Legal

Adam Hicks, the former child star of several Disney movies and TV shows, is living life on parole after doing time for second-degree robbery.

Hicks was arrested in 2018 for allegedly pulling a bunch of armed robberies in Burbank, CA -- and eventually, in July 2021, got sentenced to 5 years behind bars.

He caught a major break though, because the judge gave him credit for 1,460 days he served while awaiting sentencing, and he was released back in March.

TMZ broke the story ... Hicks, who starred in "Zeke and Luther," "Pair of Kings," and "Lemonade Mouth" and his girlfriend Danni Tamburo were arrested after cruising the Burbank area and pointing a gun at pedestrians -- taking their cellphones, money and other property.

While Hicks got 5 years in prison, his GF got off with 3 years of probation.

The actor had shown a history of violence before his arrest -- he once shot himself in the leg while hanging out with friends, and court docs said he was "very uncooperative" with police.

A man claiming to be an off-duty Chicago PD officer pinned a 14-year-old boy to the ground with his knee after accusing him of stealing his own son's bike -- and the whole thing was caught on video.

The boy's parents tell TMZ the incident happened Friday at a Starbucks in Park Ridge, IL -- just outside of Chicago. They say their son, who is Puerto Rican and an honor student, athlete and member of the local church was at the coffee spot with a group of friends and saw an abandoned bike laying on the sidewalk.

We're told the boy -- who also had his own bike with him -- attempted to move the abandoned bike out of the way ... and that's when the alleged off-duty officer pounced.

The parents tell us the man grabbed the boy by the wrist, slammed him to the ground and pinned him with his knee -- accusing the 14-year-old of having stolen the bike from his son.

We're told the man's son's bike had allegedly recently been stolen from a nearby location.

You can see in the video, the situation is tense, with the other teens coming to their friend's defense ... eventually pulling him away from the man.

A spokesperson for the Park Ridge PD tells us the man told their officers, who responded to the scene, that he was an off-duty Chicago Police officer. We spoke to a rep for The Chicago Police Department who tells us they're conducting an internal investigation into the situation.

The 14-year-old's parents are pissed -- pointing out their son was the only kid in the group who was of a different ethnicity ... and have plans to file a formal complaint in the near future.

Amber Heard wants a do-over in court, demanding a judge toss the verdict against her in the Johnny Depp defamation trial ... because of shoddy evidence and an alleged fake juror.

The actress's lawyers filed new docs this week in VA, asking the judge to either set aside the verdict in favor of JD entirely, dismiss the complaint or order a new trial. Take your pick!

The reasons they lay out are many, but essentially fall into 3 categories -- one, she argues there wasn't sufficient evidence presented on Johnny's side to convince a jury that her words had hurt his career/cost him roles ... and yet, they somehow decided she had anyway.

Amber's attorneys argue that Johnny's career was already on the ropes -- including within the 'Pirates' franchise -- before her op-ed in Dec. 2018, and yet ... she was found liable for that. Furthermore, AH's team claims JD and co. failed to prove she acted with actual malice in the sense that there was little to no evidence offered up showing she ever believed she hadn't been abused by him and didn't believe every word uttered or written in the op-ed.

They're also harping on the fact that Amber never named Johnny in the piece, and more importantly ... insist that the defamatory lines in question were, in fact, true on their face.

There's also this ... Amber and her team claim that one of the jurors who decided her fate may not have actually been the person summoned to court, and that the court apparently missed it by not properly vetting them. It's Juror #15, whose birth year on paper is 1945.

Amber's team says they've done a quick search on this would-be imposter -- whom they say is clearly younger than that -- and it appears this person might've been born in 1970. As a result, they want the court to investigate the matter further. If it's found they did erroneously end up on the jury ... just another reason to scrap this whole thing and start from scratch.

Mind you ... this is NOT Amber's appeal of the case -- which she's vowed to carry out, even though it would cost her a fortune she apparently doesn't have. Because of that fact, this seems to be a roundabout way to achieve the same thing, sans throwing down any dough.

Bam Margera's emotional split from his estranged wife lead to him fleeing rehab -- but since he's gone back, he hasn't heard a peep from her or their child ... so he's hired an attorney.

Sources close to the 'Jackass' star tell TMZ ... Bam's estranged wife, Nikki Boyd, has made no attempt to speak to him directly or return his phone calls, only speaking to his team about child support and custody regarding their son, Phoenix Wolf.

