Sep 17, 2007 1:17 pm US/Pacific
Spector Jurors Enter Second Week Of Deliberations
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
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Spector is accused of murdering Lana Clarkson (file).
GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images
Jurors in the Phil Spector murder trial began a sixth day of deliberations Monday as they consider whether the music producer should be convicted of killing an actress in his home.
Spector, 67, is accused of shooting 40-year-old Lana Clarkson through the mouth around 5 a.m. on Feb. 3, 2003, in the foyer of his Alhambra mansion. The defendant, who maintains Clarkson shot herself because she was despondent over her career and finances, faces 15 years to life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder, with a possible added 10-year penalty for use of a firearm.
Prior to starting Monday's session, the nine men and three women on the jury had already met for about 22 hours since starting deliberations on Sept. 10.
The panel began hearing testimony April 26 in a trial that produced 77 witnesses and had more than 500 exhibits submitted into evidence. Most of the exhibits are located inside the jury room for the jurors to view whenever they see fit.
While the jury deliberated Friday, Gary and Louis Spector, twin sons the music producer adopted after his second marriage to Ronettes singer Ronnie Spector, sat in the courtroom, as they have done since deliberations began.
Spector and Clarkson met when he went to the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip, where she was working as a $9-per-hour VIP hostess. Spector, who had spent the night on the town dining and drinking with two other women, invited Clarkson to come home with him. Hours later, she was dead.
Prosecutors allege Spector shot Clarkson when she rebuffed his romantic advances. Five women testified that Spector pulled guns on them in similar situations over the years when they spurned him romantically and tried to leave.
The defense contends that Clarkson was depressed about her career, but also suggested that she may have accidentally pulled the trigger. She had been drinking tequila and taking pain medicine.
Clarkson was best known for her starring role in the 1985 Roger Corman cult hit "Barbarian Queen," though she had bit parts on dozens of TV shows and in a few well-known movies, such as 1982's "Fast Times at Ridgemont High."
Spector, renowned in music circles for the "Wall of Sound" recording technique he invented in the 1960s and used in his work with the Beatles and other groups, is free on $1 million bail.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
SLIDESHOW: Phil Spector On Trial
RELATED STORIES: Phil Spector
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