NEW YORK – So Phil Spector wants a new judge for his new trial, does he?

Ashleigh Banfield thinks Phil Spector should stop blaming others for his predicament.

The latest figure to be blamed for everything that’s wrong with Spector’s wilting life is the Honorable Judge Larry Paul Fidler, who patiently presided over his trial for five long months last year.

It seems Mr. Spector doesn’t think the good judge was good enough.

But Spector’s complaints don’t end there, nor do his efforts to dole out blame for his miserable lot and defame all those involved.

It wasn’t good enough that his first trial ended with a hung jury.

It wasn’t good enough that his own lawyers secured him that deadlock, because he’s gone ahead and replaced every single one of them.

It wasn’t good enough that Spector besmirched Lana Clarkson’s memory while insisting during his defense that she simply shot herself in the mouth while waiting to leave his California mansion, purse slung over her shoulder.

It wasn’t good enough that he cast aspersions upon five women who had their deep, dark and embarrassing secrets unearthed during the prosecution’s case because they, too, had looked down the barrel of Phil Spector’s various guns while trying to end a bad date with him.

It wasn’t good enough that the renowned forensic scientist, Dr Henry Lee, came to Spector’s defense, because Spector’s own incessant legal wrangling caused Lee’s credibility to be thrashed in court.

It wasn’t good enough that Spector’s immigrant driver offered no embellishment when recounting seeing Spector with blood on his hand, holding a gun, and saying “I think I just killed somebody.” Instead, Adriano De Souza offered only the facts, and no more, even though he was so afraid for his own life he sped out of the driveway while dialing police. Spector’s reaction? This military veteran who excelled in advanced English classes had his reputation reduced to that of a dumb fool who doesn’t know guns, and doesn’t speak English well enough to be believed.

If all that weren’t enough, it’s now it’s the judge’s fault that Spector didn’t get everything he’s used to having — a room full of sycophantic people who tell him he can do (and has done) no wrong.

Bring on round two, whoever the judge may be. It only takes one person to hang a jury, and for a fleeting instant, that’s exactly what Spector got. One man — Juror Number 10 — who for some reason bought into Spector’s expensive defense.

It’s unlikely the music legend will see this chorus repeated.

Even though Spector just keeps spending his way out of a giant, roiling, wake of broken people, defamed professionals, jilted lawyers, weak arguments and disappointed music lovers, the evidence is what it is.

Message to Mr. Music: Here’s what’s up, Pussycat. Your nine legal lives are almost over.

– Ashleigh Banfield, In Session anchor

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida – The families of victims Linda Taylor, 56, and Cynthia Andrews, 49, have been waiting about a year and a half for this trial. Adam Gaillard, now 36, is charged with killing them when he lost control of his car on a bridge in Palm Beach County, Florida.

Adam Gaillard is accused of fleeing a fatal accident scene.

The crime he’s charged with is not vehicular homicide or involuntary manslaughter. He’s charged with failing to stop to render aid or, since aid would be futile in this case, to wait until authorities arrived so he could identify himself and offer what other information police would need. This is what the law requires. Watch a video wrap-up of the trial

Gaillard is not disputing that he swerved and lost control, but he says he never saw the women and has no idea that hit anyone. The state maintains he hit Taylor, but Gaillard says he had no idea it happened. So the issue for the jury will be whether Gaillard willfully and deliberately left the scene where he knew or should have known that he injured or killed someone.

It was about 6:00 a.m. on Sunday morning, September 24, 2006. Taylor and Andrews were walking on the Blue Heron Boulevard bridge (sometimes called the Singer Island bridge) that morning. It was still dark at about 6:00 a.m. but Taylor and Andrews routinely took early morning walks. Taylor wore a blinking red light on her shirt.

The two women properly walked westbound on the eastbound side; in other words, they faced oncoming traffic. Gaillard was driving eastbound over the bridge. He was alone and upset with his girlfriend. Seconds before the crash, he says he threw his cell phone and caught his hand or finger on the steering wheel. He lost control of the SUV and swerved off the road, onto the shoulder and then up the curb.

Gaillard sideswiped the bridge’s cement wall and veered back into the travel lane. As he swerved off the road, he struck Taylor, prosecutors say. She had been walking on the shoulder right next to the curb. Taylor was found about 20 feet away. She died at the scene.

