Legal

Joe Mixon appeared in an Ohio courtroom on Wednesday to fight back in his aggravated menacing case ... pleading not guilty to the misdemeanor charge he was hit with earlier this month.

The NFL star wore a white button-down shirt and dark pants for the occasion ... and said nothing to reporters neither during his arrival nor during his exit at his arraignment hearing in Hamilton County.

During the proceedings, Mixon entered his plea ... and his bond was set at $10,000.

As we reported, Mixon was initially charged with aggravated menacing on Feb. 2 -- after prosecutors said he threatened to shoot a woman during a road rage incident on Jan. 21.

The charge was dismissed after officials said they needed "additional investigation" -- but it was refiled on April 7 after authorities said they found new evidence in the case.

R. Kelly has officially filed an appeal in his federal sex crimes case out of New York -- and he's got a laundry list of reasons why he thinks his conviction should be reversed.

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ, the controversial singer -- who was found guilty in 2021 on 9 federal counts that included RICO charges as well as charges pertaining to sex crimes and human trafficking -- says he got a raw deal throughout the lengthy trial.

For starters, R. Kelly's legal team simply argues the government did not meet its burden of proof in court ... despite a jury convicting him on all counts. His lawyers have specific gripes about the jury and some of the evidence prosecutors were allowed to submit during trial.

For the jury, his attorneys say that at least 4 of the jurors selected have since admitted prejudging his guilt before handing down their official verdict -- and he says at least 2 of them had watched the "Surviving R. Kelly" docuseries, and should never have been seated on the jury.

As for the underage girls he's alleged to have groomed and molested ... Kelly seems to have an explanation for what happened in each case. He says some were, in fact, at least 18 years old when he met and engaged in sexual relationships with them -- despite prosecutors' insistence the alleged grooming started while they were still minors.

In the cases where Kelly is alleged to have met with actual minors ... his team claims he was misled by those girls at the time about their real age.

Now, on the evidence front -- his team claims there was a lot of stuff that was allowed in during the trial that shouldn't have been seen or heard by the jury ... and hurt his ability to get a fair trial.

For instance, he says details about his sex life and/or conduct and behavior with former partners or exes of his -- accounts of which dove into STDs, sexual preferences and behavior in the bedroom -- were not relevant to the crimes being alleged against him, and were simply a way for prosecutors to sway the jury.

He also pushes back on former employees/associates of his that were trotted out on the stand ... saying a lot of them falsely testified to things they had no real knowledge of and weren't privy to in their capacity as staffers.

He's asking the appeals court to reverse his convictions or, at a minimum, order a new trial. Of course, there's a second federal case in which he was also convicted out of Chicago. No appeal for that just yet

Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback Chris Claybrooks was arrested in Nashville over the weekend ... after officials say he destroyed a woman's phone during a wild dispute at a movie theater.

According to court documents, obtained by TMZ Sports, the alleged altercation between the football player and the woman went down at around 8 PM on April 14 in the parking lot of the Opry Mills establishment.

Prosecutors say Claybrooks had been there watching a movie with his girlfriend, when a woman showed up and attempted to inform the GF that she and Claybrooks had been together the night before "and that she had proof they were together on her phone."

In the docs, authorities say the woman told them Claybrooks then "grabbed her hand that was holding the phone and ripped it from her grasp." Claybrooks then allegedly chucked the device into the ground, destroying it.

According to the docs, the woman suffered bruises and abrasions on her hand from the incident. Officials say cops also observed that her phone was, indeed, broken.

The 25-year-old defensive back was arrested over the incident on April 15 ... and eventually hit with two criminal charges -- misdemeanor domestic assault causing bodily injury and misdemeanor vandalism of $1,000 or less. He's due in court for a hearing on the matter in May.

Claybrooks' attorney declined to comment on the case when reached on Wednesday.

The Jaguars, meanwhile, said in a statement they were "aware of a recent incident in Nashville, Tennessee involving Chris Claybrooks and are currently in the process of gathering information."

"We will have no further comment at this time," the team added.

Claybrooks, a former Memphis Tigers star, was a 7th-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft who went on to sign a 4-year rookie contract with the Jags worth a little over $3 million.

Attorney Ben Crump just announced the family is seeking more than $500M during a press conference.

Tyre Nichols' family is suing over his fatal beating at the hands of Memphis police ... drawing parallels with what happened to Emmett Till.

According to a new federal lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Tyre's family compares his death to the infamous 1955 killing of Emmett, saying Tyre, like Till, suffered a beating from the "hands of a modern-day lynch mob."

The Nichols family is going after the City of Memphis, Police Chief Cerelyn Davis and the officers involved in Tyre's brutal beating.

