Crime

Nick Carter is being sued by a woman who says he raped her and infected her with a bunch of sexually transmitted diseases ... but he says her allegations are bogus.

The Backstreet Boys singer is being sued by a woman named Laura Penly, who claims he sexually assaulted her multiple times.

In the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Penly claims she met Nick in 2004 when she was 19 years old and they started banging for a couple weeks ... meeting up at a Los Angeles apartment to hang out and have sex. She says she asked him to wear a condom but he refused and told her he was "clean" from STDs.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman says Erik and Lyle Menendez needed to 'fess up to all their lies when talking to TMZ from prison ... but their lawyer Mark Geragos says prosecutors are focused on the wrong things.

Nathan and Mark joined us Monday on "TMZ Live" and we asked them about the upcoming resentencing hearing and the brothers' bid for freedom.

Hochman digs his heels in and argues why Erik and Lyle should remain behind bars  ... telling us the Menendez Bros missed a golden opportunity to take responsibility and apologize in their recent TMZ special.

2:23 PM PT -- Just hours after a judge in Texas agreed to drastically reduce Karmelo Anthony's bond amount, the 17-year-old is out of the local county jail.

A local reporter, Steven Dial of FOX 4 Dallas, captured the moment Anthony walked out of the facility ... where he's been since April 2.

Karmelo Anthony -- the teenager charged with the murder of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf -- had his bond drastically reduced during a court hearing Monday morning ... from $1,000,000 to $250,000.

Mike Howard, Anthony's new attorney, argued the $1 million bond was unnecessary ... as his client has no history of criminal activity.

"Give this young man a chance to get out of jail and be with his family," Howard said.

Taylor Lorenz is inserting herself into the Luigi Mangione case -- well, hypothetically -- 'cause she’s weighing in on what her verdict would be if she had a seat on that trial jury.

The ex-Washington Post columnist swung by "TMZ Live" Monday ... and we grilled her on which route she'd go on Luigi's fate -- guilty with the death penalty, guilty with prison time, or not guilty via jury nullification. Let’s just say, it wasn’t an easy call for the outspoken journo.

Check it out ... Taylor tells us she's firmly against the death penalty, so that one’s off the table -- but when it comes to the other two options, she’s torn ... because we haven't seen the potential evidence presented yet.

The Menendez family is blaming the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office for the hospitalization of Terry Baralt -- Erik and Lyle's aunt ... claiming the graphic crime scene photos they were shown did a number on her health.

In a press release from the Justice for Erik and Lyle Coalition -- a collective of family members fighting for the brothers' release -- the group confirmed our story that Baralt had been found unresponsive in her hotel room.

The coalition says the D.A.'s office didn't give the family a heads up that they would be presenting photos of the crime scene at Friday's resentencing hearing ... a violation of Marsy's Law, a law designed to protect the victims of crimes.

Lyle and Erik Menendez's aunt, Terry Baralt, has been rushed to the hospital after being found unresponsive in a Los Angeles hotel room ... TMZ has learned.

Our sources tell us Terry -- who is 85 and battling colon cancer -- has been exhausted, stressed and traumatized in the last year as the entire Menendez family works to get the two brothers released from prison.

It all came to a boiling point Friday when the Menendez brothers appeared in a Los Angeles courtroom for a resentencing hearing. During the tense hearing, the defense team went at it with prosecutors while the Menendez family looked on.

Rosie O’Donnell has revealed her friendship with an infamous convicted killer -- Lyle Menendez -- saying she feels "safe" to be vulnerable with him.

The actress, comedian, and former talk show host opened up about their close bond during a recent chat with the New York Times ... revealing she and Lyle -- who is serving life in prison without parole alongside his brother Erik Menendez for the first degree murder of their parents -- became pals in 2022 after his now-estranged wife reached out to her.

Rosie said she and Lyle began speaking on a "regular basis" via a tablet phone, and their friendship grew naturally.

A California man was arrested by cops over the weekend for threatening to bomb the Coachella Music & Arts Festival.

Davis Darvish, a 40-year-old man from Santa Monica, allegedly approached a security guard at a Southern California casino on Saturday and made the threat to bomb the popular music festival where hundreds of celebrities hang out and perform.

According to reports, cops caught up with Darvish about an hour after he made the initial threat and that's when the Cathedral City Police Department searched Darvish's car but thankfully no explosives, weapons, or bomb-making materials were found.

Erik and Lyle Menendez might take the stand next Thursday to convince the judge in their resentencing hearing they're worthy of redemption ... but according to their lawyer, it could be a high-risk move.

Mark Geragos jumped on the "2 Angry Men" podcast Friday from the Van Nuys Courthouse, fresh off a victory where the judge shut down the D.A.'s request to put the kibosh on any resentencing hearing.

