Los Angeles - The Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler told lawyers that the murder case against Phil Spector will have to be decided by the hung jury as they cannot be allowed to consider a lesser charge of manslaughter.
The jury is now 8 days into deliberations and is currently a hung jury with the votes going 7-5. There is no news as to which way those votes are going but that is the tally thus far.
Fidler stated to lawyers that “I do accept that it would be inappropriate at this time to instruct the jury with a new offense, that being the lesser offense of manslaughter, because I believe it’s basically directing them, if at all possible, that’s what they should find. And that is inappropriate.”
The 67-year-old Spector is charged with the murder of actress Lana Clarkson. The defense has stated that they believe Clarkson shot herself in the mouth either on purpose or by accident.
The judge is not happy about the hung jury as the trial has gone on for 5 months. New instructions may be given and lawyers may have to re-argue parts of the case due to the jury issues.
The jury foreman stated to the judge that there is little to no hope of resolving the impasse and that jurors were in disagreement about facts of the case, not the law itself.