With the Phil Spector murder trial jury now chronically unable to decide if Phil Spector murdered Lana Clarkson or not, the judge in charge of things has realised that he needs to mix things up to push for a verdict.
But what the judge won't do is offer the jury the chance to find Phil Spector guilty of manslaughter instead of murder. Although Judge Larry Paul Fidler had been toying with the idea of helping the jury out by reducing the charge against Phil Spector to manslaughter, he's now withdrawn his decision, claiming that he might railroad the jurors into coming to that conclusion. Personally we're hoping that the Phil Spector murder trial jury stays hung for one more week, because that's when the ancient Los Angeles law stating that the result of a murder trial can be decided by a monkey in a fez shooting different-coloured balloons with a bow and arrow comes into play, and that promises to be quite the show.
We're sure that the mostly male jurors picked to handle the outcome of the Phil Spector murder trial are all deeply intelligent, reasonable people but – sweet lord – are they ever stubborn. Over the last five months the juror has done its best to digest every single facet of the Phil Spector murder trial, from the women who Phil Spector held at gunpoint to the Phil Spector Christmas tradition of yelling that all women are "fucking cunts" who deserve to be shot to the groundbreaking evidence that Phil Spector is right-handed; but now that it's been asked to reach a verdict, the Phil Spector murder trial jury can't even agree on a unanimous decision – and they're people who got to lifelessly slump in a replica of the chair that Lana Clarkson was found dead in to see if they picked up any murderish vibes from it, and you can't ask for greater evidence than that.
So now that the Phil Spector jury is hung seven to five – nobody knows in which favour yet – the judge in charge of the trial has to try and dream up a new way to coerce a unanimous verdict out of it. But Judge Larry Paul Fidler has ruled out giving the jury the option of finding Phil Spector guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter. As before, Phil Spector either murdered Lana Clarkson or he didn't. The Press Association reports:
The judge presiding in the murder trial of music producer Phil Spector has decided he will not allow the hung jury to consider a lesser charge of manslaughter. "I do accept that it would be inappropriate at this time to instruct the jury with a new offence, that being the lesser offence of manslaughter, because I believe it's basically directing them, if at all possible, that's what they should find. And that is inappropriate," Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler told lawyers. Judge Fidler had ruled earlier in the trial that the jury would consider only the charge of second-degree murder.
But if offering the jury a lesser charge to play with is out of the question, what is Judge Fidler able to do? Well, it's being reported that he's revoked an instruction that the jury was having difficulty understanding, revolving around its need to find proof that Phil Spector had been holding the gun that went off in Lana Clarkson's mouth. But if this action leads to Phil Spector being found guilty of murder, the first thing the defence lawyers will do is question each of the jurors to see if they felt Judge Larry Paul Fidler – who hates Phil Spector, remember – only revoked the instruction to help get Spector convicted. And if that happens, it's retrial time, baby! Five more heavenly months of gazing lovingly into Phil Spector's beautiful semi-retired lesbian schoolteacher haircut! There is a god after all.
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Harry Potter says
Spin! Spin! Spin the wheel of justice!
Cacafuego says
I’d check on the bank accounts of a couple of jurors, to see if they’ve been treated to a Wall Of Money. It’s clear Spector isn’t afraid to pay others to obstruct justice for him.