Clinton`s 3am girl an Obama backer

11.03.2008

Wake-up call ... the little girl used in the ad that kept alive Hillary Clinton`s White House dream has turned out to be a supporter of Barack Obama and is planning to make a revenge ad with her idol.

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THE girl featured in the TV ad credited with helping Hillary Clinton stay alive in the US election race is a Barack Obama backer - and is planning to settle the score with an ad of her own.

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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