Phil Spector's Fate in Jury's Hands

The time to argue gunplay and blood spatter is over. The time for Phil Spector to find out whether his high-priced lawyers earned their paychecks has just begun.

Six months after being empaneled, the nine-man, three-woman jury finally started deliberating Spector's fate Monday morning—but only after fielding questions as to whether they've been keeping tabs on the British tabs.

At issue was a report that surfaced in London's Mail on Sunday, which boasted quotes purportedly straight from Spector himself, in which  the Wall of Sound legend allegedly ranted that "the judge doesn't like" him and that 20 percent of the jurors harbor a bias against him, think he is "insane" and had already made their minds up that he was guilty of murdering B-movie actress Lana Clarkson.

"The only thing that concerns me is the verdict," the paper quoted Spector as saying. "And for that I'm in the hands of 12 people who voted for George Bush."

But with the jury out of earshot, Spector, 67, insisted he never uttered those words or gave any semblance of an interview to the tabloid.

"I did not make those statements," he told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler. "They are reprehensible and false. Whoever made them on my behalf should be put in jail. I'm sure the jury will do a good job."

His lead attorney, Linda Kenney Baden, seconded the remarks, telling the judge her client "absolutely trusts this jury."

The Mail, meanwhile, claimed Spector made the comments to a documentary filmmaker who had been working with the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer over a five-month period earlier this year.

Brought back into the courtroom and asked whether they were privy to the article, none of the jurors raised a hand and, after a half-hour instruction session from Fidler, they were excused to begin deliberations at roughly 10:45 a.m.

Fidler himself did not comment on the article during the court session, though after the jury was excused, he said, "Anyone who wants to make a comment like that to a jury that's about to deliberate their fate isn't thinking about it."

While the jury's still out, so to speak, on whether Spector really made the statements printed in the Mail, his missus, Rachelle Spector, has made no qualms about her media contacts.

Over the weekend, the 27-year-old sent emails to various media outlets informing them of a TV interview she had given earlier in the week to Court TV. To ensure no other information was leaked to the press, Fidler imposed a gag order on both Spectors.

"Ma'am, I'm going to do something I've never done before," Fidler told Rachelle Spector, who was seated in the gallery, behind her husband.

"You are here in the courtroom. You will not talk to the press...until a verdict or other decision is arrived at in this case. If you do, you're in violation of my order and you know what I do to people who violate my orders."

That set her off. She told the judge she wasn't a witness in the case and continued grousing until Fidler finally cut her off.

"Ma'am, you're in front of me. You're in front of me! I'm making an order. You want to violate my order, go ahead and do so. I can assure you I will hold you in contempt of court for violating my order, and I will treat it accordingly," he said, before being interrupted once again.

"I am talking to you, and what you need to do is listen."

The gag order was also applied to the Clarkson family, though Fidler took care to note that their order was a preemptive one and that they had so far refrained from speaking out publicly.

Phil Spector, famous for his production work with the Righteous Brothers, the Ronettes and the Beatles, has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death of Lana Clarkson on Feb. 3, 2003. Clarkson suffered a fatal gunshot to her mouth while in the foyer of Spector's Alhambra mansion. Spector's defense has termed the death an accidental suicide.

If convicted of the charge, Spector faces 15 years to life in prison.

The jury finished the day shortly after 4 p.m. without reaching a verdict. Before wrapping up, however, jurors requested to see the revolver that killed Clarkson.