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The jury weighing Phil Spector's guilt or innocence will head out to Alhambra tomorrow to view the foyer where Lana Clarkson died. Special correspondent Linda Deutsch of the Associated Press will be the lone reporter along. She's the most experienced of the journalists covering the trial, but her designation as pool reporter has not gone down altogether smoothly. Some journos covering the trial are grumbling that Spector's defense team basically requested Deutsch and vetoed other reporters. At a meeting yesterday morning in the courthouse, I'm told, the assembled media rejected a move by the LAT's Peter Hong and the LA Weekly's Steven Mikulan to select a pool reporter by lottery. The media types opted to choose one of their own by election, then voted 15-7 to make it Deutsch. There's talk around that Judge Larry Paul Fidler then tentatively agreed to let Hong also cover the visit, but that Spector attorneys objected in chambers this morning and Hong was bounced.
In any case, the city of Alhambra will close off a portion of Grand View Drive and the intersection of Grand View, Alta Vista and Parkview to secure the jury. Today in court, juror #6 told the judge that his employer, a film company, was involved in prosecution witness Michael Bay's Texas Chainsaw Massacre films. The juror said he could be fair and was allowed to remain on the case.
* Thursday story: Spector's lawyer objected to Hong and Court TV. "The idea that the defense and the defendant are deciding which of the media can go to the house is absolutely outrageous to me," says Dominick Dunne.