CELEBRITY JUSTICE ™

Chris Soules' lawyers are going after the Sheriff's Dept. and prosecutors, clearly trying to establish they're in bed with the media by leaking damaging information about Chris that could affect his right to a fair trial.

Lawyers for "The Bachelor" star have just filed legal docs looking to find all contact the Sheriffs, prosecutors and other law enforcement agencies involved in the case had with the media. The lawyers want text messages, emails, electronic log books (presumably this includes cell phone calls), journals and appointments between law enforcement and the media.

The docs also ask for any evidence that payment was offered to members of law enforcement for interviews or statements.

The lawyers are demanding law enforcement preserve all these records, presumably so they can be inspected.

As for why ... several reasons. First, Soules' lawyers have already complained media coverage has tainted the case and inaccurately portrayed their client's actions the night of the fatal crash.

Migos pulled the ol' "everyone in L.A. does it" excuse in its legal war with a stylist claiming the group ran off with $20k worth of wardrobe items.

The group says they shouldn't be punished with extra damages in the lawsuit brought by stylist Marcus Clark because stuff disappearing from music video shoots happens all the time in Hollywood.

In docs, obtained by TMZ, Migos straight-up says, "This is Los Angeles. If an artist allegedly removing items from a music video, fashion shoot etc. constituted malicious or oppressive conduct, courts would be inundated with lawsuits."

Translation: Get over it. It ain't that bad.

For the record, Migos is not copping to jacking the wardrobe. They're just saying L.A.'s got a rep.

The stylist not only sued for the $20k worth of stuff taken from the set, he wants more than a million bucks in damages. Migos says the mil is absurd.

TMZ broke the story ... the stylist accused Migos of walking out with shirts and vintage shades after shooting Niykee Heaton's "Bad Intentions" video.

Iowa cops have pulled out the legal guns to locate the vehicle that took 'Bachelor' Chris Soules from the scene of the fatal crash.

TMZ has obtained documents showing police have obtained a search warrant for the red Chevy. As we reported, after calling 911 and then checking the pulse of the tractor driver who later died, the Chevy came along, Chris jumped in and left before cops arrived.

Cops want the Chevy as evidence, although it's unclear why. Since the accident occurred Monday, any alcohol present in the vehicle would be irrelevant, since it would not prove what was inside at the time of the accident.

Cops are clearly interested in the results of the blood tests that were taken at the hospital hours after the accident. The search warrant allows police to obtain the results from the hospital.

The Oakland Raiders "did a lot of work" investigating Gareon Conley before selecting him in the 1st round of the NFL Draft and believe he's NOT a rapist ... so says Ian Rapoport.

The NFL Network insider -- one of the best football reporters in the game -- says the Raiders dedicated serious resources to finding out as much as they could about Conley's rape case before they selected.

Conley insists he's been falsely accused of raping a woman at a Cleveland hotel on April 9. He has not been arrested or charged with a crime.

Get this, Rapoport says there was also interest from other teams -- Conley even took a lie detector test to prove he's telling the truth.

The former lead guitarist of Jefferson Starship is furious at other members for jacking the name and tarnishing the rock band's legacy ... according to a new suit.

Craig Chaquico claims 2 of this former bandmates and several other musicians are using the Jefferson Starship name, without permission, to land gigs and sell merch. Chaquico says the founding JS members all agreed to retire the name in 1985 ... and move on simply as Starship.

But according to docs ... David Freiberg and Donny Baldwin have assumed the Jefferson Starship name with a ragtag group who have no connection to the OG rockers.

Chaquico says he did give another founding member, Paul Kantner, the right to use the name for shows, and he did while touring with Freiberg and Baldwin. However, Paul died in 2016, and Craig says the right to use JS died with him.

Chaquico wants Freiberg and Baldwin cut off from the name immediately.

FYI, Jefferson Starship -- or whatever name they end up with -- has concerts next month in Minnesota and California. Who knew??

John Paragon, the actor who played Jambi the Genie on "Pee-wee's Playhouse," is being accused by a neighbor of repeatedly screaming at her to "shut her f***ing dog up!!!" and he tells TMZ ... guilty as charged.

Elizabeth MacPherson has filed for a restraining order, claiming John has a thing against her and her dog, once screaming at her for 4 hours ... "Shut that f***ing dog up asshole." She also claims he said, "I'm going to kill that f***ing dog."

We spoke with John, who says the 200 pound, white dog barks "incessantly" and numerous neighbors have complained, to no avail. He admits he's screamed at her to "shut the f***ing dog up," and she responded by flipping him off. He says he's never nor would he threaten her physically.

John says he's filed police reports and he and various neighbors have complained to animal control and a hearing is set for June.

Elizabeth says she has video of John screaming while the dog "sits complacently in the backyard."

