Britney Spears in clear as driving case ends in mistrial

Britney Spears scored a symbolic victory in her court case for driving without a license on Tuesday after jurors failed to reach a verdict, prompting a judge to dismiss charges against the singer.

On their third day of deliberations, jurors were deadlocked at 10-2 in favor of acquitting the pop star, who did not attend court during the trial.

Shortly after the stalemate, prosecutors said they would not seek a fresh trial, leaving Judge James Steele to dismiss the charges.

The outcome will be viewed as a victory by Spears, who had pressed for a trial on the grounds she had done nothing wrong, rejecting a plea deal that would have seen her fined 150 dollars and given one year's probation.

After the mistrial was declared, Spears's attorney J. Michael Flanagan said the 26-year-old should never have been prosecuted. "This is a misdemeanor. It should have been a fix-it ticket anyway," Flanagan said.

The case stemmed from an August 2007 incident when paparazzi trailing the singer caught her bumping a car in a parking lot and driving away.

Prosecutors said Spears was later discovered not to have a valid California license. She was charged with a misdemeanor -- punishable by jail or a fine.

But Spears's defense argued the star held a valid Louisiana license at the time of the incident and so was not legally required to hold a California permit because she was not living permanently in the state.

Spears -- who hit rock bottom in January when she was twice rushed to hospital for psychiatric treatment after losing custody of her two young sons -- appears to have got her career back on track.

Her new single "Womanizer" topped Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart last week, her first No.1 on the ranking since 1999's "Baby One More Time."

Via afp