The suit claims Tyre's death was the "direct and foreseeable product of the unconstitutional policies, practices, customs, and deliberate indifference" from Memphis and its police chief.

As you know ... Tyre died in January, three days after a brutal beating at the hand of five Memphis police officers, all of whom were fired and charged with second-degree murder.

Tyre's family is also suing a sixth officer who was fired but not charged, plus three members of the Memphis Fire Department who responded to the scene but allegedly failed to render aid to Tyre.

Bradley Beal is now being dragged to court over his tiff with fans following a game against the Magic last month ... TMZ Sports has learned a lawsuit was just filed against the Wizards star on Tuesday.

In the docs, Kyler Briffa alleges he was the man who Beal got physical with during a March 21 altercation inside Amway Arena in Orlando, Fla.

Briffa says he and a friend got courtside seats to the Wizards vs. Magic tilt -- and were eventually allowed to go inside a team tunnel following the contest to interact with Washington players as they made their way into the visitor's locker room.

Briffa claims things were going fine -- until his friend made a comment to Beal about losing a bet during the game.

According to the suit, Beal "stopped, turned around, walked back toward the unsuspecting [Briffa] and without a word, intentionally struck the side of [Briffa's] head knocking his hat off of his head."

Briffa claims the hat flew "5-6 feet behind him." He then says Beal started to bully, threaten, intimidate and humiliate him in front of other fans -- which included children.

He added that he believed Beal "was attempting to provoke a physical altercation."

In the suit, Briffa says it was all finally broken up by a Wizards staffer -- who escorted the shooting guard away from the area.

Briffa says he suffered emotional distress and pain and suffering from the incident. He's suing Beal for assault. He's also suing the Wizards for negligence. He's asking for more than $50K in damages.

For Beal's part, he generally acknowledged the incident during a season-ending interview with media members earlier this month ... saying he never appreciates being heckled over gambling and betting.

Police, meanwhile, said they launched an investigation into the incident ... though no charges have been filed.

Drake has more robot problems on his hands -- after his record label pulled the plug on one viral AI song that was using his voice ... two more, which are also solid, have cropped up.

The tracks are floating all over the internet and live on several platforms -- including YouTube and TikTok ... although it's unclear where exactly they first originated from. One is called 'winters cold' and another is labeled 'Not a Game.' Like we said ... both aren't half bad.

The first sounds like a pretty standard Drizzy track ... with a catchy beat and lyrics that slide without a hiccup, almost as if the human himself was rapping. However, if you actually listen to what the AI is saying ... it doesn't actually make too much sense. Still, it's catchy as hell.

This second AI song is a little more obvious as being a fake ... AI Drake's voice, in this instance, sounds a little off and the flow isn't quite as clean or varied as actual Drake's.

Again, though ... not a terrible reenactment of the real McCoy -- and Twitter's howling about how close machines have come to doing their best rendition of Aubrey. Remember, this all comes on the heels of yet another AI song that went viral this weekend that's been yanked.

Of course, we're talking about 'Heart on My Sleeve' ... which features both fake Drake and fake Weeknd. Universal Music Group apparently issued takedown requests of the song -- which was on Spotify and other streaming services ... and then slammed it to no end.

The label said, in part ... "The training of generative AI using our artists’ music (which represents both a breach of our agreements and a violation of copyright law) as well as the availability of infringing content created with generative AI on DSPs, begs the question as to which side of history all stakeholders in the music ecosystem want to be on: the side of artists, fans and human creative expression, or on the side of deep fakes, fraud and denying artists their due compensation."

UMG says they appreciate their publishing partners' help in getting these phony songs off the digital air ... but it sounds like they're going to be busy as time goes on.

Alec Baldwin and the cast and crew for the "Rust" movie will all be back on set tomorrow, more than a year after cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was shot and killed during production.

A spokesperson for the film tells CNN everything will be back underway Thursday at the Yellowstone Film Ranch in Montana -- a place meant to honor Halyna's legacy.

"Rust" originally began filming on set in New Mexico back in 2021 before Halyna was fatally shot on set with a prop gun Baldwin was holding. Director Joel Souza was also shot and injured... bringing production to a screeching halt.

It wasn't until earlier this year the production company behind the movie locked in a new church as the backdrop for the film ... which BTW, looks really similar to the original one.

As we told you, Matthew Hutchins, Halyna's widower, reached an undisclosed settlement in the wrongful death lawsuit filed against the actor and production companies back in October ... greenlighting filming for the movie to resume with the original principal players and Matthew as the Executive Producer.

"Smallville" star Erica Durance is leaving her Clark Kent ... because she and her husband, actor David Palffy, have split.

A rep for Erica, who played Lois Lane on the superhero TV show, tells TMZ ... "David and Erica have decided to amicably separate."

