Legal

The so-called "QAnon Shaman" will be in prison for a while for his part in the Capitol riot from Jan. 6 -- the guy just got sentenced, and he's looking at a few years behind bars.

Jacob Chansley was handed 41 months Wednesday during sentencing, which comes out to about 3 years and change. The guy's been in federal custody this entire time.

Prosecutors were gunning for a lengthy prison stint here, as they wanted to set an example for those charged with felonies over this matter -- and now that Chansley's fate has been determined, it could be a sign of what's to come for others whose cases are still pending.

As we previously reported, Chansley struck a plea deal with prosecutors, who laid out a window of 41 to 51 months they said they'd recommend. The judge sentenced him on the lighter end of that bench.

As we reported ... Chansley -- who was one of the hundreds of people who stormed the Capitol, dressed in a bizarre Viking-style outfit -- pled guilty to obstructing an official proceeding before Congress ... this after initially being arrested for knowingly entering/remaining in a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, among other counts.

Chansley has griped about his living conditions while in jail ... including an alleged crappy diet, which he claimed was affecting his health. Nevertheless, he was never released on bond ... despite his repeated pleas.

Some scalding hot justice for the woman who threw soup at a restaurant worker in Texas ... she's been arrested more than a week after the attack.

Amanda Martinez was just picked up by cops on a warrant for assault causing bodily injury, law enforcement sources say she'll be booked into Bell County Jail.

TMZ broke the story, restaurant manager Jannelle Broland -- who took the face full of soup -- said she planned on pressing charges after the attack at the Temple, TX Mexican restaurant earlier this month.

As for what led up to the attack ... Broland says Martinez placed an order to go, and came back a short time after picking it up, complaining there was some plastic in the soup. Broland says she offered a full refund or item swap for the soup, but apparently, that wasn't enough for Martinez, who cussed up a storm, tossed the soup and bolted.

Kim Kardashian has been a godsend to Julius Jones' family as they wait to hear from the Governor on if he'll live or die -- and even as the day grows closer, she's still checking in ... so says the man's own sibling.

Julius' sister, Antoinette Jones, tells TMZ ... Kim has been in touch with the family in recent days to see how they're holding up -- but more importantly, to get a pulse on how JJ himself is handling the dire situation.

She's even posted Instagram updates of late, shedding light on where things stand with Julius' case ... and, again, calling on Oklahoma's Gov. Kevin Stitt to do the right thing.

While it may come off as mere lip-service for some ... Antoinette tells us Kim's lobbying and advocating on her brother's behalf has meant the world to their family behind the scenes -- insisting she's a "real one" and actually cares about what happens here.

Not just that ... but Antoinette says Kim knows her stuff too, legally speaking -- and she's impressed the Joneses by her breadth of knowledge on the facts of the case and beyond.

Most influential, though, is Kim's massive cultural influence ... which Antoinette tells us has been immeasurable in putting a spotlight on Julius' story -- and which she says she and the rest of the fam are beyond grateful for ... regardless of what happens on Thursday when Julius is scheduled to be executed.

Quick note about that ... the Parole Board has recommended Julius should not be executed but rather serve out a life sentence behind bars ... but the ball has been in Governor Stitt's court with no movement ... and now, it's almost at the point of no return.

Considering the Gov. can still grant clemency in the 11th hour ... Antoinette is asking anybody with a following and some pull to lean in and help them get the word out about what they call a travesty of justice.

As you may know by now ... Julius was charged and convicted for first-degree murder way back in 2002 -- with prosecutors pinning him to the shooting death of 45-year-old Paul Howell. Julius has always maintained his innocence ... and much has been made about weak evidence in the case linking him to the crime, not to mention racially charged undertones.

Britney Spears sounds like she has more big plans now that she's a free woman once again ... openly thinking about having another child.

Yep, Brit's doubled down on her baby dreams Tuesday ... posting a picture of a small child standing on their tiptoes and saying ... "I'm thinking about having another baby!!!"

It sounds like Britney might want to have a girl ... at least that's the way her IG caption makes it seem. She wonders if the child in the pic she posted is a girl.

As you know ... Britney has 2 children with her ex-husband Kevin Federline, and they're both teenage boys.

Back in June, during her impassioned testimony, Brit said she wanted to be free to get married to fiance Sam Asghari, and have a baby. She complained the conservatorship was blocking her from doing so, but legally, that just wasn't the case.

In any event, she's definitely got baby on the brain now that the conservatorship is over after 13 years ... and she and Sam are planning their wedding.

She's got at least one family member on board with the idea of more kids ... her sister, Jamie Lynn Spears, "liked" Britney's IG post.

Of course, Brit hasn't liked much coming out of her little sister's mouth lately.

Britney Spears already has one option for a collab partner if she dives back into music again, and that's Sean Garrett ... who tells us he's down, but also kinda hesitant.

