Celebrities accused of crimes they did not commit

Celebrities accused of crimes they did not commit

Although not everyone framed for a horrible crime going on the run as Harrison Ford in the fugitive, the real world is full of grim cases where people have been tried-and often convicted-because of circumstances they do not have. had nothing to do with. The reasons for these situations vary a great deal: these false accusations often occur because of racism or other prejudices, but they can also be caused by poor eye contact, intentional patterns, a misinterpreted signal ... or sometimes, a person is just in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

Even the rich and the powerful face false accusations. Unlike most people, celebrities have enough money to fight these cases well in court. But on the other hand, being a big star also paints a big target on your back, bringing strange lawsuits out of the woodwork. Here are some of the biggest celebrities who faced charges for which they were later acquitted or who are generally considered innocent.

1 Keanu Reeves was falsely accused of a hit and run

It's hard to imagine Keanu Reeves being accused of anything malicious. Often called "the most handsome guy in Hollywood," Reeves is known for charitable actions like giving up some of his potential Matrix earnings to help filming continue. But in 2007, the Los Angeles Times reported that Reeves was sued by a paparazzi photographer named Alison Silva. Why? Obviously, it all started when Silva followed Keanu to a medical center, where the actor was visiting a parent. It's a little rough to flash a camera in someone's face, right? Anyway, Reeves ignored the photographer, got in his car to leave, and took a step forward. At this point, Silva claims that the actor crashed on him, causing a painful wrist fracture that rendered him unable to lift the heavy camera that was necessary for his profession. Keanu challenges Silva's hit-and-run story, stating that Silva stumbled on his own feet.

Silva asked for $ 700,000, but when the case arrived at the court, the paparazzi "Evidence" shattered worse than his wrist. First, the assessment of a radiologist showed Silva's wrist fracture was from an infant soccer injury rather than a recent incident. More damaging, Keanu's defense produces recent images of Silva climbing on a fence to trigger Britney Spears' footage, with the "over-heavy" camera in hand. Silva admitted that his trial was a cash hoard and that he had exaggerated his pain levels. The case was dismissed in less than two hours.

2 Snoop Dogg has been charged with murder

These days, Snoop Dogg is famous for being one of the world's most beloved rap artists, as well as hanging out with Martha Stewart and openly supporting her favorite medicinal plant. But back in 1993, he faced a charge that made headlines, when the Los Angeles Times reported that he had been charged with murder. Witnesses claimed that the rapper and his bodyguard had murdered a man named Philip Woldemariam. Two other suspects were arrested, and Snoop himself, whose real name is Calvin Broadus Jr., presented himself at the police station alongside his lawyer. He was released on a $ 1 million bail.

What happened? Well, the case lasted three years, with the Los Angeles Times stating that the jurors believed Broadus' defense. He said that even though the rapper's bodyguard had shot at Woldemariam, he had been in self-defense, as Woldemariam had been threatening them with a gun. Broadus was found not guilty, and he left the courtroom holding his 2-year-old son.

3 No, Nicholas Cage did not steal a dog

Count this as one of the strangest false accusations out there. Of course, Nicolas Cage has had some crazy shenanigans over the years, but he made a point to prove to the world that the outrageous story flight dog was not true. If you have not heard of this before, here's the recap: the charge came from actress Kathleen Turner, who played with Cage in Peggy Sue's married back in 1986. In the autobiography of Turner, she alleged that cage had once "met a Chihuahua he loved and he stuck in his jacket," as well as stating that the famous strange actor had been arrested twice for drunk driving.

Now, cage is an actor known to be eccentric, but he is also known for his love of animals, so these claims got him pretty angry. He sued Turner, and he had to do a good job of it because she finally admitted that the book's claims were false. So no, cage was not stopped for two DUIs he really did not steal the prized Chihuahua from anyone.

4 Amy Winehouse was found innocent of hitting a dancer

Amy Winehouse was one of the most iconic performers of the early 2000s, and her dramatic life story is still being analyzed to this day. However, it is worth noting that when the whole "punching a dancer in the face" story went to a real trial, Winehouse was found innocent. According to the Telegraph, Winehouse was behind the scenes of the Prince Trust ball in central London Berkeley Square when the burlesque dancer in question, Sherene Flash, tried to get a picture with her. Winehouse reported Feeling "intimidated and scared" by the dancer and asked her to wait a few minutes before doing the photo op so she could finish talking to a friend first. Apparently, Flash did not respect this request, and the dancer instead "draped herself" on Winehouse's body. In response, the singer said she pushed Flash away from fear, while Flash claimed to have been punched in the eye.

