Legal

James Wehr's family plans to honor him at the popular car meetup he organized ... and they'll also pay tribute to his "friend" Alexis "Lexi" Kramer ... after they died in a fiery car crash.

South OC Cars and Coffee -- the company James co-founded with his father, Simon Wehr -- announced a celebration of life Saturday morning in San Clemente, CA.

The announcement reads ... "Please join us as we remember our son James and his friend Lexi, who tragically lost their lives together. This Saturday, we will be gathering to remember and honor James, who meant so much to so many in the car community.”

The holdout juror in the Lindsay Clancy case is calling BS on claims that he had reasonable doubt ... insisting he's convinced she meticulously planned to kill her kids.

Michael Péguy Desronvil is speaking out personally for the first time ... trying to clear up confusion about what went down in the jury room of Lindsay's murder trial that ended in an 11-1 deadlock.

In a statement to TMZ, Desronvil said, "I didn't have any doubts. As I tried to explain different possible theories during deliberation, I kept getting cut off as if I had doubts based on the evidence presented."

TikToker Mason Hull is fighting back against criminal charges accusing him of buying child porn online, TMZ has learned.

The 18-year-old content creator -- known for his Looksmaxxing content -- entered a not guilty plea to 15 counts of possession of child sexual abuse material.

Mason was arrested on May 5 after detectives said they found videos on his phone of children being sexually abused.

James Wehr and Lexi Kramer's social media pages are under a microscope as cops investigate whether he was boozing the night they died in his McLaren ... TMZ has learned.

The Irvine Police Department tells TMZ ... "We are conducting an extensive investigation that looks at every possible aspect that contributed to this collision," and that includes reviewing images James and Lexi posted last Sunday while out on a date.

We're told cops are trying to figure out if James was drinking before he got behind the wheel that night ... so, they're keenly interested in toxicology testing results from the Medical Examiner's Office.

In the meantime, they're reviewing social media for any clues about where they went, and what they did, in the hours leading up to the crash.

The lone holdout juror in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial has hired the lawyer for a friend of Nolan Wells.

Edward Andrew Paltzik announced he is now representing the juror, whose identity has been sealed by the court following intense public backlash over the mistrial.

Paltzik is calling his client a "courageous and heroic" American and a "champion of justice" ... while vowing to protect him from those who have publicly attacked him.

The lawsuit against Johnny Depp's band Hollywood Vampires just took a stake to the heart ... a court dismissed the suit brought by a concert promoter who claimed they owed him around $277K for bailing last minute.

The court noted that Slovakian promoter Sten Hard already dropped band members Depp, Alice Cooper, and Joe Perry as individual defendants earlier in the case.

Sten was still going after the band's corporate entity, Hollywood Vampires Touring, but the judge ruled that the band lacked any meaningful contacts with the state of Texas where he filed the case and therefore couldn't be sued there.

As a result, the court tossed the case for lack of jurisdiction.

Two fifth-grade teachers at the same Wisconsin elementary school are now convicted of sex crimes involving minors ... and somehow, the story gets even more bizarre.

Former River Crest Elementary teacher Abigail Faust pleaded guilty Monday to child enticement and second-degree sexual assault of a child under 16. The 25-year-old admitted to sexually assaulting two 15-year-old boys -- including one whose family employed her as a nanny.

Faust's former coworker and friend, 26-year-old Madison Bergmann, had already pleaded guilty to child enticement and sexual misconduct involving an 11-year-old student ... and was sentenced to six years in prison.

Nicki Minaj's husband, Kenneth Petty, claims the woman suing him over an alleged 1994 rape told a much different story decades ago ... and now he's using her own words against her ... but she denies ever recanting her story, TMZ has learned.

According to new legal docs obtained by TMZ, Kenneth submitted an alleged letter from 1994 that Jennifer Hough wrote to the District Attorney ... asking for the rape charge to be dropped and calling her allegations "half false." Jennifer's lawyer denied her client wrote the note.

In the alleged letter, Jennifer wrote ... "On the day that I said I was rape it is half true and half false. The marks on my neck was not from me being choke. They were hickies that I got the day before from someone else. I been knowing Kenneth for many years."

