You win some, you lose some: celebrity cases
Acquittals or charges dropped:
-- June 13, 2005: Michael Jackson acquitted in Santa Maria, California, of molesting a 13-year-old cancer survivor at his Neverland ranch.
-- March 17, 2005: Tough-guy actor Robert Blake acquitted in Los Angeles in the shooting death of wife Bonny Lee Bakley four years ago.
-- Sept. 2, 2004: Prosecutors drop sexual assault charges against NBA star Kobe Bryant days before opening arguments when his accuser decides not to cooperate with the prosecution.
-- Oct. 24, 2001: O.J. Simpson cleared of all charges in a Florida case involving an alleged road-rage argument.
-- March 16, 2001: Rapper Sean ``P. Diddy'' Combs acquitted of taking an illegal handgun into a crowded Manhattan hip-hop club where three people were later wounded. He is also cleared of trying to bribe his way out of trouble.
-- Oct. 3, 1995: O.J. Simpson acquitted of murdering ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. He was later found liable for their deaths in a civil case and ordered to pay US$33.5 million.
Convictions:
-- March 17, 2005: Grammy-winning hip-hop star Lil' Kim convicted of perjury and conspiracy involving a shootout outside a New York radio station. Sentencing has tentatively been scheduled for June 24.
-- March 5, 2005: Domestic diva Martha Stewart convicted of obstructing justice and lying to the government about a stock sale. She was later sentenced to five months in prison. CBS is planning to air a movie about Stewart this fall titled Martha: Behind Bars.
-- Nov. 6, 2002: A jury convicts actress Winona Ryder of stealing more than US$5,500 worth of merchandise during a shoplifting spree at a Saks Fifth Avenue. She was later placed on three years of probation and fined US$2,700.
-- Sept. 25, 1997: Sportscaster Marv Albert pleads guilty to assault and battery of a longtime lover after agreeing to a deal in which prosecutors dropped the charge of forcible sodomy. Albert received no jail time, and the assault conviction was erased from his record after he stayed out of trouble for a year.
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