Phil Spector jury fails to decide

The jury in the murder trial of music producer Phil Spector has been sent home after failing to reach a verdict.

The judge in Los Angeles has declared a mistrial. Prosecutors have said they will seek a new trial.

Mr Spector faces between 15 years and life imprisonment if found guilty of murdering actress Lana Clarkson at his home in 2003.

He has pleaded not guilty to second degree murder, and his lawyers have argued that it was a case of suicide.

Deadlock

The jury had been deliberating since 10 September in a trial that lasted more than four months.

The jurors said they were split 10 to two - but it was not clear which way they were leaning.

The jury had already announced once that it had failed to come to a unanimous decision, on 18 September, when the panel was split seven to five.

Second degree murder falls between first degree murder, which requires proof of pre-meditation, and manslaughter.

Ms Clarkson, 40, had been working as a hostess at the House of Blues venue in Los Angeles, where she met Spector on the night of her death.

The actress accompanied Mr Spector to his home in the early hours of the morning but was later found in his foyer after having been shot in the mouth.

A holster matching the snub-nosed Colt Cobra revolver that killed Ms Clarkson was found in a drawer in the foyer.

'Despondent'

Ms Clarkson had been working at the nightclub after struggling to find acting roles, and the trial had heard how she was despondent about her career in the months before her death.

Mr Spector's Brazilian chauffeur Adriano De Souza said at the trial that he heard a "pow" at about 5am. His boss emerged from the house several minutes later and told him: "I think I killed somebody," the driver testified.

But less than 24 hours after the shooting, Mr De Souza was asked by police if he could recall Mr Spector's exact words. "I think so. I think, I'm not sure. It's my English," he said.

One of the crucial questions is whether the forensic evidence proves Mr Spector was close enough to the victim to have been able to shoot her in the mouth.

Mr Spector's lawyer Linda Kenney-Baden told jurors the absence of gunshot residue and blood from his sleeves showed he had not fired the fatal shot.

The judge set a hearing to decide how the case will now proceed on 3 October.

Mr Spector has worked with some of the biggest names in the music business, including the Beatles, and is famous for pioneering the "Wall of Sound" recording technique in the 1960s.