TMZ.com

YNW Melly just scored a huge legal win ... because prosecutors in Florida dropped witness tampering charges against him on the cusp of his trial.

The "Murder On My Mind" rapper was set to stand trial on the state charges ... jury selection was set to begin Wednesday ... but now he can turn his attention to his double-murder trial.

Melly's attorney's Drew Findling and Carey Haughwout tell TMZ ... "On behalf of Jamell Demons, we welcome the dismissal of the alleged tampering and gang related charges in court this morning. As his newly retained legal team, it became immediately apparent to us that no crimes had occurred. Unfortunately, for 652 days while these charges were pending, the State did not reach the same conclusion until the cusp of trial."

Unclear why the charges were dropped ... prosecutors had alleged Melly was colluding with is co-defendant Cortlen Henry and another inmate to prevent Melly's ex from testifying in the double-murder case.

In an online hearing Tuesday, Russell Brand was granted bail on two new charges of sexual assault and rape. Brand was already facing five other charges, including alleged rape and sexual assault.

Brand appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London, England via videolink from his home in Florida on Tuesday. He reportedly spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth, The Guardian reports.

Brand's currently scheduled to appear at Southwark Crown Court in London on February 17th.

The actor and comedian was charged with one count of rape and one count of sexual assault last month. Authorities told TMZ the charges stemmed from alleged incidents with two new female accusers.

Brand said in a video statement posted on social media at the time ... "I pray that anyone that I've harmed or hurt in my years of mindlessness, of sin, have been healed, and for the absolute truth of who I am to be revealed."

The actor was already facing five charges of rape, sexual assault and indecent assault, based on allegations from four different women ... he pled not guilty to the charges last May. That trial is set for June 3rd.

Timothy Busfield is being edited out of an upcoming Amazon MGM movie following child sex abuse allegations against him ... TMZ has learned.

A source with direct knowledge tells TMZ ... the movie, "You Deserve Each Other," has already wrapped -- so he'll have to be digitally cut out of scenes.

Penn Badgley, Meghann Fahy, Justin Long, Natalie Morales and Ana Gasteyer star in the rom-com, which has yet to announce a release date.

This comes after Busfield was reportedly dropped by his agents at Innovative Artists last week.

Prince Harry’s legal battle against a powerful British tabloid publisher is heating up -- with the Duke of Sussex returning to court to take them on over allegations of unlawful information-gathering ... along with a host of A-listers.

Harry arrived at London’s High Court on Monday looking confident in a black suit … acknowledging a few spectators as he headed inside.

Elton John and actors Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost join Harry as part of the group, claiming Associated Newspapers Limited -- the publisher of the Daily Mail -- hired private investigators to place listening devices in homes and cars and record private calls. There are also claims of ANL engaging in impersonation and deception to access personal info.

Dog the Bounty Hunter's son Garry Chapman -- who was fired, then reinstated, from a police force in Alabama last year -- is suing the department ... He says they only disciplined him to teach him a lesson for calling out a dirty cop.

Remember ... Chapman's employment was terminated last year after his involvement in a fatal high-speed car chase. He was later reinstated, but he says he should've never been fired in the first place.

In court documents, obtained by TMZ, Chapman alleges the police department, along with Priceville, Alabama, Mayor Sam Heflin, used the tragic incident as an opportunity to smear his name and get rid of him -- something Chapman alleges they were working on for some time.

As we all impatiently wait for the next batch of the Epstein files to drop, a mystery has surfaced from the old batch ... a very puzzling, four-legged (we think) mystery.

Check out this bizarre photo of what appears to be a shaggy pooch stuffed, or sitting, in a garbage bag ... which was placed inside a cardboard box.

The pic was buried inside a mountain of documents and visual footage released last month by the Department of Justice as part of the now-stalled rollout of the Epstein files.

The snapshot was overshadowed by all the attention on pics of famous people like Bill Clinton, Chris Tucker and Mick Jagger, but we dug it up for you now.

Timothy Busfield -- accused of child sex abuse -- has a strong moral compass, and he's universally loved by professional colleagues ... so says his wife, Melissa Gilbert.

The "Little House on the Prairie" star vehemently defended her husband in a letter to the judge in his case while the court weighed whether to allow him out of custody prior to his trial.

In the letter MG describes Busfield as her "love" and "rock" in both business and life ... adding he's the "beating heart of our wild and wonderful extended family."

Nick Reiner's murderous rampage that resulted in the horrific death of his parents may have been fueled by more than mental illness -- meth may have played a big factor.

We sent a camera to Exposition Park near downtown L.A. -- where Nick was arrested -- to ask people about the drug culture in the area, and whether they ever saw Nick there.

One of the people we spoke with -- featured on the most recent episode of the "2 Angry Men" podcast -- said flatly ... Exposition Park is a drug den where users can get anything they want, including meth. He also said Nick looked familiar.

