Spector Jury Cuts Day Short for Holiday

Jurors deliberated for about two hours Friday in the murder retrial of music producer Phil Spector, cutting the day short because of the Good Friday holiday.

The six-man, six-woman panel is expected to resume deliberating at 9:30 a.m. Monday.

Deliberations were cut short Thursday due to a juror's illness. It was the second time deliberations had been interrupted by sickness. As of Friday, the jury has spent about 29 hours discussing the case over eight days since March 26.

Spector, 69, is charged with murder in the Feb. 3, 2003, shooting death of 40-year-old actress and House of Blues VIP hostess Lana Clarkson at his mansion in Alhambra. He claims she shot herself with his gun.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler has told jurors that they can consider convicting Spector of involuntary manslaughter instead of second-degree murder.

The option of involuntary manslaughter was not given in Spector's first trial. That jury deadlocked 10-2 in September 2007, with the majority voting in favor of convicting him of murder.

Spector, renowned in music circles for the "Wall of Sound" technique he invented in the 1960s and used in his work with the Beatles and other groups, is free on $1 million bail posted shortly after his arrest.

Clarkson, who was best known for her starring role in the 1985 Roger Corman cult hit "Barbarian Queen," had bit parts on dozens of television shows and in a few well-known movies, such as 1982's "Fast Times at Ridgemont
High."