Legal

Timothy Busfield is trying to line up some unlikely support in his child sex abuse case ... parents of other child actors who worked on the show "The Cleaning Lady" ... TMZ has learned.

According to new court docs, obtained by TMZ, Busfield wants several parents with ties to the show available to testify as he fights to get his indictment tossed ... butting heads with prosecutors, who are trying to exclude witnesses from an upcoming hearing on his motion to dismiss.

And the parents aren't alone on his witness list ... Busfield's team also named several crew members from the series ... including a director of photography, a hair and makeup worker, a line producer, a COVID nurse, and a stand-in actor ... who the defense says are ready to testify in the case.

Tyreek Hill wants a judge to throw a yellow flag on his mother-in-law's play ... because he claims she recorded him without his consent -- and her daughter shouldn't be allowed to play the recordings in court.

The NFL star filed legal documents, obtained by TMZ, earlier this month asking the court to prevent his estranged wife, Keeta Vaccaro, from playing the recordings for the jury as their divorce goes to trial.

He says he was recorded during two separate phone calls ... and he says both took place while he was in Florida and his mother-in-law, Alesia Vaccaro, was in Texas.

Bill Cosby allegedly failed to show up for a deposition in a civil lawsuit he's facing ... and his legal adversaries are telling the judge it's the third one he's missed ... and they want him to face some serious consequences.

According to legal documents filed by the lawyers for several women who are suing the disgraced actor and comedian, Bill was scheduled to be deposed from September 22 to September 24 ... but they say Cosby unilaterally canceled on September 21 ... despite receiving proper notice of the dates he was to be deposed.

They claim this is the third time they've had dates set for a deposition that Cosby's team has called off at the last minute ... citing an instance in April and another in June. 

And now the plaintiffs are asking the court to hit him with serious sanctions or, at the very least, an order blocking him from testifying so he "cannot benefit from his delay tactics."

Cornell has agreed to an independent investigation that will look into the way the University handled the alleged 2024 gang rape of a female student.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul called for the probe, and she tells ABC News the Ivy League school is on board.

She told the outlet ... "I wanted to make sure they knew how important this was, and they absolutely agreed. And they're acting on this this afternoon."

Hochul says the point of the investigation is to determine whether or not the University did all it could to protect its student.

New York Times executive Jonathan McKinsey's in-laws allegedly ambushed him and unloaded 2 guns, fatally shooting him in front of some kids.

Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen were charged with murder on Wednesday and -- according to The California Post -- charging documents claim they purposely planned the ambush-style attack.

They reportedly took off in their Honda Civic after gunning down McKinsey ... but witnesses helped police identify and stop their car.

Sia can buy a whole lot of new chandeliers, because she's parting ways with half of her music catalog and getting a hefty sum for all those hits ... TMZ has learned.

According to docs we obtained, Sia sold a 50% stake in her catalogue to the entertainment and investment company Pophouse for a total of $180 million -- but, the economics of the sale are slightly complicated by her recent divorce from Daniel Bernad.

According to the docs, Sia gets a payout of $165 million for the songs she penned before she got married to Dan -- including hits like "Chandelier," "Titanium" and "Cheap Thrills" -- and he's agreed to waive any rights to that dough, if Sia gives him $1 million.

Christa Pike is a cold-blooded murderer who should be put to death ... at least according to prosecutors fighting her request to pump the brakes on her scheduled execution.

According to court docs, obtained by TMZ, the feds are asking the court to deny Christa's recent request to send her case to another court for further proceedings about whether she received ineffective assistance of counsel at her sentencing … but prosecutors insist this is just another effort to relitigate a previously rejected claim.

In their filing, the prosecutors make their position clear, writing, "On January 12, 1995, Christa Gail Pike beat, tortured, and killed Colleen Slemmer because Pike 'just felt mean that day.'"

They go on ... "Pike cut Colleen's throat six times, struck her in the back with a meat cleaver, and crushed her skull with a piece of asphalt."

