PHIL SPECTOR - SPECTOR JUDGE DENIES PREJUDICE

The judge who presided over PHIL SPECTOR's murder trial has rejected a defence motion to disqualify him from the retrial. Spector is accused of murdering actress Lana Clarkson at his Alhambra, California mansion in 2003. His original murder trial was ruled a mistrial in September (07) when jurors couldn't agree unanimously on a guilty verdict. But Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler signed a declaration that he was not biased or prejudiced against the music producer after Spector's attorney Doron Weinberg said he was appealing to seek a hearing before a neutral judge. In the statement, Fidler also said the motion filed by Weinberg was untimely and any protests of the judge's actions should have been filed when they occurred during the trial. No date has yet been set for the retrial.