We talked to the veteran music producer who's worked with Brit before -- not to mention a ton of other artists with whom he's made hits dating back to the 2000s -- and he's ready for round 2.

Sean and Britney have worked together in the past -- most notably, on her song "Toy Soldier," which he produced ... as well as him being featured on her track, "Kiss You All Over."

With that history, Sean's willing to get in a studio with her -- but watch the clip, because he's definitely cautious to fully commit ... for one good reason.

Fact is, SG is well-aware Britney is just tasting freedom again for the first time in a long time after the judge ended her conservatorship, and that seems to be at the forefront of his mind.

Sean says if she's stable and feeling up to recording again ... he wouldn't mind linking up for fresh tunes -- but he almost seems more interested in whether she's mentally ready.

TMZ broke the story ... Britney's made it clear, she wants to record again, but still hasn't picked a producer or songwriters to work with yet.

Travis Scott, Drake, Apple, Live Nation and others will now need to answer to a massive $750 million lawsuit brought against them by more than 125 fans, including the family of one who died at the festival.

The suit, filed by Houston attorney Tony Buzbee, is the first of others to come and places the blame on Travis and concert organizers for negligence in failing to properly plan the concert, train security personnel and host a safe event.

Among the plaintiffs is the family of Axel Acosta, a 21-year-old who was allegedly crushed by an "incited, unruly and out-of-control crowd with such force that he could no longer breathe."

As for the staggering $750 million, the lawsuit claims it's to cover both physical and mental health injuries as well as the loss of life.

Buzbee says, "No amount of money will ever make these Plaintiffs whole; no amount of money can restore human life. But, the damages sought in this case attempts to fix, help, or make up for the harms and losses suffered by these Plaintiffs -- nothing more and nothing less."

Travis and Live Nation offered refunds almost immediately to concertgoers, and the lawsuit addresses that offer, calling it, "... a transparent and grotesque effort of the Defendants to limit their liability, after the fact, to the families of those killed or injured."

As we reported ... 10 people have now lost their lives as a result of the Astroworld Festival -- the most recent was a 9-year-old boy.

Law enforcement continues to investigate what caused the deaths, but those in the audience say a crowd crush trapped, trampled and suffocated fans.

Quentin Tarantino seems to be pushing forward with plans to auction off "Pulp Fiction" NFTs, but the movie studio behind the film says they aren't his to sell ... according to a new lawsuit.

The famous movie director is being sued by Miramax, which claims his plans to sell a set of digital tokens featuring some iconic movie scenes violate the studio's rights.

According to the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Miramax claims it was left in the dark about Quentin's planned NFT auction, but finally caught wind of it and fired off a cease and desist letter to the director ... claiming the film company had the rights to most everything media-related involving the movie, including the NFTs he's looking to sell.

In the docs, Miramax claims Quentin pressed ahead anyway and is now promoting the hell out of the upcoming auction on social media. So, the studio says it had no choice but to drag him to court.

Miramax is going after Tarantino for money, and the studio wants the judge to pump the brakes on his NFT auction.

Carole Baskin is still fighting to have footage of herself removed from "Tiger King 2," and telling us how the series producers allegedly pulled some shady moves to deceive her.

We spoke to the big cat animal rescue owner herself just a day before Netflix is set to debut its sequel to the smash-hit series ... and Carole gave us the behind-the-scenes intel she says led to her filing a lawsuit to stop her image and likeness from being included in 'TK 2.'

For starters, Carole told us on Tuesday's "TMZ Live," she is NOT trying to stop Netflix from putting out a second installment -- she just wants any tie to her nixed from the final product.

As for why she wants out of the project? Well, Carole says she also hated the OG "Tiger King" ... and she alleges producers pitched it to her like it was going to be a "Blackfish"-styled expose on animal abuse. She even claims they even showed her an early promo cut which was exactly that.

As you now know ... "Tiger King" ended up playing as more of an anti-hero tale, with Joe Exotic as the heroic lead, and Carole as the "bad guy" nemesis.

That's Carole's biggest gripe -- what she calls the flat-out misrepresentation of her and her mission ... something she tells us is still haunting her to this day in the form of harassment and threats from rabid fans.

She also addressed what Jeff and Lauren Lowe told us Monday -- namely, that they're gearing up to sue Carole for allegedly tipping off the feds to violations at his now-shutdown Tiger King Park.

Carole says Jeff's fury is misplaced, and everything that's happened to him in the wake of "Tiger King" is his own doing. She claims her team got plenty of video evidence of animal abuse at Jeff's place, and she's airing it on her new Discovery+ show, "Carole Baskin's Cage Fight."

The prosecutor in the Kyle Rittenhouse case is drawing fire for pointing an AR-15 directly at the jury ... and critics are comparing his conduct to the fatal shooting on the "Rust" set.

