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D.L. Hughley says he would have a lot to think about if he were a juror in Luigi Mangione's trial ... telling us he might even go so far as to find the accused United Healthcare CEO murderer innocent!!!

The comedian joined us on "TMZ Live" Tuesday and we asked him about the cult-like following Luigi has, even though the feds claim Mangione gunned down Brian Thompson in cold blood in Manhattan in December.

D.L. says he absolutely understands why Luigi has a lot of supporters out there ... he feels Americans are so fed up with the health insurance agency and are so accustomed to gun violence in their everyday lives that Mangione's alleged murder isn't a big deal to many.

Mickey Rourke may have gotten booted off "Celebrity Big Brother" ...  but he's not going down without a fight, as he's exploring legal action against the show for allegedly withholding money he feels entitled to, TMZ has learned.

Kimberly Hines, Rourke's rep, tells TMZ ... Mickey's team is currently speaking with lawyers in the UK and are weighing a lawsuit against ITV, the company that produces the show.

Hines says Rourke is being "unjustly" denied a major payday ... claiming 'CBB' producers deliberately removed him this past Saturday, just one day before he would have become contractually eligible to receive a lot more money.

Diddy wants a Black woman in his corner when his federal trial begins -- in less than 3 weeks -- and that's why he's searching for a new attorney to add to his defense team.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Diddy's lawyers are searching for a Black female attorney to join his current trial team of Marc Agnifilo and Teny Geragos.

Keep in mind, the mogul's attorneys have already raised race as a critical part of its defense ... accusing the feds of trying to take down a rich, successful Black man.

The Menendez Brothers' relatives are ripping L.A. County D.A. Nathan Hochman ... blasting his use of crime scene photos in a recent court hearing as a "grotesque spectacle" with dire consequences.

Bryan Freedman -- the attorney representing the family -- rips Hochman in a new court filing ... saying the county's top prosecutor is making a mockery of Marsy's Law, which protects the rights of crime victims.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, Freedman says Hochman gratuitously and needlessly displayed crime scene photos at Friday's court hearing, which was attended by a bunch of Erik's and Lyle's relatives -- and he claims the photos caused the brothers' 85-year-old aunt, Terry Baralt, such severe emotional distress she ended up in a hospital bed.

8:23 AM PT -- Sean Kingston's attorney Zeljka Bozanic tells TMZ ... "Mr. Kingston’s bond has been posted and he is in the process of being released."

He's back to home detention, with GPS monitoring, and is required to surrender his passport.

Sean Kingston was in lockup Tuesday 'cause he couldn’t cough up the $100K cash bond tied to his federal wire fraud case.

Kingston, who got hit with a guilty verdict last month alongside his mom, Janice Turner, on all five charges, is now sitting tight at the Federal Detention Center in Miami, TMZ has learned.

Following his conviction last month, he was confined to home detention pending sentencing on the condition he could post a $100K cash bond. But now that the singer and rapper is unable to come up with the money, he's been taken into custody.

Nick Carter is being sued by a woman who says he raped her and infected her with a bunch of sexually transmitted diseases ... but he says her allegations are bogus.

The Backstreet Boys singer is being sued by a woman named Laura Penly, who claims he sexually assaulted her multiple times.

In the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Penly claims she met Nick in 2004 when she was 19 years old and they started banging for a couple weeks ... meeting up at a Los Angeles apartment to hang out and have sex. She says she asked him to wear a condom but he refused and told her he was "clean" from STDs.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman says Erik and Lyle Menendez needed to 'fess up to all their lies when talking to TMZ from prison ... but their lawyer Mark Geragos says prosecutors are focused on the wrong things.

Nathan and Mark joined us Monday on "TMZ Live" and we asked them about the upcoming resentencing hearing and the brothers' bid for freedom.

Hochman digs his heels in and argues why Erik and Lyle should remain behind bars  ... telling us the Menendez Bros missed a golden opportunity to take responsibility and apologize in their recent TMZ special.

Diddy says the feds have him all wrong and he's just an innocent man ... because he's pleading not guilty to a couple new charges against him.

The Bad Boy Records founder appeared in court Monday in Manhattan for his arraignment on two new charges ... one for sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, and another for transportation to engage in prostitution ... a couple things he says he definitely didn't do.

Feds tacked on the charges in a recent superseding indictment ... the third one we've seen so far in the Diddy case. Diddy showed up in court today with white hair and a short beard, and pled not guilty to the superseding indictment charges.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro's alleged arsonist had his mugshot publicly released Monday -- and the guy certainly appears glum.