Prosecutors going after Kim Zolciak's son Kroy Biermann Jr. for an alleged sexual battery just filed emergency docs in his criminal case ... and it looks like they want to talk to some underage kids.

According to the court docket, obtained by TMZ, the prosecutors filed a motion asking the court to order forensic interviews of "minor children." No other details are available at this time.

Forensic interviews are conducted by professionals, and it appears the information gathered would be used in the case.

Michael Jackson's estate is asking the court for permission to pay its various lawyers over $9 million for services rendered over the course of six years ... as they battle Paris Jackson's request for legal fees for a much shorter time frame.

The estate says the payday is earned ... noting that when MJ died in 2009, he had more than $500 million in debt accruing interest, which has since been paid off and then some.

Now ... the executor says the estate has been transformed into a $2 billion conglomerate ... and claims the lawyers and other professionals did this by betting on their ability to turn things around. The bill is for six years of work ... which includes everything from tax planning, trademarks, business deals, legal matters, and various other issues the estate deals with.

Bobb'e J. Thompson -- a former child star known for playing Stanley on "That's So Raven" -- has been sentenced to 30 months in prison after pleading guilty to a gun charge.

A judge in Iowa handed down the sentence on Thursday ... almost one year after cops say they pulled him over going 104 MPH in a 70 MPH zone.

Cops say they searched Thompson's bag during the stop and found packages of marijuana purchased at a dispensary and a loaded .40-caliber handgun ... which was allegedly stolen from a car in Kansas City, MO.

Thompson pled guilty to the charge back in April. He has been ordered to serve 30 months in federal prison ... and will be on 3 years of supervised release once he gets out.

Judge Judy says there could be real danger in letting Lindsay Clancy's murder case end with a hung jury ... and she thinks Lindsay should be back before a judge.

We got the famous TV judge out in NYC and asked what she made of Clancy's mistrial and whether she thinks the Massachusetts mom is guilty of murder.

Judy had a pretty simple take ... there's no question Clancy killed her three children, but whether there's an excuse for it is another matter.

Two women are suing Jeffrey Epstein's estate ... because they say their photos were found in his collection of child pornography.

A Jane Doe and a woman only identified as "Amy" filed the lawsuit in federal court earlier this week ... claiming they found out Epstein had half-naked photos of them in his collection after federal prosecutors seized them.

They're seeking class-action status for their lawsuit ... and calling on the feds to create a system of notifying the women in the photographs.

Mel B scored a legal victory earlier this month ... because her ex-husband's defamation case against her has been dismissed -- for now, at least.

According to court documents obtained by TMZ, a Florida judge dismissed the case last week ... finding Mel doesn't have enough ties to the Sunshine State to justify litigating the case there.

Basically, the judge ruled that just because people in Florida might've read the claims in Mel's book -- which Stephen Belafonte claimed caused him to lose business deals and otherwise harmed his reputation in the state -- it wasn't sufficient for Florida to handle the proceedings.

A judge has granted Haley Kalil's request to throw out her ex-husband Matt Kalil's lawsuit ... after she claimed his huge penis ended their marriage.

Haley tells TMZ ... "I am so relieved this is over. I never wanted to be in a courtroom discussing matters of my own life. I think this ruling is important and I hope it encourages women everywhere to speak openly about what they've been through. Your story belongs to you and you shouldn’t fear sharing it."

Haley's attorney, Matthew Bialick, tells TMZ ... "We are very pleased that the Court dismissed every count against Haley."

Betty White's trust is running into issues using the late actress' money to take care of animals at the L.A. Zoo ... and now the trustee is asking the court for help ... TMZ has learned.

TMZ obtained a complaint filed by the trustee for Betty's trust, which was last modified in 2020. A portion of Betty's fortune was to be used for regular donations to the L.A. Zoo, which she was heavily involved in during her lifetime.

According to the docs, the trust directed her donations through a non-profit called The Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association that worked with the L.A. Zoo ... but those groups have since cut ties.