What really happened? Well, almost all the witnesses were drunk at the time of the meeting, which complicated matters. Thus, the judge instead examined the evidence on Flash's body; a medical inspection of Flash's face did not demonstrate "the kind of injury that often occurs when there is an energetic punch to the eye," to trust the Winehouse version of events. As a result, the charges of assault were dismissed.

5 The shooting that P. Diddy was blamed for

Sean Combs, the rapper commonly known as P. Diddy and Puff Daddy, has faced criminal allegations at the dawn of the 21st century. According to the New York Times, a confrontation in a Manhattan nightclub between men working for combs and a criminal named Michael Allen led to a shootout that injured three people. Charges were laid against Combs, his bodyguard, and his protégé, and the prosecution also claimed combs had tried to bribe his driver with $ 50,000 to say that the weapon was his. Combs said he had no role in the shooting, and also said that when the shots were fired, he was afraid he was a target. The Los Angeles Times reported in 2001 that the two combs and his bodyguard were finally pronounced not guilty, many with visible combing injuries.

Combs would continue to face a much stranger and oddly falsified lawsuit 10 years later, according to the Guardian, when a woman named Valerie Turks sued him. Turks not only accused P. Diddy of father of her child 24 years ago and never pay child support, she also blamed him for stealing a casino chip worth "zillions of dollars." Yes, zillions. It gets even stranger: she also claimed combs had orchestrated the 9/11 terrorist attacks alongside her ex-Kim Porter and Rodney King (Yes, the man who was brutally beaten by the L.A. cops in 1991). Not surprisingly, this case did not go anywhere.

6 The football player framed by the cops

Orlando Bowen, a native of Jamaica, made his name as a football player for the Toronto Argonauts from 1999 to 2002. Two years later, the linebacker won a new contract, and things were looking for .. when suddenly, he was arrested by two undercover cops. According to CBC, these officers brutally beat him, planted cocaine and threw him in the back of the car. The assault gave Bowen a concussion, then he was left in a cell for 12 hours without any medical attention. As Bowen put it, "go back to what happened that night, there really are no other reasons that I am a minority." his attorney agreed, saying to the press, "you do not need a statement from a police officer saying, 'I did it to him because he's black.You can put two and two together . "

As Bowen's case went to court, it was revealed that one of the arresting officers had dealt with cocaine, and Bowen was found innocent. Unfortunately, his football career was over because of the brutal concussion he suffered during the attack. In response, Bowen filed a $ 14 million lawsuit against the police service, which was settled amicably. Since then, he has become a notable public speaker, and has even forgiven the officers who attacked him. "I felt sorry for them," he said, adding, "Something must have happened at some point in their lives where they were broken in. Hurting people hurt others."

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7 Cat Stevens was falsely expelled from the United States

Although the singer of classic songs such as "Moonshadow" and "Wild World" was born under the name of Steven Gino and today goes by Yusuf Islam, the world will probably still remember him by his old stage name, Cat Stevens. In 2004, CNN reported that the beloved British artist had flown to Washington DC aboard United Airlines Flight 919 from London when the aircraft was diverted to Maine, where Yusuf was detained, interrogated and forced out. The musician himself was more confused about this than anyone else, especially when Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge publicly accused Yusuf of having links with terrorist groups in the Middle East. Ridge did not elaborate much on why the singer was on a terrorist watch list, but to groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the tacit reason was clear: Cat Stevens was a high-profile convert to the Islam with a donation record to many Islamic charities Groups. According to CBS, Yusuf himself found the whole thing "totally ridiculous," telling the press, "everyone knows who I am.I am not a secret character.Everyone knows my campaign for charity, for the peace. "

Whatever the quirk that happened in 2004, it seems that US officials silently apologized for the issue over the next decade. In 2014, the singer triumphantly returned to the United States for a tour, proclaiming: "I feel very welcome now. "

