PHIL SPECTOR CONVICTED OF SECOND-DEGREE MURDER

This just in from the Los Angeles Superior Court, where producer Phil Spector, 69, was retried for the death of actress Lana Clarkson, after a hung jury in the first trial. He could receive a sentence of 15 years to life in prison.

Judge Larry Paul Fidler gave the jury the option of convicting or acquitting Spector of the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter, but the jury returned with a second-degree murder conviction.

Prosecutors portrayed Spector as a "demonic maniac" and "a very dangerous man" around women, while the jury heard testimony from five women who said Spector threatened them with a handgun.

"This case is about a man who has had a history of playing Russian roulette with the lives of women," Deputy District Attorney Truc Do said in her closing argument last month. "Five women got the empty chamber. Lana got the sixth bullet."

Spector's lawyers argued the prosecution's case was based on circumstantial evidence, while contending Clarkson took her own life in despair over her failed acting career. 

I hope this has brought some peace and vindication to Lana Clarkson's family.