Celebrity Trials and Court Cases

Even the rich and famous can find themselves in trouble with the law. Being a celebrity in the United States does not protect you from the pursuit of justice. Nor does it protect you from becoming a crime victim.

These stories give the timeline of criminal investigations and trials of cases involving celebrities. Some of the cases are closed and adjudicated, while others are still on-going.

On June 25, 2009, less than a month before he was scheduled to begin a series of comeback concerts, paramedics were called to Michael Jackson's rented home in Holby Hills near Los Angeles where they found him unconscious and not responding.

Pop singer Michael Jackson faced charges of conspiracy to commit child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion, three counts of committing lewd acts upon a child, attempted lewd acts upon a child, and four counts of administering intoxicating agents to assist in the commission of a felony.

On Sept. 13, 2007, Simpson and four other men entered a Las Vegas casino hotel room where some of his sports memorabilia were being offered for sale by two collectors. Police arrested O.J. Simpson on kidnapping and armed robbery charges.

Robert Blake faced trial for the murder of Bonny Lee Bakley and soliciting two other men to kill her. Bakley, 44, was shot to death on May 4, 2001, as she sat in Blake's sports car behind a restaurant where the couple had just dined.

Legendary rock and roll music producer Phil Spector was charged with the fatal shooting of former actress Lana Clarkston Feb. 3, 2003, at his Los Angeles mansion.

On October 24, 2008, the bodies of Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Hudson's mother and brother were found in the family's home on Chicago's South Side. Shot to death were Hudson's mother, Darnell Donerson, and her brother, Jason Hudson.

Joe Francis, who has made millions from his 'Girls Gone Wild' videos and magazines, has found himself entangled in legal trouble in civil and criminal courts on the state and federal levels.

Professional basketball star Kobe Bryant, 24, was charged with a single count of felony sexual assault against a 19-year-old woman at an exclusive spa where he was staying when he came to Colorado for knee surgery in the summer of 2003.