courthouse (12 posts)

Steve-O wore a shirt and left the schtick at home.

The Jackass daredevil was standing tall as E! News caught up with him after court Tuesday, where he pleaded not guilty to felony cocaine possession stemming from a March 3 bust at his Hollywood apartment following a run-in with a neighbor.

"I'm always gonna be me, but I'm 64 days clean. I feel good," Steve-O, whose parents named him Stephen Glover, told our crew, also pointing out the self-help book he was toting, Bringers of the Dawn, which, per Amazon.com, "points out a creative and positive way to turn on our inner light and underlines the principle of commitment to spiritual growth."

"Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll was something I thought was good," Steve-O said. "I really ran away from my problems, they caught up to me, and now I'm not running anymore."

Today's preliminary hearing was continued to June 3.

FAME PICTURES

Maybe capriciousness is just part of Madonna's latest reinvention.

After twice petitioning Malawi's Lilongwe High Court to postpone the final hearing in her adoption of David Banda because of conflicts with promotion of her new album, an attorney for the Material Mama has announced that Madonna has formally bailed on the proceedings and will not show up for Thursday's court session.

To be fair, the pop superstar and hubby Guy Ritchie have never been required to attend the hearing, at which their adoption of the 2-year-old is expected to be formally approved, but had previously—via never-ending requests for delays—indicated that she would be present for the final ruling.

"We are going to court on Thursday, but Madonna will not be there, because she is not coming," attorney Alan Chinula told Reuters, bringing circular logic to all new heights.

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Remy Ma will be spending more than just her honeymoon in the clink.

The PunishHER rapper was sentenced to eight years in prison today for shooting a female acquaintance outside an NYC nightclub, a spokeswoman for the Manhattan District Attorney's Office confirmed to E! News.

The 26-year-old Ma, whose real name is Remy Smith, burst into tears after learning her fate.

In March, a jury convicted her on four counts, including assault, weapons possession and attempted coercion, for shooting Makeda Barnes-Joseph in the gut last July in a dispute over $3,000. She faced more than 25 years behind bars.

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That heavily hyped Stone Temple Pilots reunion is still a go.

Scott Weiland, the alt-rock band's sobriety-challenged vocalist, was released from a Los Angeles-area lockup Monday evening, just six hours after checking in. Weiland was supposed to serve an eight-day sentence stemming from a November DUI bust.

The 40-year-old frontman was released from the Van Nuys Jail at approximately 6:45 p.m., according to a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Jail.

That's good news for fans, since the blotter-friendly "Plush" singer is getting out in time to join his STP mates for their first concert in more than five years this Saturday at the Rock on the Range Festival in Columbus, Ohio.

Weiland pleaded no contest April 28 to misdemeanor driving under the influence for plowing his Mercedes into another vehicle last year. He was sentenced to 192 hours in the clink, placed on four years' probation, ordered to complete an alcohol-education program and fined $2,000.

Just days before learning his punishment, his other band, Velvet Revolver, fired the much-rehabbed rocker, citing "his increasingly erratic onstage behavior and personal problems."

AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast

Jury selection in R. Kelly's child pornography case is continuing in Chicago today, with attorneys for both sides expected to question roughly 150 potential jurors.

The prosecution and defense teams will question the Chi-town residents, who filled out a questionnaire on Friday, over their level of familiarity with the case, and determine whether they've been trapped under a rock—or, for poetic justice's sake, in a closet—for the past six years.

The first group of 10 has reported to the courthouse this morning for querying, while a second group of 10 will come this afternoon. Both sides estimate it should take roughly one week to winnow down 12 jurors and four alternates.

The 41-year-old R&B star faces child-pornography charges stemming from a videotape in which he allegedly engaged in sex acts with a girl who may have been as young as 13. The girl has denied the allegations and Kelly has pleaded not guilty.

Gary Calton/ZUMAPress.com

The long and winding road to divorce is almost over for Paul McCartney and Heather Mills.

A London judge today granted a decree nisi, the first step to the finalized divorce under British law. High Court Justice Hugh Bennett approved the petition, citing the fact that the couple have been living apart now for two years.

"On the petition for divorce presented by Miss Heather Mills, I pronounce the decree nisi of divorce on the grounds of two years' separate," the judge said. "Sir Paul McCartney has consented to the decree being granted on these grounds."

Neither McCartney nor Mills attended the proceeding, and their attorneys declined to comment.

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Anyone who has seen Kill Bill knows you don't mess with Uma Thurman.