Assistant D.A. Thomas Binger was in the middle of his closing argument Monday, when he tried to stage a re-enactment of the scene captured on drone video, just before Rittenhouse opened fire ... killing 2 and wounding a third.

Binger was trying to show the jury how ominous the 18-year-old defendant was on the streets of Kenosha back in August 2020 ... by grabbing the gun in open court and pointing squarely at the 18 people in the jury box ... 12 of whom were selected to decide the fate of Rittenhouse.

Binger violated the first rule of gun safety ... don't point the weapon at human beings just for show. As you know, one of the protocols broken on the "Rust" set was just that ... Baldwin was pointing the gun at the Assistant Director and the Cinematographer.

The demonstration drew the ire of a bunch of folks on social media ... "Rittenhouse prosecution DA points a gun at the jury, finger on the trigger, to give an example of what it looks like working with Alec Baldwin on a movie set."

Another wrote, "Binger and Alec Baldwin need to attend a firearms safety class taught by Kyle Rittenhouse." And, there's more ... "Prosecutor in Rittenhouse case aimed a gun with his finger on the trigger at the jury while saying someone was reckless with his gun."

Alec Baldwin is being made a scapegoat in the fatal "Rust" shooting because of political views ... at least according to his brother.

Daniel Baldwin appeared Monday on "The Domenick Nati Show" ... and during the radio hit, he said his brother should NOT be taking the blame for the fatal incident on set.

The way Daniel sees it ... Alec is being scapegoated because he's the big star with outspoken political views, making for an easy target.

Daniel says ... "You know Alec's got the name though doesn't he, so let's go ahead and take Alec for his political views and the many, many wonderful things he's done for different charities and people and his wife and let's see if we can't sensationalize this and go after Alec."

DB adds ... "This is what he faces because he's opinionated and he's strong-headed and he has really staunch views on certain things and those people who don't like him will take advantage of him and persecute his wife. He's a target."

While Daniel doesn't go into Alec's political views, it's no secret Alec did not like Donald Trump, often imitating the former President on 'SNL,' and endorsing Barack Obama back in the day.

Remember ... one of the first to publicly pile on Alec was Donald Trump Jr., who posted t-shirts reading, "Guns don't kill people, Alec Baldwin kills people."

While it seems Don Jr.'s actions support Daniel's scapegoating theory, it's worth noting the District Attorney investigating the case in New Mexico, Mary Carmack-Altwies, is a Democrat.

Instead, Daniel says the armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, is responsible for the death of Halyna Hutchins ... along with assistant director Dave Halls.

In Daniel's eyes, Alec is exonerated by the fact folks on set told police Halls announced the gun he handed AB was "cold," meaning it did not have live ammunition.

As you know it was a fatal mistake ... the revolver in Alec's hands turned out to have live ammo.

Daniel says the buck stops with the armorer, but he's wondering why Halls said it was a "cold" gun if Halls didn't verify it ... and he thinks it's clear rules weren't being followed on set.

Daniel says Alec really liked Halyna and had spent some time with her family ... and we saw Alec with the family in the wake of the shooting.

No charges have been filed and no arrests have been made ... but Daniel believes when the dust settles AB won't be the one going to jail.

There will be two Guardians in Cleveland after all ... the MLB team formerly known as the Indians just announced it's settled its lawsuit with a local roller derby squad -- and both will use the "Guardians" nickname going forward.

The baseball-playing Guardians made the announcement Tuesday ... revealing both sides reached "an amicable resolution" this week after the roller derby team had filed a lawsuit in late October.

In the suit, the roller derby team accused the MLB org. of trying to bully its way into jacking the roller-skating squad's longstanding nickname -- and wanted to put a stop to it all.

The derby team claimed the baseball team ripped off parts of their logo -- and then, according to derby team owner Gary Sweatt, offered "likely no more than fifteen minutes of annual team revenue" when settlement talks initially began.

But, the MLB team said in a statement things have changed in the last few weeks ... and both parties are now happy with each other.

"Both organizations will continue to use the Guardians name," the MLB org. said in its statement.

Terms of the settlement, however, were not revealed.

Yella Beezy allegedly forced himself on a woman during a first date -- and even after she told him to stop, proceeded to rape her ... this according to what cops in Texas say the woman told officers.

TMZ has obtained the arrest warrant and probable cause affidavit from Yella's sexual assault case out of Collin County -- and the story's pretty straightforward. According to the docs, an unidentified woman came to the ER to report an alleged rape in April.

Per the docs, the woman says Yella contacted her on Instagram in late April ... asking if she was looking for a new friend. After some back and forth, she says he asked her out -- and they eventually made plans to grab a bite in Dallas, and for some bowling afterward.

The alleged victim told police everything was going smoothly ... that is, until she says he invited her back to his apartment while they waited for their bowling reservations at 10 PM -- a two-hour window after they'd wrapped dinner. She agreed, and they went back to his pad.