Andrews had been walking on the sidewalk. She wasn’t struck but she was found 50 feet below the bridge on the beach. She, too, died at the scene. Andrews apparently was forced over the wall, possibly jumping to avoid Gaillard’s oncoming car, prosecutors say. Gaillard allegedly kept driving.

Gaillard blew out his two right tires. He had a big scrape on the passenger side of his vehicle. But he also had a dent on his hood. Was the dent caused by the impact with Taylor? If so, one asks, how did he not know that he hit at least one of the women? He has yet to offer an explanation.

On the advice of a friend and a lawyer, Gaillard turned himself in later that day and was interviewed by a detective more than 12 hours after the crash. By that time, it was too late to administer a breathalyzer test and no blood sample was voluntarily given, prosecutors say. With no evidence of impairment, there could be no DUI manslaughter charge.

Gaillard has always maintained that he was not drinking or using drugs that night. With no evidence of reckless driving (like speeding), there could be no vehicular homicide charge.

Gaillard was arrested on October 19, 2006. In addition to the second degree felony charge of leaving the scene of a fatal crash, he was charged with driving with a suspended license. The judge set bail at $50,000. He posted a bond and was released on condition that he not possess or consume alcohol and not use illegal drugs. He was also subjected to random drug tests. Within about a month, Gaillard flunked a drug test. He had cocaine in his system. Bail was revoked. He’s been sitting in a Palm Beach County jail since November 2006 awaiting this trial.

– Beth Karas, In Session correspondent

NEW YORK — A case out of the New York-New Jersey area has gotten my attention and it’s something you may want to follow, especially if you watched our network’s coverage last year of the Melanie McGuire case. McGuire was convicted in New Jersey in April of killing her husband, cutting up his torso, and putting the remains in three suitcases, which ultimately washed up on the shore of the Chesapeake Bay.

Rosario DiGirolamo, 33, has been charged – also in New Jersey — with first-degree murder in the death of his 27-year-old girlfriend, Amy Giordano. Giordano was last heard from June 8, 2007, and the couple’s young son was found abandoned the next day.

Now, nine months after Giordano disappeared, law enforcement divers are fishing human remains out of a pond in nearby Staten Island and yes, those remains were also originally put in a suitcase. But this suitcase had a hole, so the torso is being recovered piece by piece.

It will be some time before DNA tests can tell whether the remains are Giordano. News reports do not say whether the victim’s entire body was recovered, and this could possibly impede a conviction for the prosecution. Take, for instance, the Texas case of Robert Durst, where the victim’s head was missing, which precluded finding a cause of death.

Durst was acquitted of the murder of victim Morris Black because there was reasonable doubt in the mind of the jury that Durst committed the murder.

One puzzle in the Rosario DiGirolamo case is that John Russo, DiGirolamo’s best friend, was charged with tampering with evidence. He is now cooperating with police and led them to the pond and the remains.

What evidence do prosecutors believe Russo tampered with? A murder weapon? Body parts that could help in an identification? And will New York medical examiners confirm the torso is that of Giordano? Stay tuned, this murder case is just beginning.

– Jean Casarez, In Session correspondent

NEW YORK — Couple of big cases before the U.S. Supreme Court this week. And more and more they’re about our choices in this post 9/11 world.

Mr. President, Jami Floyd has the Last Word.

Should the government be able to listen in on your phone calls? To profile you at the airport? To detain people indefinitely? The overriding question is, how much freedom should we trade for national security?

So today, another set of cases before the justices which you may think have nothing to do with you. They’re about some faceless foreign men far removed from our shores. And yes, they are suspected terrorists.

But these men are also U.S. citizens. And only Congress has the power to limit a citizen’s constitutional right to challenge his detention. In this country, the President can’t take that away.

Here’s why it matters: If the existence of this so-called “war on terror” is sufficient to give the President that right, then the government can seize and detain any one of us. And that is precisely what we fought a revolution to avoid.

And that is the Last Word.

– Jami Floyd, In Session anchor

NEW YORK – Tejano music superstar and Grammy winner Emilio Navaira is clinging to life in a Houston hospital after crashing his own huge tour bus while driving it.

Tejano singing sensation Emilio Navaira was severely injured in tour bus crash.

I know Navaira, and met him years ago when we were both young recording artists with CBS International. Now, as thoughts and emotions run through my mind, I am torn between the legal issues and the grim reality for one of this country’s true Hispanic music icons.

