Developing Stories

Anthony escaped the death penalty when the jury found her not guilty of murder.

The defense argued that Casey's lying to cops was really just one continuous act -- not 4 separate ones ... and therefore Anthony should be sentenced to 1 year in jail -- not 4 years (one for each lie).

Judge Belvin Perry begged to differ, calling each untruth "separate and distinct lies."

But Anthony got credit for time already served -- she's been locked up for approximately 2 years 10 months. The judge must still compute how much time she gets for good time credit.

The reigning queen of drunken "Jersey Shore" antics seriously upped her game at a bar in Seaside Heights on Saturday -- by sloppily dancing with a decorative plant like it was a juiced-up gorilla version of Mark Ballas.

Sources directly involved in the project say the man who is making it all happen is uber-producer Joe Roth, who produced and owns the screenplay to the 2003 movie, "Anger Management."

We're told Charlie's character will stray a bit from the movie role. The plan as of now -- Charlie's character will be an ex-jock who got his master's degree in social work during the offseason. He becomes a counselor to defendants in the criminal justice system with anger management problems. But, of course, Charlie's character will have anger issues of his own.

We're told the deal with Lionsgate is not done, but is in the final stages of negotiations. And we're told, there is no deal with a network to air the show -- at least not yet.

A publicist for the unidentified juror is sending a letter to media outlets, claiming, "Our client -- a married, college-educated, 33-year-old white male with two young children -- is willing to consider granting one or more media interviews so long as the opportunities are paid."

We're told the juror has already received multiple offers from big news operations, including at least one major network. Sources tell us ... the high offers are in the "mid 5-figures."

Paid interviews are a hazy moral territory for obvious reasons -- and the publicist, Rick French, admits, paying for sit-downs is "always a sticky subject and believe me, I understand the delicacy of this type of negotiation."

But French insists ... sticky or not, his client ain't budging -- "He will not entertain any offers that don't include compensation for a myriad of reasons."

TMZ has obtained photos showing attorney Jose Baez and his team having a champagne toast at the Terrace 390 restaurant ... located right across the street from the Orange County Courthouse in Florida.

Our friend Jane Velez-Mitchell was outside the restaurant doing the play-by-play for HLN during the celebration.

Of course, yesterday was a big day for Baez ... and Anthony ... who was found not guilty of killing her 2-year-old daughter back in 2008.

Minutes before the toast, Baez gave a news conference and told reporters, "There are no winners in this case. Caylee has passed on far, far too soon. Two-year-old Caylee's death should not be lost in her mother's requital."

So, after making that statement ... still think it was OK for Baez to raise a glass in triumph?

Casey was found GUILTY on four counts of providing false information to a law enforcement officer.

Anthony was teary-eyed as the verdict was read. A judge has ordered Anthony to be fingerprinted immediately.

Anthony faces up to 4 years in state prison for lying to the cops -- one year for each count. Sentencing has been scheduled for Thursday morning.

Casey's parents seemed shocked when the first not guilty verdict was read -- and they got up and walked out of the courtroom during the reading.

After the judge wrapped things up, Anthony finally smiled and shared a giant embrace with her lawyer.

Story developing...

Sheen released a statement saying, "You could say I've been providing kindling for this Roast for a while ... It's time to light it up.& It's going to be epic."

The Roast will be taped in Los Angeles on September 10 ... and it will air on Comedy Central on September 19 -- which is, not coincidentally, the same night the revamped "Two and a Half Men" is set to premiere.

A rep for Comedy Central says, "Charlie has assured us that nothing will be off limits in this Roast which scares even us."

Story developing ...

It all went down June 24 when Katt's tour bus pulled into a Jack-in-the-Box in Williams, Arizona. According to police, one of Katt's bodyguards was bitten by a German shepherd -- prompting the bodyguard to open fire twice ... killing the dog.

The German shepherd -- named Lester -- was a retired police dog that had gotten loose during a walk with its owners. The family tells TMZ they were in shock when, "Katt Williams came outside and told us that he [the bodyguard] will be fired immediately."

This is when it gets weird. The family says Katt went inside his tour bus and walked off with an 8 week old Mastiff ... and offered it to them to replace the dead dog.

They accepted and then -- shockingly -- posed for a picture with Katt ... and everyone was all smiles!

The family tells TMZ, “We are devastated right now,” and the new puppy can't replace Lester. However, they are happy Katt stepped up and took responsibility.

They say they've named the puppy Bella -- and they're never going back to a Jack-in-the-Box again.

The photo was snapped Thursday night inside Beacher's Madhouse at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood.

But this is no one-night thing -- we're told Todd was at Paris' pre-July 4th party on Friday where the two "only had eyes for each other."

The wrestling organization works directly with GLAAD and even produced a series of anti-bullying commercials following incidents involving announcer Michael Cole and wrestler John Cena.

Calls to GLAAD were not returned.

UPDATE: A rep for the WWE tells TMZ, "WWE does not condone this type of language or bias and we reinforce that with our talent who are independent contractors."

The call was made by legendary prankster Ralphige -- who has fooled the likes of Donald Trump, Paris Hilton, and Chris Brown.

During the MJ call, Ralphige pretended to be Akon ... and he teased Michael about molesting children. MJ claimed Ralphige was NOT talking to the real Michael Jackson ... but merely an impersonator.

Now, the MJ Estate is acknowledging that the King of Pop REALLY WAS pranked -- because they've threatened to sue Ralphige for selling the recording on his website for 99 cents a pop ... without permission from MJ's camp.

The threat worked -- because Ralphige's site is down ... but the prankster sees a silver lining ... telling us, "The letter, if anything, it at least proves to the doubters that the prank call is real."

In the divorce petition, obtained by TMZ, Shriver cites "irreconcilable differences" as her reason for ending the 25-year marriage.

Shriver is asking for spousal support and wants the judge to deny Arnold the right to ask for support for himself-- though it's highly unlikely he would.

Shriver is asking for joint custody of their minor children, who she names in the document as 17-year-old "Patrick Arnold Shriver Schwarzenegger" and 13-year-old "Christopher Sargent Shriver Schwarzenegger."

And, in the petition, filed by disso-queen Laura Wasser, Shriver is asking Arnold to pay the attorneys' fees of both parties.

As for the date Arnold and Maria separated ... it isn't specified in the divorce papers.

According to the docs, the property accumulated during the marriage will be divided at a later date. And, sources tell TMZ, there is no prenup, so all of Arnold and Maria's earnings over the past quarter century will be divided 50/50.

Sources close to the couple tell TMZ ... Arnold and Maria are on speaking terms and Arnold knew beforehand that she was filing divorce papers. Maria is telling friends she hopes this will be an easy and amicable divorce.

Final divorce papers were just filed in L.A. County Superior Court.

Sources tell TMZ ... the divorce was amicable. Neither Scarlett nor Ryan asked for spousal support and there was no prenup, so they divided the property and earnings accumulated during the marriage 50/50.

The papers were filed by Ryan's lawyer, Laura Wasser, this afternoon.