Phil Spector Gets Celebrity Justice
In a decision that should surprise no one, the judge in the Phil Spector case has declared a mistrial, with the jury divided 10-2. We don't know yet how that split breaks down, but I'm guessing the 10 wanted to convict. After all, last time around the jury was split 7-5, and since then the jury instructions were modified so as to increase the likelihood of conviction. It seems highly unlikely that jurors who thought "guilty" then would have switched to "not guilty" in the meantime. More likely, the new instructions helped to peal away a few holdouts, but not the remaining two.
And that's one more than it takes to keep a killer out of prison.
We'll see if the prosecutor has the stomach to fight this again, but I suspect that, sooner or later, Phil will be joining Robert Blake and O.J. out on the links.