The Hollywood on Trial Blog will no longer be updated; however it will remain online for archival purposes. To stay up to date on current cases, please visit The Criminal Report Daily and the Bizarre Crime of the Week blog's, written by expert crime writers David Lohr and Gary C. King.
Time for some Hollywood on Trial updates in attempt to keep you, the reading public, informed about the latest Hollywood transgressions.
Vanilla Ice - On April 29, Palm Beach County Assistant State Attorney Tonya Vu Shepherd dropped all domestic battery charges against the rapper. Ice (nee Robert Van Winkle) had been in jail since April 10 when he was arrested after allegedly striking his wife, Laura Van Winkle. Laura called 911 and claimed he pushed, struck, and kicked her during an argument. When police arrived at the scene, she denied that he had hit her, but rather had simply pushed her. Nonetheless, Ice was arrested.
According to the official court document, the reason given for the dismissal of the case was "insufficient credible evidence" to move forward with criminal charges since Laura recanted her statement and there were no eyewitnesses at the scene.
On May 7, a little over one week later, the 911 call placed by Laura Van Winkle was released to the public. During the call Ice can be heard telling his wife he is "sorry" for what he did to her. He also threatened to kill himself. When his wife asks him if he is going to use the shotgun he tells her that he is going to use his motocross bike. She practically taunts him when she relays the message to the 911 dispatcher that "He's going to kill himself with his teeny weeny bike."
Gary Dourdan - This past Tuesday, the soon to be ex-star of the hit television series C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation was formally charged with...
Actress Uma Thurman has experienced more in one week than most people would care to deal with in a single lifetime.
On Tuesday, the Kill Bill star's stalker, Jack Jordan, was convicted for stalking and aggravated harassment. Two days later, French make-up giant Lancome filed a preemptory lawsuit against her. All of this comes on the heels of her most recent movie release, The Life Before Her Eyes, which has been a dud at the box office and a critical bomb as well. That film was preceded by her 2006 critical bomb/box office failure, Super Ex-Girlfriend.
On Wednesday, Thurman, 38, received some good news when her stalker, Jack Jordan, was convicted of stalking and aggravated harassment. Thurman had given tearful testimony in court earlier describing how she feared Jordan would escalate his attention toward her. Jordan, 37, apparently became obsessed with the actress five years ago and had a strong urge to meet with her in person, so as to woo her and win her affection.
Jordan made good on his promise in 2005, when he showed up on the set of Thurman's Super Ex-Girlfriend, which had been filming in Manhattan. According to the Washington Post, he "hand-delivered to her trailer a card that showed a stick figure balanced on a razor blade, over a grave," as well as a postcard that said, "My hands should be on your body at all times." He apparently also mentioned her "children and claimed that they didn't exist."
Jordan had also gotten a hold of Thurman's father's e-mail address and began sending him messages as if he were addressing Ms. Thurman. Jordan's unwanted attentions eventually escalated to the point that...