Los Angeles (E! Online) - Someone else is willing to step up to the plate for Phil Spector, although he wont be able to play ball until next fall.
The troubled music producer, who is going to be retried for murder after a hung jury failed to deliver a verdict in September, informed a judge Friday that he has found a new lead defense attorney.
San Francisco lawyer Doron Weinberg told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler that he will need about five months to brush up on the ins and outs of the complex case regarding the 2003 death of actress Lana Clarkson and should be ready to mount his defense in September 2008.
Fidler declared a mistrial Sept. 26 after the jury deadlocked 7-5 in favor of conviction over whether Spector killed the Barbarian Queen star with a gunshot wound to the mouth in the hallway of his Alhambra mansion.
The defense, which presented a host of scientific experts who contradicted L.A. County authorities ruling that Clarksons death was a homicide, maintained that the 40-year-old woman was depressed over the state of her career, finances and love life in the months leading up to her death and, fueled by a combination of Vicodin and alcohol, had accidentally shot herself in Spectors home.
Fidler ruled against letting the jury consider a lesser manslaughter charge against the Wall of Sound creator after questions arose about what exactly constituted second-degree murder.
Spectors high-profile and highly paid defense team has mostly disbanded after spending years preparing for the case and then four months arguing it in front of a jury.
Christopher Plourd, who along with Dennis Riordan remains from the first trial, is currently involved in two death penalty cases and will not be able for trial number two until the fall.
Fidler wants both the defense and prosecution in court on May 22 to discuss the case.
