A look at other celebrity cases
A PRIMER OF FAMOUS CASES
Cosby is the latest to have a career ruined by criminal claims.
Ajudge’s ruling Tuesday ordering a criminal trial for Bill Cosby on sexual misconduct charges makes the actor the latest celebrity to have a career ruined by criminal claims. And he’s not the first — charges against stars often become more full of drama than their artistic endeavors.
The Cosby case emerged after decades of allegations involving women alleging they were assaulted by the star best known for his family-oriented sitcom, The Cosby Show, and for Jell- O commercials. But while many women have stepped forward with allegations, the trial involves only one accuser — Andrea Constand — whose claims date to 2004.
Other celebrities have had brushes with illegal doings. Here’s a sample:
O.J. SIMPSON
The former NFL star was tried and acquitted in the June 12, 1994, death of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and waiter Ron Goldman. The Oct. 3, 1995, decision by a jury set off waves of anger among those who believed that Simpson, who’d also made a name for himself as an actor, was guilty in the murders.
Those who were angry at the verdict did appear to feel vindicated in 2008, when Simpson was sentenced to 33 years in prison for his involvement in robbery of his own memorabilia from a Las Vegas hotel room.
Simpson is serving his time at the Lovelock Correctional Center in Nevada and will be eligible for parole in October 2017.
MICHAEL JACKSON
The King of Pop became the king of scandal after his 2005 trial on charges of alleged sexual abuse of a 13-year-old boy. The charges included alleged molestation of a minor, getting a minor intoxicated in order to take advantage of him, attempted child molestation and conspiring to hold the boy and his family against their will at his Neverland Ranch.
A jury acquitted Jackson on all 14 charges but his reputation as a potential child molester lingered among some members of the public, and rumors swirled about his potential liaisons with children even beyond his death in 2009.
PHIL SPECTOR
Music producer Phil Spector was sentenced to 19 years to life in May 2009 in the 2003 murder of Lana Clarkson.
The actress, then 40, was found dead and slumped in a chair in the foyer of Spector’s mansion in Alhambra, Calif. She’d been shot through the roof of her mouth.
An initial trial in 2007 ended in a mistrial.
Spector’s well-known arrangements included You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ by the Righteous Brothers and Be My Baby by the Ronettes.
Spector is serving his time at the California Health Care Facility in Stockton.
ROBERT BLAKE
In 2005, a jury acquitted this former star of the 1970s action drama Baretta in the murder of his second wife, Bonny Lee Bakley.
Bakley, 44, was shot to death on May 4, 2001, as she sat in a car outside of a Los Angeles restaurant — six months after the couple’s wedding and not quite a year after the birth of their daughter, Rose. In November 2005, Blake was found guilty in a civil trial of intentionally causing Bakley’s death and ordered to pay her children $30 million.
In 2011, while on TV promoting his memoirs, Tales of a Rascal, Blake portrayed Bakley as a con artist.
MARTHA STEWART
Prim-and-proper style guru Martha Stewart found herself in a most unbecoming position in 2004, when a jury found her guilty of obstructing justice and lying to investigators about a stock sale. Stewart showed no emotion as she exited the New York courthouse, sporting a fur around her neck and a brown leather purse.
At the time, Stewart posted on her website: “I am obviously distressed by the jury’s verdict but I take comfort in knowing that I have done nothing wrong and that I have the enduring support of my family and friends.”
Stewart served five months at the minimum security Alderson Federal Prison Camp in West Virginia, five months of house arrest and two years of probation.