The Dauphin County District Attorney's Office released the booking photo of Cody Balmer, who allegedly set fire to Shapiro's house while the governor, his wife, his kids and another family were inside as they celebrated Passover -- the Jewish holiday -- this past weekend. Luckily, the Shapiros and their guests made it out of the blaze alive and unscathed.

Check out the mug shot ... Balmer looks like he just lost his dog, with his droopy face and sullen eyes. Prosecutors just hit Balmer with a truckload of charges, including attempted murder, aggravated arson, burglary, reckless endangerment, terrorism and other offenses.

The man accused of setting Governor Josh Shapiro's Pennsylvania home on fire confessed to the shocking crime after ordering his ex-girlfriend to drop a dime on him to the police, according to new court records.

Cody Balmer was arrested Sunday by the Pennsylvania State Police after his former girlfriend allegedly told police Balmer admitted to setting fire to the governor's house and asked her to tell the authorities.

The docs say shortly thereafter Balmer surrendered at Pennsylvania State Police headquarters and gave a blow-by-blow account of the incident, telling officers he was "harboring hatred towards Governor Shapiro."

Erik and Lyle Menendez might take the stand next Thursday to convince the judge in their resentencing hearing they're worthy of redemption ... but according to their lawyer, it could be a high-risk move.

Mark Geragos jumped on the "2 Angry Men" podcast Friday from the Van Nuys Courthouse, fresh off a victory where the judge shut down the D.A.'s request to put the kibosh on any resentencing hearing.

Excuse the intro to the clip -- it's a pisser -- but a little ways in, Harvey asks Mark about his strategy to possibly call the bros to the stand. Harvey has spent some time talking to Erik and Lyle, and says plainly they presented themselves as compelling men who might impress the judge.

Erik and Lyle Menendez will get their day in court to seek a new sentence, and possibly win their freedom ... after an intense battle with L.A. County D.A. ended with the judge ruling in the brothers' favor.

The Menendez brothers appeared remotely in the L.A. County courtroom Friday where D.A. Nathan Hochman and his team of prosecutors presented their case to the judge for withdrawing the petition to resentence Erik and Lyle -- a petition that was filed by the previous D.A. George Gascon, and which the newly elected Hochman vehemently opposes.

The brothers -- wearing prison blues -- were seen on a video screen in court, and visibly reacted as prosecutors repeatedly stated that they had not changed since their conviction ... because they never admitted their claim they purchased guns in fear for their lives was a lie.

Luigi Mangione says Uncle Sam wants to kill him as a political stunt ... and his defense is calling on a judge to stop the feds from pursuing the death penalty if he's convicted.

In new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Luigi's attorneys claim the federal case against him is political, arbitrary, capricious and breaks from established death penalty protocol.

Luigi's defense also rips a social media post from Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Justice Department ... claiming the post makes it look like Luigi's already been found guilty.

Beyoncé coming face-to-face with a drugged-up guy wearing a penis mask must've been a crazy-ass fever dream -- the Diddy accuser who claimed Bey and Jay-Z saw him at a "freak off" has changed his mind.

Manzaro Joseph, who sued Diddy earlier this month, just filed an amended lawsuit -- and while he's still going after Diddy in court, he's very noticeably dropped the Carters from his narrative.

In the new docs, Joseph makes ZERO mention of Jay or Beyoncé -- and as far as we can tell, that's the only change he's made to the lawsuit. TMZ broke the story ... Joseph originally claimed the couple saw him in one helluva state during a 2015 birthday party in Miami for Diddy's son, King Combs.

There seems to be a rash of female educators accused of having sex with their underage students across the U.S. -- and there doesn't seem to be any end in sight.

In the latest case, Dr. Keiva Lark -- the assistant principal of Lake Marion Creek Middle School in Polk County, Florida -- was charged Thursday with lewd/lascivious conduct and lewd offense against a student by an authority figure.

According to police ... the 13-year-old student was sent to Lark's office after tossing crumpled-up paper across a classroom during an exam.

Joe Tacopina is blasting the judge in Wendy Williams' conservatorship case for telling the TV star her career is over ... calling the statements "outrageous" -- and adding Wendy's going to have a massive comeback when the conservator battle is over.

We spoke with Tacopina -- who is serving as Wendy's personal attorney -- on "TMZ Live" Friday ... and, he says these statements by the judge shouldn't have been made in court or in front of Wendy ... especially since the judge who said it isn't in the entertainment industry.

Tacopina doesn't know why the judge would make such statements about Wendy's career in an unrelated court hearing ... and, he adds that from his numerous conversations with Wendy, he knows she's as coherent and lucid as she ever has been.