Navaira never should have been driving his huge tour bus. CNN is reporting that he didn’t have the appropriate operator’s license that is only issued by the state of Texas after a qualifications procedure. Read more

In addition, the four-hour drive back to San Antonio after an evening performance in the Houston area is exhausting. Usually, an artist’s bus driver sleeps during the entire show to be ready to drive at the end of the evening. Was it foreseeable that something like this could have happened? Was it negligence or even gross negligence for Navaira to drive the bus himself? Watch a report on the crash

Since this just happened, no one has filed suit in a civil court and there is no word at this point of a criminal investigation. But as we see time and time again accidents of this type can end up in a court of law especially when you have an employment situation with serious injuries and when it involves a situation that apparently could have been prevented.

Five people were on the bus, including Navaira’s musicians and agent. But with Navaira clinging to life our thoughts and prayers should be with him.

– Jean Casarez, In Session correspondent

NEW YORK – The wounds still have not healed over the actions of a suburban Midwestern mother of three once linked to the Symbionese Liberation Army. The radical group formed in Berkeley, California, sought a “people’s rebellion” against the U.S. government and made headlines after kidnapping newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst in the 1970s.

Sara Jane Olson has been sent back to prison.

Sara Jane Olson, on the lam for more than 20 years before pleading guilty to charges linked to a fatal bank robbery and planting explosive devices under Los Angeles police cars, is once again the subject of heated dispute.

Olson, formerly known as Kathleen Soliah, was rearrested Friday, just days after she was mistakenly released on parole. Read more

She served about six years in a California prison, and like other inmates, Olson earned credit against her sentence by working on a maintenance crew that cleaned the main yard of the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla.

The California Department of Corrections now says it made a miscalculation and Olson must spend another year behind bars. She will not be eligible for release until March 17, 2009. Watch officials explain the error

It is certainly rare that state authorities would make an “administrative error” leading to a prisoner’s early release, especially in such a high-profile case. But prison official Scott Kernan says the case is “extremely complicated,” given the number of changes to parole law since the crime was committed.

There was a discrepancy over whether Olson should have been sentenced to 14 or 12 years. Olson’ s attorney, Shawn Chapman Holley, maintains authorities bowed to outside political pressure — referring to the Los Angeles Police Protective League, which voiced its outrage upon Olson’s release.

The group’s president, Tim Sands, said: “Parole shouldn’t even be an option for terrorists who are convicted of murdering innocent bystanders and attempting to murder police officers.”

Holley described the latest developments by saying, “It’s like we’re living in some kind of fascist state.” She may seek a new hearing and has vowed to fight for her client’s release, again.

– Bob Regan, In Session senior executive producer

NEW YORK – It isn’t too often a mayor of one of the United States’ largest cities is charged with multiple felonies, but that is exactly what has happened in Detroit, Michigan.

Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick reponds to the charges.

After a 56-day investigation by the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick has been charged with eight felony counts, including obstruction of justice and perjury. Kilpatrick could spend the rest of his life in prison if the maximum terms are handed down consecutively. Read more

The charges center on corruption in Detroit’s city government, but also have to do with an alleged affair Kilpatrick was having at the time with his chief of staff.

In 2003, Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown intended to launch an internal investigation about parties at the mayor’s home, as well as unauthorized overtime pay for those officers who served on the mayor’s protection unit. Before Brown could put the wheels in motion, he was fired.

That led to a whistle-blower’s lawsuit that culminated in a 2007 trial. Kilpatrick and his alleged mistress (his chief of staff) took the stand and testified among other things that they were not romantically involved and had nothing to do with the deputy chief’s firing.

In January 2008, the Detroit Free Press got its hands (via the Freedom of Information Act) on more than 14,000 text messages between the mayor and his female friend. Those messages told a story that resulted in the criminal investigation, and now, the felony charges.

According to prosecutors, the electronic texts confirm the couple conspired to fire Brown and end the internal investigation. The texts also show the pair revealing in steamy messages they were indeed having an affair.

The mayor’s former chief of staff, Christine Beatty, also has been charged with seven felony counts.

Many legal minds are saying the texts don’t lie in a case where technology seems to be the DNA of city corruption. The question left unanswered at this point: Will a plea bargain be in the works or will the mayor, who still is proclaiming his innocence, want to go to trial?