Cornell's Chi Phi fraternity moved quickly to dismiss multiple frat bros accused of sexual assault ... kicking them out days after their fellow student went to police in 2024 ... at least according to a fraternity executive.

Trey Robb, the interim executive director of Chi Phi's national organization, told the New York Times that the Cornell chapter unanimously voted to dismiss the members just 3 days after Jane Doe made a sworn statement to police.

Those members were later expelled from Chi Phi's national group.

However ... a source told the publication that only 4 members were kicked out ... and that the fraternity only knew about 4 accused at the time.

Paramount is officially over its last hurdle for its Warner Bros. merger ... thanks to a California judge.

On Wednesday, the judge approved the studio's settlement with California and several other states ... so it's free to move forward with the $111 billion takeover, according to multiple reports.

Paramount and the states reached a settlement last week, which would require the merged company to create an editorial board to oversee both CBS News and CNN.

Kyrsten Sinema's ex-boyfriend says he threw 22 of her paintings into her pool because he was frustrated by the former senator's alleged ties to A.I. and the war in Gaza.

Matthew Ammel told AZ Central ... "I was pissed at the system, and I took it out on her art. The American people have no idea how (f***ed) up our government is and, like, what our politicians spend their time doing."

At the time of the incident ... Ammel said he had been staying at her Cave Creek property while she was away in Phoenix.

Gillio Lopes, one of the fraternity brothers accused of drugging and raping a fellow Cornell student, is trying to clear his name ... with his lawyer denying all the allegations against him.

His attorney, Tara J. Davis, tells TMZ ... "Cornell previously investigated this matter and developed an extensive factual record. The allegations now being made publicly differ in significant respects from the accounts provided during that investigation and do not reflect the complete record."

Lopes' lawyer adds ... "Those inconsistencies will be tested through discovery and addressed in the litigation."

Antonio Brown showed up to a Miami courthouse Wednesday ready to take a sweet plea deal that'd put his serious felony charge behind him.

The judge had different plans ... telling the attorneys and the former Steelers' superstar that she wanted more time to review the agreement.

No rubber stamp here.

AB -- who is facing up to 30 years in prison if he were to be convicted of the 2nd-degree attempted murder charge he's facing -- struck a deal with prosecutors that'd see him put on probation, rather than spending another minute behind bars.

Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike was supposed to be executed this morning ... but her execution was paused just an hour before her scheduled lethal injection.

According to a court notice obtained by PEOPLE, Pike was granted a stay "until further order" by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

The court reportedly said it needed time to consider Pike's latest filing, where her attorneys claim the state had reversed its position that she'd fabricated her claims of sexual abuse.

A shocking twist in the Cornell rape investigation ... the D.A. says campus police never forwarded the alleged victim's full statement, which reportedly included her statement, "I can say with 100% confidence, I was raped."

CBS News obtained the transcript of Jane Doe's interview with the Cornell Campus Police during its investigation in November, 2024. During the interview, she also says at some point she was "completely and totally incapacitated."

Tompkins County D.A. Matthew Van Houten says he never saw the full transcript of her 2-day interview with Campus Police ... he only saw the results of the investigation, which included a summary in which campus cops say she told them the encounter with the fraternity members was voluntary, conscious and consensual.

Two University of Wisconsin-Madison students say they were drugged at off-campus fraternity houses, with one also reporting a sexual assault ... another troubling set of allegations involving Greek life.

UW-Madison said both students came forward Sunday with separate allegations. In one case, a student said they were drugged Saturday night at a frat house and inappropriately touched at two different fraternity houses.

The other student said they were drugged at an off-campus frat Sept. 17 and later sexually assaulted at a residence hall. The university says the victim and suspect know each other.

Deontay Wilder says his ex-fiancée Telli Swift's son's allegations that the boxer brutally beat him up are totally bogus.

Deontay makes a vehement denial in new legal docs obtained by TMZ ... and his legal team goes even further ... claiming, among other things, if Kerron Swift suffered any injuries, those were caused by pre-existing conditions or unrelated events.

In addition ... they say that Kerron cannot back up his claims of emotional distress, false imprisonment, assault and battery.