We're told Bam has now hired a family law attorney to help him visit his son. Our sources say, in the past, Bam had been trying on his own to work out a visitation schedule.

Bam's new family law attorney will be working on hammering out a custody agreement with Nikki's lawyer, David Glass, so Bam can see their son.

Nikki and Phoenix are back in California while Bam is in a Florida treatment center due to his court-ordered rehab -- and the distance doesn't seem to be helping their communication.

Remember, Nikki filed docs in Los Angeles seeking full custody of Phoenix, and only wants Bam to have supervised visitation.

Our sources say Bam's recent disappearance from rehab was spurred by the fact he hasn't been able to see his kid, coupled with a belief Nikki's moved on. Nikki however, claimed when he was missing the 2nd time that she's been nothing but supportive of Bam -- even moving from California to FL to be closer to him ... and she thinks she's been unfairly blamed for his exit.

We're told Bam has been very upset, and no longer wants to try to make things work with Nikki. His only focus is on seeing his son, and he's worried he'll never see him again.

Ricky Martin has been accused of domestic violence in Puerto Rico -- although it appears the alleged victim may be someone other than his spouse ... this per several reports.

Multiple Spanish outlets that operate in PR -- including Telemundo -- reported Saturday that a protective order is in the process of being filed and executed against the pop star in a municipality near San Juan ... citing law enforcement officials who confirmed the complaint falls within their Law 54 statute, which deals with DV.

The reports state an anonymous person -- who goes unnamed -- recently appeared before a judge in their own right to seek the TRO without going to the police first and without Ricky being present ... and the order was apparently granted based on the evidence presented.

The court reportedly scheduled a hearing on the matter between both parties for July 21.

Some reports are saying the alleged victim is a male, while others suggest it's a female. One outlet, claiming to have seen the docs themselves, says they read in part ... "The parties were related for 7 months. They separated 2 months ago, but the petitioner does not accept the separation. He calls him frequently. In addition, the petitioner has seen him hanging around his residence on at least 3 occasions. The petitioner fears for his safety."

That certainly doesn't sound like Ricky's husband of 5 years, Jwan Yosef -- with whom Ricky shares four children. The purported order goes on to reportedly say this ... "the petitioning party demonstrated that there is a substantial possibility of immediate risk of abuse."

As a result of the order reportedly being granted, Ricky has to steer clear of this person -- including avoiding all communication -- until this can get cleared up before a judge. As of Saturday, cops in Puerto Rico told AP they had not located Ricky to serve him.

Of course, Ricky has several residences ... including property in Puerto Rico. It's interesting this is surfacing now -- days after he was sued by his ex-manager, who claimed to have knowledge of a "career-ending allegation" from which she says she helped shield him.

Neither Ricky nor Jwan have commented on the reports. We've reached out to Ricky's reps and attorneys, so far no word back.

Marilyn Manson's legal situation with Evan Rachel Wood -- who's accused him of abuse -- is being compared to Johnny Depp's ... this as a Twitter thread linking the two is going viral.

The thread -- consisting of several tweets that attempt to paint MM as an abuser -- got started Friday ... with the author, who says she's an IPV survivor/advocate, laying out what she claims is evidence that she insists backs ERW's horrific allegations against her ex.

At a few different points in her deep dive, the Twitter user mentions ties between Manson and Depp -- including the fact that they're close friends ... while suggesting Manson may be ripping a page out his JD's playbook by taking his accuser to court with a defamation suit.

As TMZ reported ... Manson accused Wood of concocting her claims against him in an alleged elaborate scheme he says was meant to ruin his reputation and career. He's denied all of her allegations, including those from the other women who've also accused him.

Back to Johnny for a minute, though, because there's a debate raging about whether the claims he leveled against Amber Heard -- which were found to be mostly true by a jury -- are, in fact, comparable to Manson ... who is also alleging his accuser is making all this up.

The Twitter user notes that the cases are totally separate with differing evidence and allegations -- but throughout, she appears to be implying that JD has established a dangerous precedent for men accused of abuse ... including Manson.

A handful online agree -- namely, that the support Depp amassed throughout his trial could backfire by automatically lending itself to other stars in similar scenarios ... in this case, Manson, who some believe has been credibly accused, considering the deets of his case.

