Developing Stories

Penn -- who was charged with misdemeanor vandalism and battery by L.A. City Attorney Carmen Trutanich -- pled no contest this AM to one count of vandalism. The battery charge was dismissed.

Penn was placed on 36 months probation and ordered to perform 300 hours of community service. The judge said Penn's work for his Haitian relief organization will count toward his 300 hours, but his prior volunteer work won't count -- it's 300 hours going forward.

Penn was also ordered to perform 36 hours of anger management, which can be done through a private therapist.

If Penn successfully completes his probation his vandalism conviction will turn into a disturbing the peace conviction -- a lesser offense.

Sources directly connected with Lawrence Taylor tell TMZ the NFL legend's defense to rape is masturbation.

We're told Lawrence will not deny he was in the same room as the 16-year-old prostitute, but his lawyer will argue Lawrence did not have sexual intercourse -- an element of third degree rape.

As one source put it, Lawrence engaged in a "masturbatory act" and that was it.

According to New York law, "A person is guilty of rape in the third degree when ... he or she engages in sexual intercourse with another person less than seventeen years old."

Interestingly ... in the criminal complaint against the alleged pimp, authorities allege Taylor engaged in "sex acts" but there is not mention of sexual intercourse -- a requirement for 3rd degree rape.

As TMZ first reported, a condom was found in Taylor's hotel room, but sources say Taylor's lawyers will argue the condom wasn't his and he didn't use it.

Taylor's lawyer, Arthur Aidala, has said flatly, his client did not have sex with the girl.

An interesting thing to say -- considering King had spent the past 3 weeks shacked up at a nearby hotel, after he and his wife had each filed divorce papers.

TMZ first reported Osteen invited Murray to the service. Someone from Osteen's media relations department told us it was a PR stunt, but the guy who runs the PR department says that's not true.

Donald Iloff, Jr., the Chief of Strategic Operations for Osteen (and Osteen's brother-in-law), tells TMZ, "Dr. Murray did call the church to speak with Osteen a while back but Osteen was not available. Osteen's rep then invited Dr. Murray to yesterday's service." So, Dr. Murray truly was invited.

Iloff says Murray met privately with Joel and Victoria before the service. We do not know what they talked about.

The letter -- which appears to be an attempt to keep Lindsay out of jail -- acknowledges "... Lindsay may have violated the terms of her probation by missing multiple court-ordered alcohol education classes."

Bloom says Michael is "gravely concerned" about Lindsay's "deterioration" and is urging the judge to put LiLo in a private drug rehab facility in New York. Michael also wants family counseling.

But if the judge won't go for rehab, Bloom and Michael are asking the judge to extend her probation and subject her to "frequent, random, court-ordered drug testing."

Dr. Conrad Murray's legal team claims it may not be ready for the preliminary hearing setting next month, because they still have not received the full criminal file on the Michael Jackson manslaughter case.

Miranda Sevcik, spokesperson for Murray's lawyer, Ed Chernoff, tells TMZ they have only received 3,500 pages of discovery. Sevcik cites a news report in which the D.A.'s office claims it has "hundreds of thousands of pages of material."

But a D.A. spokesperson told TMZ on Friday that the statement that there were "hundreds of thousands" of pages was their error ... and in fact there are only "thousands of pages" and the defense has received "the bulk of it."

Sevcik's response ... "It's odd. It seems like an awfully big miscalculation."

Sources at the Lakewood Church tell TMZ Murray met with Joel and his wife Victoria before Osteen in between the 8:30 and 11:00 AM sermons. We're told they met in a private room for about 10 minutes. Joel's brother Paul was also there, as was Murray's attorney, Ed Chernoff, and friend Jeffrey.

Our source said it was very apparent Murray was "a man of faith."

Sources tell TMZ the doc accused of killing Michael Jackson has been invited into Osteen's inner sanctum at Lakewood Church in Houston, TX. We don't know why Osteen personally invited Dr. Murray. In fact, we're told Dr. Murray isn't sure why he was invited either ... although he's an active member of his Houston church.

We're told Murray will arrive at the church in the morning and go in through a "bunker-like" entrance -- and he won't be given the entry code until just before he arrives.

Sources close to Murray tell us a group of his friends, patients and fellow church members -- numbering in the "hundreds" -- will be outside the courthouse at Murray's next court hearing to show solidarity.

We're told the group will rent buses in Houston and Las Vegas -- where Dr. Murray has his medical practices -- and drive them to L.A. for the June 14 court date.

We're told the catalyst for the sojourn was that pesky banner that flew over the courthouse at the last court hearing, demanding justice for MJ.

We have some signage ideas for next month's rally:

Lawrence Taylor is privately contradicting what his lawyer said publicly about having sex with a 16-year-old prostitute.

