Mistrial Declared! Phil Spector Jury is Hung 10-2

More details as I hear on the KTLA website. Jury's now dismissed. They didn't indicate the breakdown of the 10-2 split. Maybe some jurors will speak to the press after Judge Fidler talks to them. The talking heads seem to think at least one juror will talk.

Postscript: three jurors spoke, but I only caught part of it. The important part I heard was that the breakdown was 10=guilty; 2=not guilty. A hearing is now scheduled for Wed., 10/03/07 at 10 a.m. (Pacific time) to discuss whether the State wants to retry Spector plus other related scheduling/housekeeping matters.

Phil Spector Jury's Now Hitting the 40-Hour Mark

over 11 days of deliberation. I usually don't criticize juries, but this group must not be able to see the forest for the trees!

Phil Spector Trial: Judge Fidler Tells Pros. Alan Jackson

that Jackson is speaking out of both sides of his mouth, but says he doesn't mean it in a derogatory way--pretty funny. This is in the midst of yet more arguing among Pros., Def., & Fidler as to how to draft a new instruction to replace ("pinpoint") Special Instruction #3, which Fidler decided yesterday should be tossed because part of it mis-states the law (& because the jury seems to be particularly hung up on it, which is just my opinion.) Meanwhile, the jury's been hanging around for almost 4 hours today, wondering when or if they'll be resuming their deliberations.

Phil Spector Jury Claims It's Deadlocked 7-5, but

Judge Fidler asks each juror if there's any chance if hearing some jury instructions again would help them attempt to agree on a verdict. Three jurors say they'd like to hear a few jury instructions again, so Judge Fidler sends the jury home for today, ordering them to return tomorrow morning.

Fidler tells the attorneys (after the jury's left) he'll do some case law research tonight because he's seriously considering adding a lesser-included charge of manslaughter for the jury's consideration tomorrow.

Amazing! I am really rather shocked the split is 7-5! I really try to observe trials from the most "presumption of innocence" position reasonably possible--the State needs to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. But COME ON! That doesn't mean beyond any possible shred of any doubt or any possible speculative POSSIBILITY one might come up with!

We'll see what happens tomorrow.
--Iris

Phil Spector Jury

has, by end of the day today, been deliberating for a little over 9 hours total over 2 days, according to the CourtTV website. The trial itself lasted around 5 MONTHS! (I think it would have taken 3 weeks, max, if it had been tried in Travis County.)

That LA court's "regular" hours in this trial were 9:30-4, w/a 1.5-hour lunch, Mon-Thur only. Wow. I can't imagine serving on a jury that many months, especially when not working full days & not working 5 days a week.

The CourtTV blogger, Harriet Ryan, (who also attended Pitonyak's trial) says that the Spector jury left 15 minutes ahead of their designated ending time today & that the designated juror (aka "foreman") was smiling as they left.
--Iris