It’s been called the first “Trial by TikTok.” Over the course of six-plus weeks, John C. Depp, II v. Amber Laura Heard, concerning allegations of defamation between actor-exes Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, was held in Virginia — and broadcast live to the world. Depp’s legion of supporters subsequently wielded …
Read More »Netflix's 'Depp v. Heard' Casts the Trial of the Decade in a New Light
On August 16th, Netflix will debut Depp v. Heard, a three-part docuseries about the infamous Virginia defamation trial between actor-exes Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. Though the seven-week trial wrapped on June 1, 2022, with the court finding Heard liable on three counts of defamation (awarding Depp $10.35 million in …
Read More »Did 'Poltergeist Girl' Christina Boyer Really Murder Her Three-Year-Old Daughter?
Two questions linger over the new ABC News Studios/Hulu limited docuseries Demons & Saviors. Did Christina Boyer possess some kind of telekinetic power? And, more pertinently, did she murder her three-year-old daughter, a crime for which she has been incarcerated in Georgia since 1992? Demons & Saviors does its best …
Read More »Kesha Breaks Silence Following Dr. Luke Settlement: 'I Am So Full of Light'
Kesha is finally free from her legal battle with Dr. Luke after nearly a decade. On Tuesday, the singer said that she’s looking at the future with optimism and thanked her fans — her Animals — for their support. “I am humbled and in awe of the support and love …
Read More »YNW Melly Trial: Attorney Questions Why Rapper Would Kill His 'Best Friends'
YNW Melly‘s double-murder trial began in Miami on Monday with the rapper’s attorney questioning the prosecutors’ lack of a motive for Melly, real name Jamell Demons, to kill fellow rappers Anthony Williams and Christopher Thomas back in 2018. “After four years of investigation, the state comes and says, ‘Hey, he …
Read More »Danny Masterson Was Convicted of Rape. What Happens to Scientology?
On the morning of April 25, testimony began in the second rape trial of That ’70s Show actor Danny Masterson after an initial trial ended last November in a hung jury and mistrial. The first witness on the stand was one of Masterson’s alleged victims, Jane Doe 3, who had …
Read More »Was the Pedophilia 'Sex Kindergarten' in Texas All a Lie?
The title might give the game away a little, but that doesn’t lessen the impact of How to Create a Sex Scandal. The new Max docuseries, brisk, brief, and damning, makes a convincing case that an East Texas pedophilia case that sent seven people to prison was in fact a …
Read More »Netflix Probes Alex Murdaugh's Trail of Dead Bodies and Missing Millions
If you have a taste for lurid news you probably know that Alex Murdaugh is currently on trial in Walterboro, South Carolina, for the murder of his wife and younger son. It’s the kind of story that makes true-crime mavens drool: a once-prominent, now-disgraced lawyer is charged with bloody heinousness. …
Read More »Alex Murdaugh's Defense Says It's 'Not Believable' That 'Loving Father' 'Butchered' His Family
After two days of jury selection, counsel presented opening statements in the murder trial of Alex Murdaugh. The disbarred South Carolina attorney is accused of murdering his wife and son in June 2021. Murdaugh, fallen scion of a legal dynasty in the state’s lowcountry region, has pleaded not guilty to …
Read More »'Saint Omer' Is an Unforgettable Film That Deserves Oscars Attention
Alice Diop’s Saint Omer is a movie about a trial. But it is not strictly concerned with the question of innocence or guilt as a problem of the law. Far more complex, the movie finds, is the problem of how we should feel about the moral authority of the question …
Read More »