A source who has had direct contact with Taylor since the incident tells TMZ Taylor has acknowledged the pimp supplied the girl ... but he "honestly believed she was 19 or 21."

Taylor's lawyer said flatly yesterday, Taylor did not have sex with the woman.

According to the source, Taylor is "devastated," insisting he's "not into the world of 16-year-olds."

Taylor is acknowledging he was with the girl but says it never dawned on him she was underage.

It's not that the bodyguards say Jason Pfeiffer wasn't his type -- they say Jacko wasn't gay.

Bill Whitfield, Javon Beard and Mike Garcia will appear for a second time on ABC, according to the New York Post, to shoot down rumors the singer was a homosexual.

According to the Post, the bodyguards claim the singer had two girlfriends in the months before he died. He reportedly called one of them "Friend" -- a chick with a European accent.

Under the will -- drafted in 2004 -- Monica leaves her jewelry, clothing, furniture, cars, books, real property and everything else to Bruce.

The will names Bruce as the executor, but if he is unable to serve, Monica's sister, Jeane Burgos-Carrno, is the alternate executor.

The will states if a guardian of her child becomes necessary (at the time they only had one child -- they now have 2), Monica's other sister -- Carla Ferreira-Burgos -- will become the guardian.

However California Probate Code (sec. 250) says, "A person who feloniously and intentionally kills the decedent is not entitled to ... any property, interest, or benefit under a will of the decedent." The code also forbids, "any nomination of the killer as executor, trustee, guardian, or conservator."

Remember, Bruce has not been arrested or charged in Monica's killing.

Gunfire rang out near the home of "Lost" star Malcolm David Kelley this morning as cops apprehended a person suspected of breaking into his L.A. area pad ... while Malcolm was inside!!!!

TMZ has learned the L.A. County Sheriff's Dept. received a call from Malcolm -- who plays Walt on the ABC show -- to report a burglary in progress at the actor's home in Bellflower, CA at 9:28 AM.

Sources close to the investigation tell us the bad guy first attempted to knock on the front door of the house -- and when no one answered, the perp tried to break in through the back.

We're told Malcolm heard the noise and immediately called 911.

Whencops arrived to the scene -- we're told the bad guy tried to flee when he heard the sirens. We're told officers fired at least one shotat the suspect outside the home -- but no one was hit.

Eventually, we're told one person was taken into custody -- and is currently being detained.

Cops are still investigating the situation.

TMZ spoke to Malcolm's rep, Dominic Friesen, who tells us, "Malcolm and his family are incredibly grateful that no one was injured during today's incident."

Jamie McCourt had asked for nearly a million bucks a month in support, but Judge Scott Gordon shot down her claim for $444,000 in perks -- which she called "monthly prerequisites" which she received while she was CEO of the Dodgers. Nevertheless, Frank was ordered to pay half a mil a month more than he offered.

Frank was ordered to make the payments to Jamie retro to last December ... which means he needs to cut a gigantic check -- approximately $2.8 million.

And get this ... Jamie says she's on the hook for $8.26 million in attorney's fees and wanted Frank to pay. Instead, the judge ruled that the couple must sell their Cabo San Lucas home -- valued at $7 million -- and Jamie can use her half for lawyer's costs. The judge wants more info before he decides if Jamie should get more from Frank in the attorney's fees department.

TMZ first reported ... the Aspen D.A. was originally willing to allow Sheen to plead guilty to a felony with no jail time. Sources say under the D.A.'s old proposal, Charlie would be placed on probation for 2 years and at the end of the period his conviction would be expunged -- erased.

But sources say Sheen's people had a practical problem with the plea proposal -- As one source said, "There are a lot of ways to violate probation, and we don't want Charlie doing something that in the next two years could land him in prison for a probation violation." Translation -- Charlie would probably do something to cross the legal line in the next 2 years.

Sources also say, Charlie was also worried someone would try to extort him -- i.e., some woman would demand money, or else she'd go to the D.A. with a bogus story. As one source says, "Charlie has a giant bull's eye on him."

So our sources say there's a new proposal on the table -- Charlie would plead either guilty or no contest to a misdemeanor and get jail time. We're told right now Charlie is willing to accept 10 days in jail but the D.A. wants at least 30 days.

The reason Charlie's people want jail time -- once he serves his sentence he would either not be placed on probation or he'd get probation for a very short period of time -- so if he screws up later, the Aspen case won't come back to bite him.

We're told there are active negotiations underway between Charlie's lawyers and the D.A., but so far no deal has been reached.

As we first reported, Joe Jackson filed a claim against the estate last year in an effort to get a monthly check from the estate.

According to documents filed earlier this week, Joe will sit down with Michael's attorney at a date to be determined "between June 1, 2010 and July 1, 2010."