Others, however, are standing firm that supporting Depp doesn't automatically mean support for Manson ... and that trying to conflate the two cases just because they're pals is wrong.

What almost everyone seems to be missing is that Johnny was within his right to take his accuser to court and have the facts laid out ... as is Manson, as is anyone else. It's called due process -- and everyone is entitled to exercise it if they have a legal bone to pick.

The state of Texas is in a state of confusion as to what the actual law is over abortion -- made only more dubious by a decision its high court just handed down.

On Friday, the Texas Supreme Court overturned a lower court's ruling from earlier this week giving clinics/docs there the green light to continue carrying out abortions up to the 6-week mark -- allowing women a last-minute chance to get abortions before the state's trigger law goes into effect at the end of July ... which will outlaw most instances of abortion, period.

The reason the lower court even had to weigh in on this now is because pro-choice advocates sued the state after TX AG Ken Paxton effectively tried accelerating the trigger law date to right now ... via a loophole in an ancient Texas law from 1925 as his justification.

The 1925 law and the forthcoming trigger law are separate, but essentially enforce the same thing ... a woman cannot get an abortion in Texas, unless having the baby threatens her life.

Paxton apparently didn't wanna wait until the end of July for the trigger law to go into effect, and publicly declared this week that the old law of nearly 100 years could, in fact, be applied today -- both criminally and civilly -- seeing how it had remained on the books this entire time. Before Roe v. Wade was overturned last week, it had superseded the 1925 law.

After the lower court banned this enforcement through a TRO, he filed an appeal with the TX Supreme Court -- asking them to temporarily lift the ban ... which they did late last night. So, as of right now, that 1925 law is in play in Texas -- although, criminal prosecution for violating it is on hold at the moment, per the court. A hearing on this is set for July 12.

It's a stark reality either way ... any woman who was/is attempting to get an abortion in TX before the trigger law hits is now hamstrung with all these back-and-forth rulings.

Several other states' trigger laws have already materialized ... and when the rest do as well, it's going to be a mess as women travel to neighboring states to get abortions ... at the risk of prosecution. President Biden warned of this just yesterday, saying arrests will happen.

In other words, this is far from over ... and the ramifications are going to be felt for a while, at least until the next couple election cycles -- when would-be elected officials could do something to reverse SCOTUS' decision by codifying abortion rights through legislation.

Britney Spears' lawyer is calling BS on her former business manager, claiming the owner of the company lied about its involvement in the conservatorship, and THAT'S why it's objecting to forking over critical documents about its conduct.

Britney's lawyer, Mathew Rosengart, filed legal docs obtained by TMZ ... saying Tri Star Entertainment -- which he says snagged more than $18 million from the 13-year run of the conservatorship -- has lied to the judge by claiming it had no involvement in the creation of the conservatorship. Rosengart notes ... just before Jamie Spears went to court and became his daughter's temporary conservator, he borrowed a minimum of $40,000 from Tri Star, which at the time was a pretty obscure company and repped no other celebrities.

Rosengart believes the money had strings attached ... that Jamie would get the cash and Tri Star would get Britney's business. The lawyer has said in the past, this alleged quid pro quo is highly suspicious if not improper, and he wants Tri Star to produce all the documents related to the issue, but Tri Star wants a judge to block that move.

Britney's lawyer notes Tri Star's owner, Lou Taylor, has reportedly said her company had "no role whatsoever in the creation of a conservatorship for Britney Spears." Taylor's associate, Robin Greenhill, said in a sworn declaration, "At the time the conservatorship ... was established by this Court in early 2008, Tri Star had no role in Ms. Spears' affairs."

Rosengart says that's just false, pointing to an email from Lou Taylor to Jamie in January 2008, weeks before the conservatorship was established, in which she wrote, "he [attorney Andrew Wallet] and tri star will serve as co's [i.e., co-conservators] w you." Taylor wrote another email to another lawyer before the conservatorship was established, saying, "I look forward to working with you."

And, there's this ... one of Jamie's lawyers sent an email to Taylor before going to court and creating the temporary conservatorship, saying, "We have run into a problem with [the] judge selection ... the only judge who will be able to hear our case on Friday is the one drug [sic] who will not give Jamie the power to administer psychotropic drugs."

