Fairly Legal

Incoming Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman says one of his first orders of business is tackling Erik and Lyle Melendez's bid for freedom ... and the clock's ticking.

Hochman, who just defeated incumbent George Gascón at the ballot box, tells TMZ ... if the Menendez brothers' resentencing case lands on his desk on his first day as D.A., on December 2, he will hit the ground running, poring over documents and talking to all parties involved.

While Gascon has recommended resentencing, Hochman says he's got to review the case and the law before coming to a decision ... but time is of the essence because the resentencing hearing is set for Dec. 11 ... giving Hochman a little over a week to work with.

Now that the election is over, Plies is coming hard for his sisters-in-Kamala Harris -- filing a lawsuit against Megan Thee Stallion, GloRilla, and Cardi B for copyright infringement!!!

And according to Plies, Soulja Boy can't claim "first" to using the beat on one of his big tracks ... which he says was taken from one of his old songs!

TMZ Hip Hop obtained legal docs filed by Plies on Wednesday claiming his 2008 track "Me & My Goons" first got jacked by Soulja Boy in 2010 on his "Pretty Boy Swag" anthem.

Police in Argentina are continuing their investigation into Liam Payne's death ... conducting another round of raids on the homes of 2 hotel employees and a "friend" of the former One Direction singer, TMZ has learned.

Law enforcement sources in Buenos Aires tell TMZ ... officers conducted the raids Tuesday night, while also searching the hotel lockers of the workers and reviewing security footage from the hotel, CasaSur Palermo.

We're told cops believe the workers had contact with Liam before the entertainer plunged to his death from the balcony of his third-floor room into a courtyard on October 16.

Go ahead and forget about Dre allegedly threatening his former therapist ... a judge says Dr. Dre's spicy texts aren't all that menacing after all.

The therapist, Dr. Charles Sophy, was in an L.A. courtroom Tuesday, asking the judge to sign off on a permanent restraining order against Dre -- Sophy was granted a temporary one last month, but at the hearing, he had to produce evidence.

Dre only appeared in court by Zoom, but Sophy was there in person and testified he feared for his safety due to Dre's knowledge of him, and his past behavior ... which Sophy claims is "consistent with the text messages" he received from Dre.

Conor McGregor and a woman who's suing him for sexual assault came face to face in a courtroom on Tuesday ... as the civil trial over the allegations against the UFC star commenced.

The proceedings went down in Ireland -- roughly three years after a hair colorist, Nikita Ni Lamhain, filed a lawsuit in which she claimed McGregor and another man had sex with her against her will following a 2018 Christmas party.

According to The Irish Times, Nikita testified that on Dec. 8, 2018, she had drunk alcohol and taken cocaine at a holiday get-together at her work ... when a short time later, McGregor picked her and her friend up and took them to a nearby hotel.

Gayle King's weighing in on Megan Thee Stallion's recent confession that she fibbed about not hooking up with Tory Lanez -- and honestly, she's not taking it too personally.

We caught up with Gayle on Tuesday, and she told TMZ that Megan's lie during her 2022 "CBS Mornings" interview about the July 2020 shooting is ultimately on the star herself -- but there are no hard feelings on her end, and she's still totally rooting for her.

Gayle dives deeper in the clip, explaining she initially wanted to give Megan space to share her side, especially since so many people doubted her story. Ironically, Megan still ended up lying to her -- but Gayle stands by her decision to give her the platform.

Dr. Dre admits using colorful language to chew out his ex-marriage counselor, but denies threatening him in any way... and says Dr. Charles Sophy only feels threatened because Dre is Black.

Doctor to doctor, Dre's officially responding to the lawsuit filed by his former Dr. Sophy -- who had counseled Dre and his then estranged wife Nicole, prior to their divorce. In the suit, Sophy claimed Dre fired off several threatening texts, accusing Sophy of turning Dre's kids against him.

According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, Dre admits using crude language in some texts to Sophy, but says he never made any "credible threat of future violence" that would require Sophy to get a restraining order, which he did last month.

Los Angeles County D.A. George Gascón is setting the record straight, saying his push to recommend resentencing for the Menendez brothers isn’t about public buzz or winning an election -- it’s about doing what he personally believes is right.

On "TMZ Live," Harvey didn’t hold back on grilling Gascón about all the renewed public interest playing into the Menendez brothers’ case -- saying the considerations of their case are purely based on the evidence.

