are hung. The only surprise is that the judge is willing to introduce new, highly biased, instructions after the deliberations have already started. That will surely be grounds for an appeal if he is convicted.