Rosengart notes, during the run of the conservatorship, Tri Star got a 5% cut of whatever Britney made, and that amounted to more than $18 million. He also says Tri Star's celebrity clientele -- which includes members of the Kardashian family and Travis Scott -- was built off the back of one Britney Spears.

And, Rosengart wants documents to determine Tri Star's role, if any, in secretly monitoring Britney's communications, including her text messages. Of course, the attorney also wants to review Tri Star's communications with Jamie Spears regarding the latter's conduct in the conservatorship.

The judge has yet to rule on whether Tri Star must ante up the docs.

Kitti Jones -- one of R. Kelly's exes who accused him of physical abuse and sexual coercion -- says there's only 2 ways he can fix himself ... taking accountability and serious therapy.

Kitti says R. Kelly needs to accept the harm he's inflicted on his victims and turn his life over to God ... plus making the most of the mental health treatment he's been ordered to undergo upon his prison release.

As we reported ... Kelly was recently sentenced to 30 years in federal prison following his conviction for 9 federal charges, including sex crimes and human trafficking.

Kitti, who appeared in both 'Surviving R. Kelly' docs and gave a victim impact statement in front of Kelly at his sentencing, says she's happy Kelly is off the streets so he can't hurt more women.

Johnny Depp's lawyer Camille Vasquez is gonna spend her birthday in style ... her time overseas with her beau is going to include spending some time with her famous client.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Camille's boyfriend has got a fun-filled trip planned for her 38th trip around the sun -- as we reported, she flew to London last week, where BF Ed Owen lives and is getting ready to party!

They're planning on heading to Wimbledon, which is super cool. They're also gonna see Elton John and The Rolling Stones at separate concerts. And ... they'll travel to Prague to see JD, where he's set to rock out with Jeff Beck.

The big question ... will Johnny call her out or even invite her on stage ... it would drive the crowd wild!

As we reported, Camille's been fielding offers from law firms ever since scoring a verdict in favor of Depp ... we're told she's speaking with agents and network execs about a bunch of projects ... like broadcasting roles, speaking engagements and even starting her own production company.

"Crash" director Paul Haggis will see his name removed from a city park in his Canadian hometown if he's found guilty of sexual assault ... and if the city council gets its way.

South London, Ontario honored the Oscar-winning filmmaker back in 2011 with the Paul Haggis Park, but since his recent arrest in Italy for allegedly forcing a woman to have sex with him at a bed and breakfast ... there's a growing movement to change that.

London City Council member Elizabeth Peloza, whose district covers Paul Haggis Park, tells TMZ ... she's closely following Paul's case, and if he's convicted she will file a motion to immediately remove his name from the park.

Peloza says the allegations against Paul are very serious and she's committed to creating a safe space for women and girls at the park ... which is why she would be in favor of scrubbing his name.

Paul's lawyer says his client is innocent of the allegations, and the reality is the director's probably way more concerned with maintaining his freedom than keeping his name on the park.

So, this is ironic ... Amber Heard lost Johnny Depp's defamation case in no small part because she lied about donating half her divorce settlement to the ACLU ... and now a judge has awarded the ACLU $38,000 ... and guess who has to pay -- NOT AMBER.

Here's the deal ... Johnny's legal team subpoenaed documents from the ACLU to prove Amber never anted up the cash. According to the ACLU, they had to produce 1900 documents and that took a lot of time. The org asked the judge to order Johnny to pay $86,000 for the time and expenses associated with the document production.

Johnny's lawyers called BS, saying the tab was "exorbitant and unreasonable."  The judge sided with Johnny and cut the bill pretty much in half ... so now Johnny has to pay $38,000.

As you know, Johnny won the case against Amber, so you might think she'd have to pay the costs that were incurred to reach a verdict ... a verdict squarely against her insofar as Johnny's defamation case is concerned. But, that's not the law, so Johnny has to pay.

Thing is ... it sounds like Johnny isn't going to take it to the mat and make Amber pay the $8.35M net judgment. So, even though he won, he's left holding the bag with the ACLU.

R. Kelly claims he's being punished by being placed on suicide watch in a Brooklyn detention center even though he says he's got no intentions of hurting himself ... and now he's suing.

The disgraced singer just filed suit against MDC Brooklyn, claiming they are subjecting him to "cruel and unusual punishment" under the harsh conditions of suicide watch because he's a celebrity.