Gascón shot down the hype factor, telling us his decision came down to what he feels is right -- and not because of public opinion, or an effort to win votes.

A new witness in the Diddy criminal case says he has a manuscript belonging to Diddy's late girlfriend, Kim Porter ... but her best friend tells us Kim never tried to write a book.

Lawanda Lane, Kim's best friend and the caregiver of Kim and Diddy's twin daughters, tells TMZ ... she was best friends with Kim for 30 years, including 20 years living under the same roof, and there was never a manuscript written by Kim.

Kim's BFF tells us she was with Kim every day and Kim never wrote anything down ... and she says the family doesn't know who new Diddy witness Courtney Burgess is, even though the guy claims he's one of Kim's former associates.

Diddy's kids are still proving they're in his corner -- they banded together to wish him a happy birthday as he sits behind bars.

In an IG post, the disgraced mogul's 7 kiddos joined forces to sing happy birthday to Diddy as he turned 55 on Monday -- and they even let baby Love steal the spotlight for her own rendition of the song before Diddy gushed on the other end of the line how he couldn't wait to see them all.

At first glance, it looks like a sweet family moment, with the kids going all out in his honor -- complete with Love almost face-planting into the birthday cake they lit for their dad.

Big Meech is destined for loads of interviews now that he's been released from prison, and will face the cameras with a brand new smile!!!

5 Star Smiles President Danielle Noguera tells TMZ Hip Hip the former B.M.F. head honcho came into her Miami office on Friday and walked out with an all-porcelain makeover!!!

Danielle says Meech faced hordes of underlying general issues with his teeth during his time behind bars... and the hygienists got him a long overdue deep-cleaning to tackle the problem.

Danica Patrick is taking shots at Kamala Harris' bevy of A-list backers ... accusing the group of Hollywood elites of having ties to disgraced music mogul Diddy.

The retired NASCAR driver slammed the Vice President's celebrity supporters during what she said was an unscripted speech at Donald Trump's rally in Pennsylvania Sunday.

Danica confirmed to the crowd she was "winging" her address, noting she wasn't "paid to be here" and that she didn't "need a telephone" to give her speech. That was an apparent dig at rapper Cardi B, who read off her phone after facing teleprompter issues during Harris' rally in Milwaukee Friday.

Diddy's lawyers have asked a judge to restrict statements made by potential witnesses and their lawyers outside of court ... citing one grand jury witness in particular who keeps speaking to the press.

The music producer’s team filed the documents Sunday ... asking the judge to expedite the process of responding to Diddy's motion for a gag order because one witness -- a man named Courtney Burgess -- has given multiple interviews in recent days.

TMZ caught up with Burgess and his attorney, Ariel Mitchell, outside the courthouse Thursday ... with Mitchell telling us Courtney was called to testify because he has or has seen salacious videos of Diddy and his celebrity friends.

The owners of Peanut the squirrel are still in an emotional whirlwind after their beloved social media star was seized and euthanized by authorities in New York ... and now they're readying to fight back, TMZ is told.

Mark Longo and his wife, Daniela, tell us they are already in the process of legal action ... but they cannot give too many more details at this point. But ML makes it crystal clear ... "Peanut did not die in vain!"

Their story went national after they accused the state of abusing power and wasting taxpayer funds to seize and kill Peanut -- all because of some anonymous claims ... which ML says were all total BS.

Miami Beach has officially cut ties with Diddy, revoking his Key to the City amid his ongoing legal problems ... TMZ has learned.

The now-disgraced rapper was officially stripped of his honor this week in light of his arrest, indictment and avalanche of sexual assault lawsuits that have piled up against him -- 9 years after he was first awarded the Key to the City.

We're told Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner and the city commission voted unanimously on the decision at an in-person hearing Wednesday. Our sources tell us the mayor still has to officially sign off on the resolution, which is imminent.

Los Angeles Lakers player Jaxson Hayes went on a rampage prior to his 2021 arrest -- verbally abusing and putting his hands on his then-girlfriend Sofia Jamora during an intense altercation ... and it was all captured on surveillance video.

TMZ Sports obtained footage and images from a source close to Jamora ... which are tied to her ongoing lawsuit against Hayes.

The July 2021 dispute -- which was sparked after Jamora blamed Hayes' dogs for injuring her much smaller dog -- shows the 7-footer appearing to pull the model from one room and into another around 1:35 AM ... as she pled with him to let her go.