The date of separation is unclear ... ditto for the reason behind the split ... but it doesn't appear Erica or David have filed divorce docs, at least not yet.

In a joint statement, Erica and David say ... "Out of respect for our children that's all that will be conveyed at this time. Thank you in advance for your understanding as we navigate the next chapter in our lives."

The relationship has been the subject of fan speculation recently ... it's been a while since Erica's posted with David on social media, and she was spotted not wearing her wedding ring last week at the Canadian Screen Awards, all while making cryptic posts online.

Erica and David started dating way back in 2001, and in 2005 they tied the knot. They have two sons together, an 8-year-old and a 6-year-old.

Before, Erica was married to Wesley Parker from 1996 to 1999 ... but it ended in divorce.

The wife of Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds is officially divorcing him ... after the estranged couple announced their separation last year.

According to court records, Dan's wife Aja Volkman filed Tuesday in L.A., pulling the plug on a marriage that lasted over a decade. They have four kids together.

As we reported, the soon-to-be exes called it quits in September, and a couple months later Dan was linked to his new GF Minka Kelly.

We've seen them on a handful of dates since then -- from grabbing dinner to holding hands on a walk to some lunchtime PDA.

Dan's been in pretty good spirits since his split from Aja ... and not only because of Minka. We recently saw him dancing up a storm on a cruise to Mexico last month.

Fox News is cutting a nine-figure check to avoid going to trial in one of the highest-profile defamation cases in American history -- the network struck a last-minute deal with Dominion Voting Systems to settle the case.

The trial was scheduled to start Tuesday in Delaware Superior Court ... 12 jurors had been selected in the morning, but before opening statements, the judge announced the settlement from the bench.

According to Dominion lawyers, Fox will fork over $787.5 million to settle the suit.

Remember ... Dominion, a voting machine maker, was seeking $1.6 billion in damages after accusing Fox News of sullying its reputation in the wake of the 2020 election with claims of votes being taken from Donald Trump and given to Joe Biden.

The massive settlement means Fox News on-air personalities like Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Maria Bartiromo won't be called to the witness stand. Jurors would have been tasked with determining if Fox News acted maliciously in airing false statements about Dominion's voting machines.

Worth noting, Dominion is a small privately owned company that's reportedly worth less than $100 million, but it's about to be pretty flush.

The family of Ralph Yarl says justice can be served by locking up the 84-year-old shooter for the rest of his days ... and forcing him to financially support the Kansas City teen's future.

Ralph's attorney Lee Merritt tells TMZ ... the Yarl family sees life in prison as the appropriate punishment for Andrew Lester, the man charged with shooting Ralph after he mistakenly rang Lester's doorbell. He also says all of Lester's assets should go into a college fund for Ralph.

On top of that, the family's calling on Missouri to implement more robust hate crime laws that could be applied in situations like Ralph's. They also want the DOJ to perform a review of the KC Police Department's to assess any possible internal racial biases in its practices, noting they don't think the department took the incident seriously enough at first.

As you know, Ralph was shot twice by Lester last week, including once in the head -- and police say Lester claims he thought Ralph was trying to break into his home. Lester surrendered to cops Tuesday, the day after he was charged with 2 felonies -- assault in the first degree and armed criminal action.

Merritt says Ralph's head injury damaged the part of his brain that handles emotions, so he's been struggling with controlling them since the ordeal.

We're also told the family's looking at the possibility of a lawsuit against Lester as well as the city ... because they had to fight so hard just to get Lester charged and arrested.

Pras isn't going down without a fight in his political conspiracy case -- he took the stand Tuesday to testify in his own defense.

According to sources with direct knowledge, the former Fugees rapper's attorney called him as a witness this morning. His testimony covered several topics ... such as his background, upbringing, education history and, of course, his career as a platinum-selling musician.

Pras will likely be on the stand for the rest of day and perhaps again tomorrow as he faces 22 years behind bars for allegedly accepting around $88 million from Malaysian refugee Jho Low between 2012 and 2017.

We caught up with Pras earlier this month when the trial was heating up ... but it was unclear whether he'd actually take the stand in the case.

The Menendez Brothers case is back in the news now that an ex-member of Menudo is now backing their claim that their father was a pedophile.

Roy Rosselló -- who was part of the uber-popular boy band from the '80s -- is the subject of a new docuseries that's being aired by Peacock ... titled, "Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed," which teases a big bombshell that Roy says he's ready to share with the world.

He claims Jose Menendez drugged and sexually assaulted him before Menendez was brutally killed alongside his wife by their sons, Erik and Lyle Menendez.

Unclear how exactly Roy claims to have known Jose during the time of the alleged incident -- but it's not outside the realm of possibility ... remember, Menendez worked as an executive in the music biz during the '80s and '90s -- and was tight with the Latino community.