He is refusing to resign. The mayor’s arraignment is scheduled Tuesday.

– Jean Casarez, In Session correspondent

NEW YORK – We’re learning more each day about the details surrounding the investigation by federal authorities of former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer.

Eliot Spitzer’s downfall was swift, but was it criminal?

And with each revelation comes a series of questions. Just how did this investigation get started? Was the investigation conducted properly? And—perhaps most important—is this a case that truly deserves to be the subject of a federal prosecution?

The facts—at least what we’ve learned so far—do seem troubling. Despite the disgust that most people feel for Spitzer, not just over his conduct but also over his blatant hypocrisy, there’s some real doubt that this should be a federal case.

Once it became clear that the governor’s conduct involved marital infidelity and not official corruption, why continue to invest the time and energy that were utilized? Surveillance teams? Wiretapping? All over a series of paid-for sexual trysts? At a time when our law enforcement resources are so terribly stretched attempting to combat terrorism threats, drug offenses and organized crime?

Although law enforcement is certainly not a democratic process, driven by the vote of the people, it is difficult to imagine that most people would feel a compelling need to prosecute a “john”—even if that “john” is named Spitzer– for trying to hide what were apparently payments using his own money. Or for paying the transportation and hotel costs for a prostitute willingly offering her services, especially given the history of the “Mann Act” which was intended to protect against forced prostitution.

Hypocrisy, infidelity and arrogance may well be political offenses, but should they be prosecuted as federal crimes? We’re still looking for an answer from the Federal authorities for that question.

– Jack Ford, In Session anchor

NEW YORK – I wasn’t sure what to expect from Mary Jo Buttafuoco when I agreed to a one-on-one interview with her this week. But I’ll say this: she is NOTHING like the woman she was during the sordid tabloid drama that began on Long Island in May 1992 and dragged on through the headlines for a decade and a half.

Mary Jo Buttafuoco is in love again.

I expected a –rightfully– angry woman to rail against the man who ruined her life, Joey Buttafuoco. I expected her to deride the ex-con and cheater who transferred sole blame onto his 17-year-old lover for shooting her in the face. I expected vitriol towards Joey, who continues to pull her family’s name into national punch lines by perpetrating a number of crimes and by peddling a pathetic sex tape.

I also expected indignation at Amy Fisher, her now-free attempted murderer who’s out peddling the same kind of dirty video.

Instead, I found Mary Jo to be an enlightened, forgiving woman who has not only put this foul past behind her, but who has also embraced personal happiness and optimism. Watch how she overcame her anger

The woman I spent 20 minutes interviewing live — an eternity on TV — is a woman I would happily welcome into my home and to my dinner table, and a woman I would readily introduce to my children. She has a few lessons I would like my children to learn.

Mary Jo can teach us a thing or two about love, loss, pain, suffering and the value of forgiveness. It took her eloquence and sincerity to finally help me understand how and why she stood by Joey Buttafuoco for so long.

I, like so many others following this unbelievable tale, had been mystified. Not anymore. Mary Jo’s living a new life, she’s about to marry a new man, and she’s got a whole new outlook that just might be more refreshing than anything I’ve encountered in this business before.

To say it shows on her face sounds like a cliché. But it does. She’s become more beautiful than she ever was, even before the shooting.

– Ashleigh Banfield, In Session anchor

NEW YORK – The U.S. Supreme Court just threw out the death sentence for a black man convicted of murder. And the vote wasn’t even close. He gets a new trial because the prosecutor quite plainly used race to stack the jury.

Jami Floyd has the Last Word again.

Then, to add insult to Constitutional injury, the D.A. referred to the case — in front of the all white jury he’d secured — as his O.J. Simpson case. All this just months after that notoriously controversial acquittal. Read more

And that’s why the Supreme Court smacked down that D.A. But this particular brand of bad D.A. behavior is not an isolated event. And it’s not limited to the “Deep South,” either. Watch

No, the practice of jury selection based on skin color is widespread, despite the Supreme Court’s consistent rulings that to do so is a violation of the very Constitution prosecutors are sworn to protect.

So now rings out the reminder to prosecutors everywhere: use race to pick a jury and you may win the case only to see the conviction thrown out.

That is the Last Word.

– Jami Floyd, In Session anchor