News Headlines at ALWAYSHOTNEWS.com

05/16/2008		`I`m so sorry`, shooter`s mum tells police
A TEARFUL mother has apologised to two police officers caught in a gun battle that left her son dead

05/16/2008		Delta sealed to hide cyclone victims` plight
BURMA has reportedly sealed off its devastated cyclone region and sent aid workers packing to hide the toll

05/16/2008		`Hacker shuts down government computers`
A HACKER has allegedly shut down a government computer system, forcing staff to be stood down and costly 24-hour-a-day repair efforts

05/16/2008		5c petrol tax relief in pipeline
THE price of petrol could be cut, with both the Government and Opposition proposing tax relief

05/16/2008		Earthquake toll likely to top 50,000
CHINA says it believes more than 50,000 people have died in the massive earthquake that devastated its southwest

05/16/2008		Dungeon children`s dreamland
A wish-list scrawled in a child`s hand has revealed the slow steps towards recovery being made by the freed Austrian dungeon victims

05/15/2008		Air strike may delay Mokbel`s return
TONY Mokbel`s long-awaited return to Australia could be delayed by an air traffic controllers` strike in Greece

05/15/2008		Court to rule on Madonna adoption bid
A COURT in Malawi began a hearing today into an application by pop star Madonna to permanently adopt a three-year-old boy from one of Africa`s poorest countries

05/15/2008		Seven Network `mounting an ambush`
MERCEDES Corby says the Seven Network was mounting an "ambush" when it asked her for comment shortly before broadcasting drug claims against her on national television

05/15/2008		Tony Mokbel `yearning for family reunion`
DRUGS fugitive Tony Mokbel is yearning for a reunion with his family when he arrives back in Australia and the chance to clear his name in court

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THE deadlocked jury in the Phil Spector murder trial will not be given the option of convicting the music producer on a lesser charge, a judge in the US ruled today.

Judge Larry Paul Fidler ruled against instructing the jury to consider whether Spector was guilty of involuntary manslaughter instead of second degree murder, saying there was a danger it might lead to a tainted verdict.

"We`d all like this case to get resolved and especially have the jury arrive at a result, given the amount of time that has been spent," Judge Fidler said.

"To give them a new offence to consider at this stage is in essence saying `well, if you can`t find him guilty on that, why don`t you try this?`," Judge Fidler said. "I have a problem with that."

The ruling was seen as a victory for Spector, 67, who is accused of gunning down B-movie actress Lana Clarkson at his castle-like home in the Los Angeles suburb of Alhambra in 2003.

Yesterday, jurors mulling murder charges against Spector in the five-month trial said that after four ballots they were split 7-5, with no prospect of a breakthrough after seven days of deliberations.

"At this time we don`t believe that anything else will change the positions of the jurors based on the facts of the case," the jury foreman said.

After receiving requested additional instructions on the legal distinction between "doubt" and "reasonable doubt", jurors are expected to resume their deliberations later today.

Spector, pioneered the "Wall of Sound" recording technique during the 1960s and is regarded as one of the most influential figures in music history.

Prosecutors allege that the reclusive Spector shot Clarkson in the head as she attempted to leave his home after meeting him for the first time only a few hours before in the Hollywood nightclub where she worked.

District attorney Alan Jackson said during the trial Spector had a "rich history of violence" against women, often flying into drunken, gun-toting rages whenever they tried to leave his company.

No fewer than five female acquaintances of Spector testified that the genius behind 1960s hits such as Da Doo Ron Ron and You`ve Lost That Loving Feeling threatened them with guns in incidents dating back to the 1970s.

Spector`s former chauffeur also provided damaging evidence, telling jurors that on the night of the shooting his employer had emerged from a doorway clutching a pistol in a bloodied hand to say: "I think I killed somebody."

Defence lawyers argued however that Clarkson, famous for her role in Roger Corman`s 1985 cult classic The Barbarian Queen but whose career had stalled at the time of her death, killed herself.

Spector`s trial is one of the highest profile celebrity cases to be heard in California in the past two decades, following the child sex trial of Michael Jackson and the murder trials of television actor Robert Blake and football legend OJ Simpson, who were all acquitted.

Spector murder trial in balance 09/20/2007