Spears License Case Ends In Mistrial
A mistrial was declared in Britney Spears' driving-without-a-California-license case Tuesday, sparing the singer a criminal record - for now - as she pushes to put her music career in front of her behavior.
The jury's deadlock could not be broken, even after Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Steele permitted prosecution and defense attorneys to make additional closing arguments Tuesday morning.
Spears came close to winning the matter altogether: The jury's final vote was 10-2 in favor of acquittal.
Jurors posed a pair of questions Monday before declaring themselves deadlocked. One sought to clarify the charges against Spears, and whether she should be considered guilty if she possessed a valid Louisiana license, as her attorney has said she did.
The other: "Why was she stopped in the first place?" In fact, there was no traffic stop that precipitated the case; she was cited for hit-and-run and driving without a valid California license later, after video of the accident surfaced.
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The defense argued that Spears didn't meet the state's residency requirements, and that her Louisiana license was all she needed to drive legally.
Defense and prosecution attorneys agreed that Spears was behind the wheel in California in August 2007. That kept jurors from hearing any mention of the hit-and-run - or any narrative elements to explain why she faced a criminal charge.
Los Angeles Deputy City Attorney Michael Amerian initially put up only one witness and entered one piece of evidence during the trial, showing that Spears did not have a valid California license more than a week after the accident.
Spears never appeared during the trial. She is in the midst of a comeback, recently earning three MTV Video Music Awards. As her trial started last week, Billboard announced that her new single, "Womanizer," was No. 1 on its charts.
The defense repeatedly said Spears had been targeted because of her celebrity status and said she should have been permitted to resolve the case by paying a small fine.
After the trial's conclusion Friday, Amerian said it was Spears who was to blame for the case getting this far. He said his office had offered the singer two deals, one that included probation and another that would require her to pay a $1,000 fine. Both were rejected, he said.
He conceded that it is "extremely rare" for a misdemeanor driving without-a-valid-license case to go to trial, and could not cite an example of when it had happened in Los Angeles.
By Anthony McCartney