AP Photo/Chris Pizzello

The Phil Spector saga is set to take the fall.

A judge has set a retrial date of Sept. 29 for the famed music producer, who is accused of murdering B-movie actress Lana Clarkson at his Alhambra, Calif., home in February 2003.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler, who presided over Spector's first trial, set the date today, despite the defense's ongoing attempt to have him removed from the case. The California Supreme Court is expected to rule on that motion next month.

Spector's first go-round ended in September in a mistrial, with the jury deadlocked 10-2 in favor of convicting the Wall of Sound creator of second-degree murder. Most of his high-priced defense team then decamped for greener cases, and Spector was granted several months to repopulate his side.

Even if Fidler is removed from the case, the new trial's start date is "far enough away that we might be able to keep it," Spector's new lead attorney, Doron Weinberg, told reporters after court Thursday.