Bring On Another 5 Month Trial

Five months of testimony and 12 days of deliberations convinced the Phil Spector jury of only one thing. They all like Chinese food. It seems that is about the only thing they had in common as a mistrial was declared today when Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler ruled that the jury was not going to be able to reach a verdict.

The jury was deadlocked 10-2 which seems like an improvement from the 7-5 impasse they had last week. What is not known is which way the jury was leaning.

Spector was on trial for 2nd degree murder and so now the big question is will the District Attorney go for 2nd Degree murder again or will they try and convict Spector on lesser charges. There is the third possibility that they will just drop the entire case, but that seems a little far fetched due to the publicity surrounding the case.

The District Attorney wants a conviction and so in my opinion their best bet will be to try for the lesser charge of manslaughter. If they go for 2nd Degree murder again, and fail, it would be doubtful whether they could muster the time, money and effort at that point go for the manslaughter charge.

I'm also wondering how much money Phil Spector has and if he has enough to go through another five month trial. You may be asking yourself whether Spector might cop to some type of plea if the District Attorney goes for the manslaughter charge. This would save him the cost of trial, but he would just end up giving it to Lana Clarkson's relatives when they file a civil suit against him for wrongful death.

No matter what the District Attorney chooses to do, you can be rest assured that Phil Spector will be spending a great deal more time in court.