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Music producer Phil Spector's trial ends as a mistrial

The murder trial of music producer Phil Spector ended on Wednesday in a mistrial after the jury, leaning heavily to convict him, could not reach a unanimous verdict.

The Los Angeles County district attorney's office said it planned to retry the case.

Spector, 67, charged with second-degree murder in the 2003 killing of Lana Clarkson in his home, stared blankly forward as Judge Larry Paul Fidler of Superior Court ended the proceedings after the jury foreman reported a 10-2 deadlock.

The impasse came after an earlier deadlock of 7-5, which jurors later said also tilted toward conviction, that led the judge to take the unusual step of sending jurors back to deliberate with new instructions, which angered the defense.

Three jurors, speaking to reporters afterward, said the two holdouts gave credence to a defense assertion that the death of Clarkson, a 40-year-old struggling actress, might have been a suicide rather than a murder.

They said the jurors had also been troubled by the lack of large amounts of blood on Spector and the poor English of a witness, Spector's driver, who said he heard Spector say, "I think I killed somebody."

Fidler kept gag orders in place preventing lawyers and parties in the case from speaking publicly. He set a hearing for Wednesday.

Spector, the mastermind behind hits like Da Doo Ron Ron and Be My Baby, escorted by his wife, lawyers and bodyguards, left after the verdict through an adjacent courtroom without saying a word, free on bail.

"We're disappointed the jury was unable to reach a verdict in this case, and we will immediately begin preparations for a retrial," said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office at a news conference.

Spector was accused of killing Clarkson, whom he had met at a nightclub hours before she was found dead from a gunshot wound to her mouth in the foyer of his home.

Prosecutors said Spector shot Clarkson in an alcohol-fueled rage after she resisted his advances. They presented testimony from five other women who described similar threats by Spector.
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