Spector Trial Foreman Says Jury At Impasse

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ The foreman of the jury in Phil Spector's murder trial said Tuesday that the panel is at an impasse, and the judge told lawyers he was considering allowing the panel to consider

Tuesday, September 18th 2007, 10:10 pm

By: News On 6

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ The foreman of the jury in Phil Spector's murder trial said Tuesday that the panel is at an impasse, and the judge told lawyers he was considering allowing the panel to consider a lesser charge.

The juror told Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler the panel was split 7 to 5, but he did not indicate which way it was leaning.

The judge asked if there was any way he could help, including re-reading specific instructions or clarifying instructions, or even having attorneys re-argue part or all of the case.

``At this time I don't believe that anything else will change the positions of the jurors,'' the foreman responded.

Polled individually, some jurors agreed with the foreman and others disagreed. One suggested further instruction about reasonable doubt.

The record producer is charged with second-degree murder, and the judge previously ruled that the panel would decide only that charge and not consider lesser charges. The judge, however, told the attorneys that he was reconsidering and believed he might have cause to instruct the jury to consider involuntary manslaughter.

The judge, amid discussions with lawyers, told jurors he wanted them to take a break and sent them home with instructions to return Wednesday.

``Just set the case aside for the rest of the day,'' the judge told them.

The defense immediately asked for a mistrial, but the judge denied it on grounds that three jurors indicated further instructions may help. If the deadlock persists and a mistrial is declared, prosecutors would have three options: seek a new trial of Spector, pursue a plea bargain or drop the charges.

Spector, 67, is charged in the Feb. 3, 2003, shooting of actress Lana Clarkson, 40. The case went to the jury Sept. 10. Spector and his lawyers looked grim as they left court; Clarkson's family members appeared sad as they left.

Clarkson was killed by a bullet fired from a gun inside her mouth. The defense contended in the lengthy trial that she had many personal problems and killed herself either by accident or suicide.

Spector was a producer of hit rock music 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.'' She was working as a hostess at the House of Blues when she met Spector and went home with him after work, just hours before she died.

The judge ruled in August that the jury would consider only second-degree murder, saying the facts of the case did not support lesser offenses. Involuntary manslaughter involves causing a death through extremely careless acts.

The judge told jurors that to be guilty of second-degree murder, Spector ``must have committed an act that caused the death of Lana Clarkson.'' The act specified is pointing a gun at her and, while it was in Spector's hand, causing it to enter her mouth. If involuntary manslaughter is presented as an option, the new instruction would say that Spector need only have caused her death by reckless behavior.

``If the judge gives this instruction it sends a pretty clear message: If you don't like murder or nothing, let me give you a compromise,'' said Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor who is now a Loyola University law professor and has read the precedent case cited by Spector's judge.

If a conviction was then obtained, ``This would be the biggest issue on appeal,'' she said.