She also says the alleged harassment has been going on for years ... back in 2014, she says she was playing bean bags with some friends and John began screaming, "Stop throwing those f***ing bags. F*** you."

Lawyers for Chris Soules have just laid out some of their case, saying their client "acted reasonably and did everything in his power to provide aid to Mr. Mosher," the tractor driver who died, but they didn't say why Chris left before cops arrived and refused to come out of his house.

Attorneys Alfredo Parrish, Brandon Brown and Gina Messamer issued the statement, which covers a lot of what we reported Thursday. The say Soules did not flee the scene ... rather, he was the one who called 911 and identified himself as one of the individuals in the accident. They go on to say Soules attempted to resuscitate the victim and stayed until EMTs arrived.

They do not address Chris leaving before police arrived. We're told cops wanted to perform a field sobriety test and went to his home, but law enforcement tells us he refused to come out so they had to get a search warrant, which took hours. We're told cops found open containers of alcohol in his vehicle.

Kenya Moore's ex-BF, Matt Jordan, no longer has to stay away from her because a judge tossed the restraining order when she couldn't find him to serve legal docs.

Kenya's temporary restraining order was dismissed Wednesday after she was a no-show at a hearing on the matter. Kenya's lawyer tells TMZ ... she only skipped court because she knew the judge would toss it once he heard Matt hadn't been served.

You'll recall ... Kenya said Matt was blowing up her phone 30 times a day and had also threatened her. The temporary restraining order required him to stay 200 yards away from Kenya.

The man who shot and killed Joe McKnight says the ex-NFL player was fueled by a mix of steroids, pain pills and weed during their fatal confrontation ... and he only pulled his gun out of fear.

Ronald Gasser filed new court docs in the murder case against him -- claiming he learned McKnight "was under the influence of marijuana, pain pills, and anabolic steroids at the time [he] attacked Mr. Gasser."

Unclear where Gasser got his information -- it seems his legal team may have had access to McKnight's toxicology results following the autopsy.

However, in the docs Gasser paints a picture of a man in full steroid rage -- saying McKnight was "violent and erratic" following an intense chase through the streets of Louisiana on Dec. 1.

Gasser says he did NOTHING that he would consider "aggressive" to provoke McKnight -- and says it was Joe who was screaming and yelling like a maniac.

Gasser says he ultimately shot Joe while "fearing for his life."

At the time of the shooting, McKnight was a pro football player in Canada -- a running back for the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

United Airlines will cut a huge check with Dr. David Dao -- the airline and disgruntled passenger have settled the looming lawsuit.

Dao's lawyers just said they've reached "an amicable settlement" with UAL for the injuries Dao received when he was savagely dragged off a jet in Chicago.

Attorney Thomas Demetrio says the amount of the settlement will remain confidential ... but there's no doubt United cut an enormous check. A trial would have been a disaster for the airline.

Demetrio praised United's CEO, saying, "Mr. Munoz said he was going to do the right thing, and he has." The lawyer added United has taken "full responsibility."

United confirmed the news ... adding the new improvements "will put our customers at the center of everything we do."

The airline made fundamental changes since the April 9 incident.

Phaedra Parks is facing a do-over in her divorce but still insists their prenup should block Apollo Nida from attempting to get alimony.

Phaedra filed docs in Georgia asking the court to enforce what she considers an ironclad prenup Apollo signed on October 23, 2009 ... 9 days before they got married.

In docs, obtained by TMZ, Phaedra says they both agreed to waive their right to alimony ... meaning he shouldn't get a dime in spousal support when the divorce is final. She also claims they agreed how to divide their assets when they signed on the dotted line.

Phaedra thinks it's simple -- the prenup should control who gets to keep what, and doesn't want to leave things up to the judge ... as Apollo requested.

And she really sticks it to him ... saying the fact his assets have plummeted is his own doing because of his criminal activity. Apollo's serving prison time for money fraud.

TMZ broke the story ... a judge threw out Phaedra's final divorce judgment because he was concerned by a number of things -- including Phaedra intentionally misspelling Apollo's name in docs.

The Indianapolis Colts lineman who threatened police and spewed homophobic insults after allegedly stealing a golf cart has pled guilty in the case ... and now faces 3 years behind bars.

As we previously reported, 25-year-old David Parry went on a crazy drunken bender in Scottsdale, AZ on Feb. 25 -- that culminated with the 300-pounder puking his guts out in a jail trash can.

During the incident, Parry called police "f**king f**gots," "fat f**ks" and "p**syboy."

Now, we've learned he's pled guilty to 1 count of misdemeanor disorderly conduct and 1 count of felony attempt to commit unlawful means of transportation.

He'll be sentenced next month -- and faces up to 3 years behind bars.

