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Amber Heard wants a do-over in court, demanding a judge toss the verdict against her in the Johnny Depp defamation trial ... because of shoddy evidence and an alleged fake juror.

The actress's lawyers filed new docs this week in VA, asking the judge to either set aside the verdict in favor of JD entirely, dismiss the complaint or order a new trial. Take your pick!

The reasons they lay out are many, but essentially fall into 3 categories -- one, she argues there wasn't sufficient evidence presented on Johnny's side to convince a jury that her words had hurt his career/cost him roles ... and yet, they somehow decided she had anyway.

Amber's attorneys argue that Johnny's career was already on the ropes -- including within the 'Pirates' franchise -- before her op-ed in Dec. 2018, and yet ... she was found liable for that. Furthermore, AH's team claims JD and co. failed to prove she acted with actual malice in the sense that there was little to no evidence offered up showing she ever believed she hadn't been abused by him and didn't believe every word uttered or written in the op-ed.

They're also harping on the fact that Amber never named Johnny in the piece, and more importantly ... insist that the defamatory lines in question were, in fact, true on their face.

There's also this ... Amber and her team claim that one of the jurors who decided her fate may not have actually been the person summoned to court, and that the court apparently missed it by not properly vetting them. It's Juror #15, whose birth year on paper is 1945.

Amber's team says they've done a quick search on this would-be imposter -- whom they say is clearly younger than that -- and it appears this person might've been born in 1970. As a result, they want the court to investigate the matter further. If it's found they did erroneously end up on the jury ... just another reason to scrap this whole thing and start from scratch.

Mind you ... this is NOT Amber's appeal of the case -- which she's vowed to carry out, even though it would cost her a fortune she apparently doesn't have. Because of that fact, this seems to be a roundabout way to achieve the same thing, sans throwing down any dough.

Ricky Martin has been accused of domestic violence in Puerto Rico -- although it appears the alleged victim may be someone other than his spouse ... this per several reports.

Multiple Spanish outlets that operate in PR -- including Telemundo -- reported Saturday that a protective order is in the process of being filed and executed against the pop star in a municipality near San Juan ... citing law enforcement officials who confirmed the complaint falls within their Law 54 statute, which deals with DV.

The reports state an anonymous person -- who goes unnamed -- recently appeared before a judge in their own right to seek the TRO without going to the police first and without Ricky being present ... and the order was apparently granted based on the evidence presented.

The court reportedly scheduled a hearing on the matter between both parties for July 21.

Some reports are saying the alleged victim is a male, while others suggest it's a female. One outlet, claiming to have seen the docs themselves, says they read in part ... "The parties were related for 7 months. They separated 2 months ago, but the petitioner does not accept the separation. He calls him frequently. In addition, the petitioner has seen him hanging around his residence on at least 3 occasions. The petitioner fears for his safety."

That certainly doesn't sound like Ricky's husband of 5 years, Jwan Yosef -- with whom Ricky shares four children. The purported order goes on to reportedly say this ... "the petitioning party demonstrated that there is a substantial possibility of immediate risk of abuse."

As a result of the order reportedly being granted, Ricky has to steer clear of this person -- including avoiding all communication -- until this can get cleared up before a judge. As of Saturday, cops in Puerto Rico told AP they had not located Ricky to serve him.

Of course, Ricky has several residences ... including property in Puerto Rico. It's interesting this is surfacing now -- days after he was sued by his ex-manager, who claimed to have knowledge of a "career-ending allegation" from which she says she helped shield him.

Neither Ricky nor Jwan have commented on the reports. We've reached out to Ricky's reps and attorneys, so far no word back.

Britney Spears' lawyer is calling BS on her former business manager, claiming the owner of the company lied about its involvement in the conservatorship, and THAT'S why it's objecting to forking over critical documents about its conduct.

Britney's lawyer, Mathew Rosengart, filed legal docs obtained by TMZ ... saying Tri Star Entertainment -- which he says snagged more than $18 million from the 13-year run of the conservatorship -- has lied to the judge by claiming it had no involvement in the creation of the conservatorship. Rosengart notes ... just before Jamie Spears went to court and became his daughter's temporary conservator, he borrowed a minimum of $40,000 from Tri Star, which at the time was a pretty obscure company and repped no other celebrities.

Rosengart believes the money had strings attached ... that Jamie would get the cash and Tri Star would get Britney's business. The lawyer has said in the past, this alleged quid pro quo is highly suspicious if not improper, and he wants Tri Star to produce all the documents related to the issue, but Tri Star wants a judge to block that move.

