Spector jury at an impasse
LOS ANGELES -- The jury in the trial of legendary rock producer Phil Spector said Tuesday it was deadlocked on murder charges after seven days of deliberation, but the judge held off on declaring a mistrial.
After five months of testimony, the presiding judge said he was considering giving jurors the option of deciding on a reduced charge of manslaughter and asked them to return to court Wednesday.
The jury had previously been instructed that manslaughter, or accidental death, was not an option as a verdict. Legal experts said the possible change of charge was highly unusual.
Spector, 67, faced 15 years to life in prison if convicted of shooting actress Lana Clarkson in the mouth with a gun at his Los Angeles area home in February 2003.
The man who famously pioneered the "Wall of Sound" recording technique has lived for years almost as a recluse in a fake castle outside Los Angeles. He sat shaking throughout the trial but did not testify in his defense and showed no emotion during Tuesday's proceedings.
The jury said it had taken four ballots but was split 7-5 over the verdict. It did not say if the split favored a guilty or innocent verdict.
Most jury members told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry Fidler they doubted a change to a manslaughter charge would help their deliberations. The panel began hearing testimony April 26 in a trial that produced 77 witnesses and had more than 500 exhibits.
"I don't believe that anything else will change the position of the jurors based on the facts that are in evidence," the jury foreman told Fidler.
The defense has argued that Clarkson, 40, a struggling B-movie actress who met Spector at a Hollywood nightclub, shot herself in the mouth because she was depressed about her career and her finances.
Five women testified during the trial that Spector had a history of pulling guns on people and prosecutors suggested the record producer shot Clarkson when she rebuffed his romantic advances and tried to leave his home.
Prosecutors originally said Spector could be convicted of murder for putting the gun in Clarkson's face -- whether he pulled the trigger or the gun went off by accident.
Jean Rosenbluth, a law professor at the University of Southern California, said she had heard of cases when a judge allowed lawyers to reopen arguments and address one issue.
"I don't recall hearing of a case in which the jury indicated they were hung and told they could consider another charge," she said.
Rosenbluth said the move would likely give defense lawyers a clear way to appeal if Spector was eventually convicted of the reduced manslaughter charge.
Spector is still a revered figure in music circles for his work in the 1960s and 1970s with The Beatles, The Ronettes, Tina Turner and Cher. He is free on $1 million bail.
Facts on Phil Spector
• Spector created his "Wall of Sound" production style by employing large groups of musicians, sometimes using double and triple instrumentation, to create a dense sound.
• Spector worked with some of the biggest names of the 1960s and 1970s, including the Righteous Brothers, the Ronettes, Ike and Tina Turner, the Ramones and the Beatles, as well as John Lennon and George Harrison individually.
• Stories about Spector and gunplay are legendary. According to the biography "Wall of Pain," he sometimes kept a gun on the studio recording console, fired a shot during an acrimonious recording session with John Lennon and pressed a pistol barrel to Leonard Cohen's neck.