8 The innocent boxer who spent two decades in prison

When he hit the middleweight boxing scene, Rubin "Hurricane" Carter hypnotized the television audience with his speed and ferocity in the ring. Ring Magazine named him one of the top middleweight contenders in 1963, according to CNN, after Carter stunned 11 of his top 15 opponents. But after, after losing his title fight in 1964, even worse luck fell out of the boxing star. In 1966, he was charged with triple homicide at LaFayette bar and Grill and gave three life sentences. The allegations of racial bias involved in the Carter case aroused immense controversy, and celebrities ranging from Muhammad Ali to Burt Reynolds talked about how he should be released. Bob Dylan even wrote a song proclaiming Carter's innocence, and the former boxer himself wrote an autobiography of the prison. It was not until 1985 that a federal judge finally ruled that the original 1966 trial had been wronged and agreed to put Carter back into the world. By then, he had spent 19 years in prison.

Carter continued to become a clear supporter of prisoners who were wrongly convicted of crimes, just like him. He was executive director of the Association for the Defense of Falsely Sentenced for 11 years, and his story was brought to the big screen in 1999, where he was played by Denzel Washington. In his later years, Carter has been seen as an inspiration to many. He died in 2014 of prostate cancer.

9 The Director of the Cannibal Holocaust was tried for killing his plaster

There is a good reason Cannibal Holocaust is considered one of the most controversial films ever made. Ruggero Deodato's horror film, which has been dubbed as a film of films found decades before the subgenus took off, appears as a videotape recovered from a crew of American filmmakers who have allegedly ventured into the Amazon jungles and met a hostile tribe of "Savages" (all are presented in a racist, exploitative manner). The film's portrayal of violent acts such as torture, rape and cannibalism were surprisingly realistic ... so realistic, in fact, that the director had trouble with the law.

See, in order to increase the apparent authenticity of the film, io9 says Deodato had written in the contracts of his actors that they had to stay out of the media light for a year. This has become problematic, according to the Guardian, when an Italian court actually put Deodato on trial. Load? That he had murdered his actors, who were all, conveniently enough, mysteriously gone. To avoid imprisonment, Deodato broke the contracts of the actors and brought them to the Tribunal, which made him understand that he had not murdered them. One thing he did not rigged, however, was the violent slaughter of animals in the movie, including a monkey being beheaded. He and the producers were fined for cruelty to animals and given a four-month suspended sentence.

10 Todd Bridges went through difficult times

Todd Bridges will forever remember for the Diff'rent shots, where he played Willis Jackson-Yes, it's the same "Willis" whose name has become a meme, thanks to Gary Coleman-but in the decades since, he has been in difficult situations. To begin with, UPI reported in 1989 that bridges had been charged with murder for firing eight rounds in a convicted Texas drug dealer named Kenneth "Tex" Clay. Bridges said he was high on cocaine at the time of the incident-he used it daily, at that time, but said that although, he did not remember shooting clay. As the case concluded, Bridges was acquitted of both murder charges. However, he has always faced charges of assault with a deadly weapon, and this case has been delayed.

Unfortunately, less than a year later, the Los Angeles Times wrote that Bridges had been arrested for possession of cocaine. Nevertheless, when the assault with deadly weapons charges was finally brought against bridges in late 1990, he was found not guilty, according to UPI, as jurors argued that the prosecution had not provided enough evidence. Since those dark times, life seems to have turned around for bridges, as he continued to co-author a 2010 memoir, killing Willis: of Diff'rent shots at the middle street at life I always wanted .

11 A jury decided Venus Williams was driving properly

In June 2017, a terrible car accident occurred in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, according to Sports Illustrated. Venus Williams 'tennis star was riding about 5 mph across an intersection when a Hyundai accent led by a woman named Esther Belhadj bumped into the passenger side of Williams' car. Although Williams herself was not injured, belhadj had a cracked sternum and wrist, and her 78-year-old passenger, Jerome Belhadj, suffered from broken arteries that took her life a few weeks later.

Initially, Williams was blamed for the crash, with eyewitness reports indicating that she had a red light. In the ensuing lawsuit, the video surveillance was highlighted, revealing that the only reason Williams had slowed down at the intersection was to avoid crashing into a Nissan Altima that had suddenly turned in front of her. . In addition, it turned out that Williams had actually driven through a green light, not a red one. In the end, this proven Williams was not responsible for the car accident, but he made the accident itself no less tragic. Williams did not blame belhadj for the crash either, as some celebrities might have. Instead, the tennis champion expressed his condolences and prayers to the Barsons for the loss of their elderly family member.

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