Timothy Busfield is kissing and telling for the sake of his freedom -- gabbing on about his sex life with Melissa Gilbert -- and himself -- in a court filing Friday for his child sex abuse case.

The actor and director spilled the intimate details in relation to a psychosexual evaluation he underwent this week ... with his defense hoping it would prove he's no threat to society as the prosecution fights for him to remain behind bars before his trial starts.

In the filing, obtained by TMZ, Timothy says he has a satisfying sex life with wife Melissa ... and she was happy to agree -- although he admits that due to their age, they cuddle more than they get down and dirty.

"90 Day Fiancé" star Leida Margaretha is in some serious trouble with the state of Wisconsin ... which has filed 24 felony charges against her.

Leida -- who was arrested for bail jumping in 2025 -- has been hit with charges including 7 counts of bail jumping, 6 counts of wire fraud, 10 counts of forgery and 1 count of stealing between $10,000 and $100,000 from a business, according to online records. Prosecutors say she committed the crimes between November 2023 and March 2024.

She has a court hearing scheduled for February 18, but has not been arrested as of this reporting. TMZ has reached out to Leida and the prosecuting attorney for comment ... so far, no word back.

Timothy Busfield is firing back in his child sex abuse case, slamming prosecution witnesses for being unreliable with documented histories of fraud and financial exploitation, according to new court documents obtained by TMZ.

Busfield filed his opposition to the prosecution's motion to keep him behind bars during the pretrial stages of his New Mexico criminal case on Friday night. As you know, prosecutors have charged him with child abuse and criminal sexual contact of a minor.

In his filing, Busfield blasted prosecutors for asking the judge to imprison him "based on a story that has already collapsed under independent scrutiny."

Spanish singer Julio Iglesias -- the father of pop star Enrique Iglesias -- has denied sexually abusing 2 former employees who filed a criminal complaint against him.

Iglesias, one of the best-selling Latin artists of all time, took to Instagram Thursday to clap back at the allegations, saying in his native Spanish that he never "abused, coerced or disrespected any woman." He added ... "These accusations are completely false and cause me great sadness."

Rights group Women’s Link Worldwide filed the complaint on January 5 on behalf of the 2 unidentified women, and the prosecutor’s office of Spain’s High Court has confirmed it's looking into the complaint.

Nick Reiner was placed into a mental health conservatorship for one year, which may have resulted from an involuntary psychiatric hospitalization ... according to The New York Times.

NYC's newspaper of record published its findings Thursday ... citing Steven Baer, a licensed fiduciary who was Nick's appointed conservator, and a clerk for the Los Angeles County Superior Court. However, they did not provide any details beyond confirming Nick was in the conservatorship in 2020.

Reiner was placed in an LPS conservatorship -- a type of conservatorship initiated by a doctor which usually follows an involuntary psychiatric hospitalization -- sometime in 2020. This is a different kind of conservatorship than the ones celebs like Britney Spears underwent.

Prosecutors in New Mexico are holding court over the Timothy Busfield child sex abuse case ... and say they can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he's guilty as charged.

Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman, who is running for New Mexico governor, held a news conference Thursday in Albuquerque on the Busfield case ... saying it felt necessary given all the media attention around the celeb defendant.

Bregman didn't want to talk facts of the case, but he gave an update on Busfield's next court date and laid out a timeline of the investigation.

The award-winning actor and director is facing 3 felonies ... two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and one count of abuse of a child. He was in court yesterday, wearing an orange jail jumpsuit.

Timothy Busfield just appeared in a New Mexico court for the first time since surrendering on charges of child abuse and criminal sexual contact with a minor ... and we've got it all on video.

Timothy was shackled and in an orange jail jumpsuit for his very brief court appearance. He's being held without bond and has another court hearing later this month.

As we reported ... the award-winning actor and director was accused of sexually abusing two boys who were child actors on "The Cleaning Lady" while he was directing the show in 2022 in New Mexico. At the time, prosecutors say, the child actors were 7 and 8 at the time of the alleged contact, and their parents reported the alleged crimes to the Albuquerque police two years later, leading to a criminal investigation.

Busfield's civil lawyer, Larry Stein, told TMZ ... he believes there is a revenge factor at work. He points to the criminal complaint, which essentially says an actress on set claims that the mother of both boys told her she vowed to get revenge after her sons were cut from the final season of the show.

Kiefer Sutherland was arrested for allegedly threatening an Uber driver who refused to pull over and let him out of the vehicle ... TMZ has learned.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... Kiefer told police he was having dinner with a friend Sunday night. Late in the evening, he called for an Uber Black, the driver arrived, Kiefer jumped in and they were on their way to Kiefer's home.

For some reason, during the drive, Kiefer told the driver to pull over and let him out. Kiefer told cops the driver refused, and Kiefer twice more asked the driver to pull over, to no avail.