News: After 12 days of jury deliberation, Judge Larry Paul Fidler has declared a mistrial in the Phil Spector murder trial. The deadlocked panel, reported to have been split 10-2, had been unable to reach a verdict. It is yet unclear whether the majority favored conviction or acquittal (the jury had announced a 7-5 split just more than a week ago). A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office has stated that it intends to retry Spector for the gunshot death of b-movie actress Lana Clarkson. Spector remains free on $1 million bail in the meantime.

Opinion: Mistrial? A bloody mistrial? Legally, we here at Spinner Spector Detector may have an our own ideas as to how we feel the trial should have been decided, but that's neither here nor there. Our outrage is instead directed at the trial as a story arc. This may be the worst ending possible for anyone who is either not surnamed Spector or is not paid with a check bearing that name. We've gone too far on this journey to jurisprudence, dear reader, to have it peter out like a last-half-hour 'SNL' sketch. We expect so much more from a Hollywood-based production! Let's hope the upcoming sequel, er, retrial gets the ending right. And if and when 'Spector II: Blood on the Wall of Sound' goes into pre-production, the Spinner Spector Detector, freshly recalibrated, will be there!

Counter-opinion: On the other hand, a retrying of the case may mean another slice of hot Punkin Pie!