We've also learned he's been charged with two counts of extreme DUI -- including having a BAC of over .20 -- stemming from the same incident. We're told that case is being handled in another court.

Chris Soules' fate in the fatal car crash could be determined by his cell phone ... and the stakes are high -- a possible vehicular manslaughter prosecution.

Law enforcement sources involved in the investigation tell us they're especially interested to know if Soules was a distracted driver by using his cell phone at the time of the crash. We're told law enforcement seized his phone and they will be looking at texts, photos, social media posts and his call log.

We're told Soules loved taking photos of sunsets as he drove down Iowa roads and regularly posted them on Twitter. He has now deleted his Twitter and Instagram accounts.

If it's determined Soules was using his phone at the time of the crash, our sources say a vehicular manslaughter charge is definitely on the table.

As for the charge he now faces -- the felony of leaving the scene of an accident that resulted in death -- our Iowa law enforcement sources say they believe he'll be prosecuted but will not be convicted.

Our sources say the fact Soules is famous works against him, because prosecutors don't want to appear soft on celebrities. Based on what our law enforcement sources tell us, here's what Soules has working for and against him.

WHY HE SHOULD BE PROSECUTED

-- Soules left the scene of the accident before cops arrived. This deprived law enforcement of determining if he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Fact is ... since he was in a standoff at his house for hours before he was taken to a hospital where blood was drawn, there's almost no chance of determining if drugs or alcohol contributed to the crash.

-- Open containers of beer were found in Soules' truck.

-- He did not provide anyone at the scene with his driver's license, proof of insurance and other relevant information.

-- He caused the accident by rear-ending the tractor.

WHY HE SHOULD NOT BE PROSECUTED

-- The 911 audio works to Soules' benefit in a significant way. He identifies himself by name and tells the dispatcher he was involved in the accident. He also administered first aid by checking the victim's pulse. It appears he left just as paramedics were arriving, so there's nothing more he could have done to aid the victim.

-- Soules sounds coherent in the 911 audio. So, even if he had a drink or 2, at least from outward appearances, he didn't seem intoxicated.

-- There were skid marks showing Soules tried braking before the crash. Also, one law enforcement source tells TMZ, based on the skid marks, it does not appear he was driving at an excessive speed.

Our sources say although they believe prosecutors will charge Soules, if the case goes to trial, "it's a loser." As one source said, "Iowa juries that understand rural life are not going to convict a guy who tries helping the victim before leaving."

Our sources believe this case will end up in civil court and Soules will settle by paying a substantial amount of money to the victim's family.

Sean Kingston is getting a raw deal from all the jewelers who've sued him for not paying for a bunch of chains and watches ... at least that's HIS story, and he's sticking to it.

Sean was at LAX flashing what he says is nearly $300k worth of ice and silver and gold -- so, naturally our guy had to ask why he's constantly got lawyers on his ass to pay for his bling. The singer/songwriter breaks down the giant conspiracy to take him down.

And Sean insists ... he ALWAYS pays. Eventually.

It's an interesting excuse explanation. Maybe not a good one, but still ...

Something crazy went down at the Clippers game ... Kendrick Lamar forged a real, powerful friendship with the LAPD commissioner.

K-Dot's lyrics haven't exactly been pro-cop over the years -- he rapped about hating the po-po on "Alright" and once performed the song on top of a burned up police car.

Which is why it was shocking when he posed for a pic Tuesday night at the Clippers game with LAPD commish Steve Soboroff ... one of the top cops in L.A.

We spoke with Soboroff who says it wasn't a cheap PR stunt -- the guys are REALLY friends and have a mutual respect and understanding for each other.

"Do I support anti-police sentiment and speech?" Soboroff said ... "No, of course not. He expresses through his art form his feelings, and I respect that. And I think he respects – or I hope he would respect – how seriously we take community policing and understanding people’s views."

Soboroff says the two are on such good terms, Kendrick helped him buy tickets to the rapper's upcoming concert at Staples Center for his son (Steve's more of a Sinatra guy).

Bottom line ... "I consider him a friend, and I think he considers me a friend."

The woman accusing Gareon Conley of rape was friendly with the NFL prospect at a bar roughly 25 minutes before they ended up in a hotel room together ... and TMZ Sports has the video.

The footage shows Conley leaving the Barley House in Cleveland around 2:20 AM on April 9th ... with the accuser and her female friends following closely behind. At one point the accuser reaches out and touches Gareon's back.

A few minutes later, Conley has his arm around another woman in front of the bar and the accuser catches up from behind and grabs his arm. Gareon looks back and appears to hold her hand.

The video is critical because it appears to contradict what the accuser told police -- that she first met Conley in an elevator at the Westin hotel around 2:45 AM.

Both sides agree they ended up in a hotel room at the Westin together. She claims Conley raped her. Conley adamantly denies the allegation.