Rossello's story is scheduled to stream May 2 ... but from the trailers/promos released this week, there's no doubt he's leveling a serious allegation that seems to jibe with what the Menendez Bros. also claimed about their dad in the '90s ... namely, that he'd allegedly sexually abused them for years during their childhood.

You'll recall ... the lynchpin of the brothers' defense essentially boiled down to telling the jury they lived in fear from the abuse and only killed their parents after claiming their dad threatened them when they said they would expose what he'd done.

It's unclear for now if Rossello's new assertion -- which seems to be the first time anyone has publicly backed the notion that Jose Menendez might've sexually abused minors -- will have any impact on the Menendez brothers' case, as their lawyers have tried for years to secure a new trial with several unsuccessful appeals.

Attorney Ben Crump says it's a true miracle Ralph Yarl is alive after the Black 16-year-old was shot in Kansas City after ringing the wrong doorbell -- but he adds, the charges against the shooter point to a larger problem in America.

Crump joined us Tuesday on "TMZ Live" to talk all about the aftermath of 84-year-old Andrew Lester shooting Yarl in the head and near the chest-area ... after he had accidentally gone to the wrong house to pick up his younger siblings.

Ben tells us, it is a blessing Yarl survived and is in stable condition and recovering at home with his family. He adds, he hopes Ralph has a full recovery -- mentally and physically -- from all the trauma he's endured.

However, Crump was less hopeful about the shooter being held accountable. FYI, Lester was charged with 2 felonies on Monday - assault in the 1st degree and armed criminal action but he was NOT charged with attempted murder.

Crump tells us prosecutors say they charged Lester with the most they believe would result in a conviction ... meanwhile, he says Black folks are charged to the max and it's not a question about whether they would get convicted.

He also notes police questioned Lester for 20 minutes and let him go to sleep the same night -- something he calls "unbelievable". BC says we never see this happen when races are reversed.

Celebs and folks all over have rallied behind Ralph and his family ... donating to his GoFundMe and showing their support. However Ben says America has a long way to go.

In his eyes, the country has a larger issue with using guns to handle differences. He says we shoot first and ask questions later ... whether it's police or citizens.

Mindy Weiss, the most famous celebrity wedding planner in America, is being sued over a hoity-toity reception ... and the parents of the bride blame Mindy for botching a key Jewish tradition.

Barbara and Craig Spencer bankrolled a $2 million Aspen wedding in March 2022, for their daughter. They dropped $100k on Mindy, who's done weddings for Justin and Hailey Bieber, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi, Patrick and Brittany Mahomes, Russell and Nina Westbrook, Paris Hilton and Carter Reum, as well as lots of Kardashian shindigs.

They say Mindy was overbooked and ill-prepared to pull off their lavish affair. They're also upset that the wedding was originally budgeted for $1 million, but Mindy ended up telling them shortly before the event that the cost had ballooned to double that. They hired a 12-piece band but the sound system sucked, and the father-daughter dance was barely audible. They tick off a number of problems that ticked them off ... notably, the ceremony started so late, the gondola that took guests to the venue only ran up to a certain hour and not everyone made it.

They hired Nelly to perform at the reception, but due to the delays, his performance had to be cut short.

But it seems the biggest thing that rankled them involved a tradition at most Jewish weddings -- a dance called the Hora. It's when the guests at the wedding hoist up the bride, groom and parents who are sitting in chairs and bob them around to traditional Jewish music.

According to the lawsuit, Mindy was warned the chairs in the reception room were much too heavy and that she should go with lighter chairs. Apparently, that didn't happen and as a result, the Hora dance was very brief and the father of the bride didn't get a ride!

Mindy's being sued for more than a million bucks. We reached out to Mindy ... she had no comment.

Mazel Tov to the bride and groom?

Megan Thee Stallion says she's closing the chapter on her Tory Lanez memories once and for all, now that he's been served justice.

For the first and (supposedly) last time, Megan jotted down her thoughts in a new op-ed for Elle on Tuesday ... lamenting the public humiliation she suffered, and her current road to recovery.

Megan says she's no victim, but couldn't ignore the trauma induced when Tory laughed, joked and pushed false narratives in the public ahead of their trial, which concluded last December with Tory's conviction.

She called the shooting "her most traumatic experience" in her 28 years, and lashed out at unnamed players in the music biz who threw sneak disses at her ... or accused her of lying about the shooting.

The "Savage" rapper says she hopes her words touch all past and future victims of traumatic experiences, and doesn't plan on rehashing the shooting timeline any further ... for the sake of her mental health.

Megan also thanked her most dedicated "Hottie" fans who showed up to court for moral support, and says she's just been kicking it with her manager T. Farris and has banging new music fans will love.