Excuse the intro to the clip -- it's a pisser -- but a little ways in, Harvey asks Mark about his strategy to possibly call the bros to the stand. Harvey has spent some time talking to Erik and Lyle, and says plainly they presented themselves as compelling men who might impress the judge.

Soulja Boy will have to break open a few of his penny banks ... a jury just found him liable in the sexual assault lawsuit filed by his ex-personal assistant!!!

A judge read the verdict on Thursday in a Los Angeles courtroom, and spelled out that the "Crank Dat" rapper would be responsible for coughing up the dough for millions of dollars in damages ... and the jury is still considering punitive damages.

The rap star was found liable for assault, sexual battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

3 PM PT -- Los Angeles Police Dept. Spokesperson Jennifer Forkish tells TMZ ... "Our investigation revealed evidence such as a shell casing and video footage showing she repeatedly ignored police commands to disarm and that she fired her weapon at LAPD officers. She was subsequently booked for attempted murder of a peace officer."

We're learning more about the police-shooting incident involving Jillian Lauren Shriner, wife of Weezer bassist Scott Shriner, in L.A. this week ... and she's been released on $1 million bond after allegedly firing a single shot and being booked for attempted murder.

TMZ also obtained police-scanner audio, which provides new insight into Tuesday's crazy shootout between Jillian and the LAPD.

As you can hear, officers on the ground and helicopters flying overhead coordinate a response to search for a male suspect ... who apparently stripped down to his boxers and dove into a pool in an attempt to throw off the chase.

Jillian was shot by police when she emerged from her house with a gun in her hand as the male suspect prowled her next-door neighbor's backyard, where the pool was located.

Los Angeles-bred gang leader Eugene "Big U" Henley Jr. has pled not guilty to the slew of charges thrown at him last month, including a murder -- but the mother of the man he supposedly killed is speaking out ... and she's claiming he did what feds say he did!!!

TMZ Hip Hop recently caught up with the family of Rayshawn Williams ... his mother, Shadonna Brown, and her daughter, outside Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles.

According to the federal indictment, prosecutors outlined how Big U allegedly killed Williams after a dispute in Las Vegas before dragging his body into the desert where it began to deteriorate.

Weezer bass player Scott Shriner is going to play Coachella with his bandmates ... just a few days after his wife was shot by cops in Los Angeles and booked for attempted murder.

Our sources tell us Weezer will be at full strength Saturday when they take the stage at Coachella ... with Scott committing to play despite some pretty extraordinary circumstances back home.

TMZ broke the story ... Scott's wife, Jillian Lauren Shriner, was shot by LAPD during a wild police chase Tuesday in their Eagle Rock neighborhood in L.A.

8:19 AM PT -- Andrew Tate's attorney Joseph McBride tells TMZ ... "NEVER HAPPENED. These allegations are great content for a scene in Gangs of London, but are otherwise pure fiction when applied to real life."

The legalities keep stacking up against Andrew Tate -- four women in the UK are suing him now, and one claims he pointed a gun right at her face.

The women claim in legal docs Tate assaulted, raped, and controlled them between 2013 and 2015 in the British towns of Luton and Hitchin -- according to multiple reports from the BBC, The Independent, and The Telegraph.

Two of the women allege they dated Tate in 2013 and 2014, and the other two say they worked for his webcam biz -- with 3 of them reportedly going to cops years ago before officials apparently dropped the case in 2019, per The Independent.

An Ohio teacher who was convicted of having sex with an underage student doesn't need to worry about stocking up on Halloween candy this year ... because parents in her neighborhood are being warned to keep their kids away.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... Emily Nutley will be a Tier III sex offender on the Ohio Sex Offender Registry, which is the highest designation, and that means anyone living within 1,000 feet of her home will be notified about her sex offender status.

As a result, our sources tell us postcards will be sent out to neighbors informing them of who Nutley is and the sex crimes for which she was convicted ... namely, two counts of sexual battery after being accused of having a sexual relationship with a student at St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati.

Mario Edgardo Garcia Aquino -- the man who the L.A. County D.A. alleges killed 13-year-old Oscar Omar Hernandez -- deserves the death penalty, one U.S congressman says ... and, he blames California Governor Gavin Newsom for making that impossible.

We spoke with U.S. Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) Wednesday about this case ... and, he tells us the moratorium on the death penalty instituted by Gov. Newsom in 2019 has had disastrous consequences.

Among them, Kiley says, the people of California voted to keep the death penalty legal ... and, the governor stepped in to override the rule, making criminals less afraid of committing major crimes. California Proposition 62 -- which would've repealed the death penalty -- failed back in 2016.