Once there, the woman claims they played cards and talked ... until she says Yella asked for a massage while he was shirtless, which she says she gave him. Once she finished, she says she sat down next to him -- and that's when she claims he pounced on her.

The woman claims Yella started forcibly kissing her and pulling up her dress. She claims, despite her saying "no" repeatedly, Yella inserted his penis into her vagina.

Eventually, the woman says she was able to break free and make a run for it. She claims Yella essentially tried to gaslight her into making her think she'd initiated the sex by kissing him. The next day, she went to the hospital ... which is when the authorities got involved.

As we reported ... Yella was booked on not just the sexual assault charge, but others too ... including felony abandoned endangered child and misdemeanor unlawful carrying a weapon.

Unclear how those charges came about -- but the affidavit obviously sheds light on the sexual assault charge.

We reached out to Yella Beezy's team ... so far, no word back.

Vanessa Bryant will have to share some of her medical records with L.A. County -- the judge says the documents are fair game because she's raised the issue of her "emotional distress."

Kobe Bryant's widow had sought to block the County from access to her medical records, citing doctor-patient privilege as it relates to her visits with a psychotherapist. As you know, Vanessa is suing L.A. County over Sheriff's deputies sharing crash site photos that included remains of the victims.

She's said the knowledge the photos were out there was causing her "constant fear and anxiety" ... and she's had trouble sleeping and been depressed.

Defense attorneys for the County requested Vanessa's medical records because they wanted to determine whether her trauma was caused by the alleged photo leak, or the tragic helicopter crash itself.

It's now clearer why DaBaby was recording DaniLeigh while they argued -- cops who responded to his home say she assaulted him ... on Sunday, and then again on Monday morning.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg PD says DaniLeigh was charged with 2 counts of simple assault after officers made 2 visits to the rapper's home. The first came on Sunday night ... after DaBaby had gone live on IG, showing DaniLeigh as she was feeding their 3-month-old child. Cops say DaBaby accused the singer of striking him, but police left without making an arrest.

That changed though when they went back to the house on Monday around 9:30 AM, responding to DaBaby's second claim of domestic abuse. This time, cops say their investigation found enough evidence to cite her for 2 misdemeanor assaults -- one for Monday and Sunday's alleged incidents.

During the Sunday night incident, DaBaby said, "I gotta record you for my safety. You ain't fitting to bring this Black man down."

It would appear the alleged assault had already happened, and DaBaby was recording DaniLeigh out of fear she might claim he had hit her.

On Monday, he posted a video seemingly accusing her of using their baby for Internet clout. He never mentioned anything about her allegedly hitting him. He did, however, vow to take care of their child ... despite all the drama between DaniLeigh and himself.

Joe Exotic is getting a helping hand from somebody he once considered a mortal enemy ... and that would be Jeff Lowe, who says he's back on Team JE.

Jeff and his wife, Lauren, came on 'TMZ Live' Monday ahead of the premiere of 'Tiger King 2' -- which comes out Wednesday on Netflix -- and they told us a lot has changed.

For starters, Jeff says the GW Exotic Animal Park they operated out of Oklahoma will, indeed, be moved to a new location -- but he claims he's in the process of getting all his animals back from the feds.

You'll recall the government raided the park, confiscated the animals and evicted the Lowes, based on allegations of mistreatment and not having the proper paperwork.

Jeff claims the whole federal investigation was based on BS peddled by none other than Carole Baskin -- and as a result, he insists the feds are about to drop all charges against him.

The next step ... firing off their own lawsuits! Jeff and Lauren told us they're going after Carole, PETA and others he considers responsible for prompting the federal raid. What's even crazier is that he's recruiting Joe's attorneys to help him.

Britney Spears is now in the wind-down phase of the conservatorship that has now ended, and the woman who was her personal conservator wants the post-conservatorship plan kept secret, and the reason has to do with her distrust of Jamie Spears.

Jodi Montgomery filed legal docs several days before Friday's hearing that ended with the termination of the nearly 14-year-long conservatorship. Montgomery said in legal docs, she and others in Britney's camp filed a "termination plan," which includes guidelines "for supportive decision-making to help [Britney] adjust and transition to life outside of the conservatorship."

The plan contains sensitive medical information as well as information about Britney's 2 kids. There is also information about Britney's business interests and finances.

Montgomery only wants to circulate the plan to the judge and Britney's lawyer ... but no one else. She says that limited distribution reflects Britney's wishes.

Montgomery says, "From the history of this case, it is no secret that Ms. Spears has had a contentious relationship with her family, especially her father, Mr. Spears." She goes on, "Given the history of this case, it is clear that Ms. Spears does not want her medical or other privacy rights invaded by her father or any other party in this conservatorship case."