Kelly claims he was put on suicide watch this week after he was sentenced to 30 years in prison, arguing his 8th Amendment rights are being violated because "he is not suicidal and expressly told MDC officials that he was not suicidal and had no thoughts of harming himself or others."

In the docs, he mentions Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell -- who was also placed on suicide watch -- saying the same thing has happened to him.

Kelly says he's been placed in a single cell without bed rails, no showers, no shaving, no toilet paper, being forced to eat meals with his hands, and being shut off from loved ones. Kelly also says it's ironic inmates on suicide watch don't even receive psychiatric care.

Kelly is suing for damages from emotional distress.

The Bureau of Prisons tells TMZ ... "The BOP is committed to ensuring the safety and security of all inmates in our population, our staff, and the public. Humane treatment of the men and women in our custody is a top priority."

Justin Timberlake's deal to make a documentary about his blockbuster album "The 20/20 Experience" isn't sitting well with the project's director, who's now suing JT for years of hard work ... according to a new lawsuit.

The singer is being sued by John Urbano, who claims JT recruited him back in 2012 to shoot and edit a documentary film about the making of his third studio album.

According to the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Urbano claims Justin proposed an arrangement where he would share profits from the film with Urbano instead of paying him his normal fee -- but Justin shelved the doc, which is why the director feels he got the shaft.

Urbano claims he filmed Justin for a total of 60 days all across the world and spent about 2,500 hours editing the footage into a documentary titled, "The Making of The 20/20 Experience."

The director says if he had been paid on the front end for the project, his filming and editing fees would have reached $2,450,000 ... but he says the only money he's seen out of Justin is a modest $20,000 upfront fee, plus reimbursements for expenses incurred while filming. According to his math, Urbano's been paid just $7 per hour for the project.

Urbano claims Justin was moved by the documentary at first, but after his album became his most successful solo project he lost interest in the doc, which has never been released.

The problem for Urbano ... he says Justin promised to share profits with him, but if the doc sits on a shelf, the promise of a big payday goes out the window.

Urbano claims Justin used his network of agents, managers, and handlers to stop the director from getting paid ... and he wants compensation for an allegedly breached agreement.

The director wants Justin to cough up lots more money, and he also wants a judge to declare he owns all the rights to the documentary.

R. Kelly will be in his 80s when/if he gets out of prison, but there are still concerns the old man will remain a threat -- especially to minors -- so, he'll have to live under a slew of strict conditions and counseling.

When Judge Ann M. Donnelly handed down Kelly's 30-year sentence for federal sex crimes, she also ordered mental health treatment for the singer upon his release. According to docs, his treatment will include therapy for an unspecified sexual disorder, and he must avoid all contact with anyone under 18.

That seems like a no-brainer, considering how the disgraced R&B hitmaker ended up in prison -- but there are even more criteria.

As we reported ... prosecutors said Kelly is especially menacing to society, because he'd continued his criminal behavior for years after standing trial in Chicago for sex crimes. Seems that struck a chord with the judge, who ordered Kelly must inform anyone choosing to live with him that he is a sex offender.

The only way he'll be allowed to be around someone under 18 is if it's a family member, or it's in a therapeutic setting with a "responsible adult" present -- ditto for associating with convicted sex offenders. And, all of the above scenarios would first have to be approved by his probation officer.

He's gonna get to know that P.O. very well -- Kelly will remain under supervised release for 5 years once he gets out ... and, that's just for this sentence.

Jamie Spears flatly denies bugging his daughter's bedroom ... one of the most explosive charges leveled against her former conservator.

Jamie filed a declaration, obtained by TMZ, in connection with the ongoing battle over alleged misdeeds committed during Britney Spears' 13-year conservatorship, and he said flatly, "I am informed of the allegation by Britney's counsel that a listening device or 'bug' was placed [in] her bedroom as surveillance during the Conservatorship. This allegation is false. I never conducted or authorized any surveillance of Britney's bedroom at any time, including during the conservatorship."

He went on to say he was not aware of any such device that was placed in his daughter's bedroom.

The New York Times documentary about Britney's conservatorship featured Alex Vlasov, a former employee of Black Box Security ... the company Jamie hired. He claimed such a device was indeed secretly placed in her bedroom to spy ... allegedly listening to private conversations.

Britney's lawyer, Mathew Rosengart, has gone after Jamie hard, saying he violated his client's privacy and civil liberties.