A New York City jury’s decision Wednesday to convict Sean “Diddy” Combs on prostitution-related offenses and acquit the music mogul on sex trafficking and racketeering charges was the latest in a line of high-profile celebrity criminal cases that garnered widespread attention.
O.J. Simpson
In 1995, football star and actor O.J. Simpson was acquitted of murder in the deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman after the “trial of the century.” Two years later, a civil trial jury found him liable for the deaths and ordered him to pay $33.5 million to relatives of Brown and Goldman. Simpson died in 2024 at age 76 of prostate cancer.
Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson was acquitted in 2005 of molesting a 13-year-old cancer survivor at his Neverland Ranch. The King of Pop was also accused of plying the boy with alcohol and conspiring to hold him and his family captive. Jackson had faced nearly 20 years in prison. Jackson died in 2009 at age 50 of an overdose of the anesthetic propofol.
R. Kelly
R. Kelly is serving time at a prison in North Carolina. This year, a federal appeals court upheld the Grammy Award-winning R&B singer’s 2021 racketeering and sex trafficking convictions, along with a 30-year prison sentence. The court concluding that the singer exploited his fame for over a quarter century to sexually abuse girls and young women. Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of a 20-year sentence Kelly received after his 2022 conviction on child sex charges including charges of producing images of child sexual abuse in Chicago.
Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby was convicted in 2018 of sexual assault and sentenced to up to a decade in prison. But three years later the Pennsylvania Supreme Court said the district attorney who made the decision to arrest Cosby was obligated to stand by a predecessor’s promise not to charge Cosby, though there was no evidence that agreement was ever put in writing. The former “Cosby Show” star was the first celebrity tried and convicted in the #MeToo era and spent nearly three years at a state prison near Philadelphia before the higher court overturned his conviction and released him in 2021.
Alec Baldwin
Last year, a judge decided halfway through Alec Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter trial to dismiss the charge. Baldwin had been charged in the 2021 fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the movie “Rust.” The judge dismissed the case on allegations that police and prosecutors withheld evidence from the defense. This year, Baldwin sued for malicious prosecution and civil rights violations. Baldwin also alleged defamation, saying that prosecutors and investigators intentionally mishandled evidence.
A$AP Rocky
A Los Angeles jury acquitted A$AP Rocky in February after a trial on two counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm. The hip-hop star was accused of firing on a former friend in Hollywood in 2021. Rocky, who rejected a plea deal that would have involved very little jail time, opted not to testify at trial.
Harvey Weinstein
Former Oscar-winning movie producer Harvey Weinstein was convicted of rape and other charges in 2022 by a Los Angeles jury. He was sentenced then to 16 years in prison and is appealing that conviction. Weinstein, 73, also was found guilty last month during the retrial of a rape case in New York City. The charges against Weinstein have been pivotal for the #MeToo movement. The anti-sexual-misconduct campaign was fueled by allegations against him.
Martha Stewart
Homemaking icon and media personality Martha Stewart was convicted in 2004 of lying to the federal government about a 2001 stock sale. She served five months in prison. Her brand rebounded following her release. In 2023, at the age of 81, Stewart was chosen as one of Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit cover models.
Kevin Spacey
In 2023, a London jury acquitted Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey on sexual assault charges stemming from allegations by four men dating back 20 years. Spacey had denied the allegations against him and told the jury how they had destroyed his acting career as the #MeToo movement gained momentum in the U.S. Spacey told British broadcast host Piers Morgan last year that he was millions of dollars in debt, largely because of unpaid legal bills.