The Oscar-nominated actress is firing back against the makers of Lancôme cosmetics, whom she claims knowingly used her image to sell their products after her contract expired.

Thurman's $15 million countersuit was filed Friday in Manhattan federal court, just two days after the French makeup giant filed a preemptive suit about the matter.

The 38-year-old beauty signed on as a spokeswoman for Lancôme in 2000 but says her name and image continued to pop up on the company's websites and billboards in Canada and Asia after her contract ended in 2005.

In her lawsuit, Thurman's lawyer, Bertram Fields, claims that "The worldwide and unauthorized use of Thurman's name and likeness for years after the expiration dates significantly diluted the value of Thurman's name and likeness for advertising or promotional purposes."

Lancôme maintains that use of her image was completely unintentional and all advertisements were pulled as soon as the company became aware of them.

DMX apparently isn't one for facing the music of the night.

Three days after getting busted for a months-old traffic violation, the actor-rapper was arrested early Friday at his Phoenix-area home on suspicion of animal abuse and felony drug possession following a search of the house and, before that, a brief standoff with police when he attempted to shut himself up in his bedroom.

According to the Maricopa County sheriff's office, a SWAT team executed a search warrant on DMX's Cave Creek, Ariz., residence at about 3 a.m. in connection with a seven-month-old investigation into reports that the Cradle 2 the Grave star had a number of malnourished pit bulls on his property.

"A guy like this DMX character with all his money and fame has no excuse for not providing proper care for his animals," said Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. "He has a long criminal history and obviously has no respect for the law."

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Nick Hogan is drifting to jail.

Angst-ridden, but appearing ready to accept his fate, the son of pro-wrestling legend Hulk Hogan pleaded no contest today to a felony charge of reckless driving involving serious bodily injury. The plea, entered in a Pinellas County, Fla., courtroom, stemmed from an August car crash that left passenger John Graziano in critical condition.

"Every single day I think about the accident…and pray for John every chance I get," said Hogan, whose real name is Nick Bollea. "There will never be a day in my life where I ever will forget this. I know for a fact that I've apologized to the Grazianos…I do genuinely mean that, I'm terribly sorry."

But Judge Philip Federico showed little mercy, sentencing the 17-year-old to eight months in county jail along with five years' probation and 500 hours of community service for drag-racing under the influence of alcohol and causing the Aug. 26 wreck.

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AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast

The time has finally come for R. Kelly to face the music, and by the look of things, he may have a few more notes to account for than first thought.

Jury selection in the 41-year-old's absurdly delay-plagued trial on child pornography charges finally kicked off in Chicago today, a date more than six years in the making, but not without one final bid for a postponement.

Despite a last-minute motion filed by Kelly's legal team to delay the trial, Judge Vincent Gaughan ruled that the jury selection would, at long last, begin after a brief recess.

That makes two strikes for the R&B star, as the Chicago Sun-Times also dropped a bombshell on the forthcoming proceedings this morning, revealing that an aide to the singer allegedly paid off an Atlanta woman for the safe return of a sex tape—one separate from the footage allegedly starring Kelly and a 13-year-old girl—featuring the singer.

It's unclear whether Kelly was privy to the deal.

Further complicating matters, the woman, who is described as having been in love with the star, is also expected to testify that she had a ménage à trois with Kelly and yet another underage girl. The woman has received immunity for her testimony.

As for the more infamous videotape at the heart of the case, the one allegedly starring Kelly and an underage girl, the now 23-year-old female is expected to testify in the trial that she is in fact a victim...of mistaken identity.

While prosecution is adamant otherwise, the woman claims she's not Kelly's costar in the footage.

Kelly has pleaded not guilty to the charges; he faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Nancy Kaszerman/ZUMAPress.com

The former face of Lancôme looks angry.

The French cosmetics maker has sued its erstwhile spokesmodel in an attempt to ward off her attempt to collect at least $1 million for the alleged use of her picture in foreign ads after her contract expired in 2005.

Per the complaint filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, Lancôme maintains it never "knowingly or intentionally" continued to use Thurman's face to push its products and that any webpages still featuring her old photos were never meant to be publicly available.

But according to her attorney, Thurman, who inked a multimillion-dollar deal with Lancôme in 2000, says her pics showed up on Asian websites and on a Canadian billboard touting the company's Miracle skin-care line. She has not formally filed suit against Lancôme, which is looking to have a judge preemptively rule that the company did not wrongfully use her image.

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