SPECTOR CONVICTED OF SECOND DEGREE MURDER

Famed music producer Phil Spector was convicted of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of actress Lana Clarkson nearly six years ago.

The L.A. Superior Court jury reached its decision after nine days of deliberations. An earlier jury had deadlocked 10-2 in favor of guilt, which necessitated the retrial.

The 69-year-old Spector, whose work with Tina Turner, the Beatles, the Righteous Brothers and the Ronettes earned him a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, faces at least 18 years in prison when he is sentenced.

The jury determined Spector killed Clarkson, a blond actress he met while she was working as a hostess at the House of Blues Foundation Room on the Sunset Strip, just hours later at his Alhambra mansion outside L.A. on Feb. 3, 2003.

Over the course of the trial, which began in October, the prosecution portrayed Spector as “a sadistic misogynist who had a three-decade history of playing Russian roulette with the lives of women” when he was drunk. A prosecutor told jurors in her summary that “by the grace of God, five other women got the empty chamber and lived to tell. Lana just happened to be the sixth woman who got the bullet.”

Spector’s defense contended Clarkson killed herself because she was depressed over her flagging career and financial worries, and may have committed suicide impulsively after hours of late-night drinking.