Britney's lawyer notes Tri Star's owner, Lou Taylor, has reportedly said her company had "no role whatsoever in the creation of a conservatorship for Britney Spears." Taylor's associate, Robin Greenhill, said in a sworn declaration, "At the time the conservatorship ... was established by this Court in early 2008, Tri Star had no role in Ms. Spears' affairs."

Rosengart says that's just false, pointing to an email from Lou Taylor to Jamie in January 2008, weeks before the conservatorship was established, in which she wrote, "he [attorney Andrew Wallet] and tri star will serve as co's [i.e., co-conservators] w you." Taylor wrote another email to another lawyer before the conservatorship was established, saying, "I look forward to working with you."

And, there's this ... one of Jamie's lawyers sent an email to Taylor before going to court and creating the temporary conservatorship, saying, "We have run into a problem with [the] judge selection ... the only judge who will be able to hear our case on Friday is the one drug [sic] who will not give Jamie the power to administer psychotropic drugs."

Rosengart notes, during the run of the conservatorship, Tri Star got a 5% cut of whatever Britney made, and that amounted to more than $18 million. He also says Tri Star's celebrity clientele -- which includes members of the Kardashian family and Travis Scott -- was built off the back of one Britney Spears.

And, Rosengart wants documents to determine Tri Star's role, if any, in secretly monitoring Britney's communications, including her text messages. Of course, the attorney also wants to review Tri Star's communications with Jamie Spears regarding the latter's conduct in the conservatorship.

The judge has yet to rule on whether Tri Star must ante up the docs.

Kitti Jones -- one of R. Kelly's exes who accused him of physical abuse and sexual coercion -- says there's only 2 ways he can fix himself ... taking accountability and serious therapy.

Kitti says R. Kelly needs to accept the harm he's inflicted on his victims and turn his life over to God ... plus making the most of the mental health treatment he's been ordered to undergo upon his prison release.

As we reported ... Kelly was recently sentenced to 30 years in federal prison following his conviction for 9 federal charges, including sex crimes and human trafficking.

Kitti, who appeared in both 'Surviving R. Kelly' docs and gave a victim impact statement in front of Kelly at his sentencing, says she's happy Kelly is off the streets so he can't hurt more women.

"Crash" director Paul Haggis will see his name removed from a city park in his Canadian hometown if he's found guilty of sexual assault ... and if the city council gets its way.

South London, Ontario honored the Oscar-winning filmmaker back in 2011 with the Paul Haggis Park, but since his recent arrest in Italy for allegedly forcing a woman to have sex with him at a bed and breakfast ... there's a growing movement to change that.

London City Council member Elizabeth Peloza, whose district covers Paul Haggis Park, tells TMZ ... she's closely following Paul's case, and if he's convicted she will file a motion to immediately remove his name from the park.

Peloza says the allegations against Paul are very serious and she's committed to creating a safe space for women and girls at the park ... which is why she would be in favor of scrubbing his name.

Paul's lawyer says his client is innocent of the allegations, and the reality is the director's probably way more concerned with maintaining his freedom than keeping his name on the park.

So, this is ironic ... Amber Heard lost Johnny Depp's defamation case in no small part because she lied about donating half her divorce settlement to the ACLU ... and now a judge has awarded the ACLU $38,000 ... and guess who has to pay -- NOT AMBER.

Here's the deal ... Johnny's legal team subpoenaed documents from the ACLU to prove Amber never anted up the cash. According to the ACLU, they had to produce 1900 documents and that took a lot of time. The org asked the judge to order Johnny to pay $86,000 for the time and expenses associated with the document production.

Johnny's lawyers called BS, saying the tab was "exorbitant and unreasonable."  The judge sided with Johnny and cut the bill pretty much in half ... so now Johnny has to pay $38,000.

As you know, Johnny won the case against Amber, so you might think she'd have to pay the costs that were incurred to reach a verdict ... a verdict squarely against her insofar as Johnny's defamation case is concerned. But, that's not the law, so Johnny has to pay.

Thing is ... it sounds like Johnny isn't going to take it to the mat and make Amber pay the $8.35M net judgment. So, even though he won, he's left holding the bag with the ACLU.

R. Kelly claims he's being punished by being placed on suicide watch in a Brooklyn detention center even though he says he's got no intentions of hurting himself ... and now he's suing.

The disgraced singer just filed suit against MDC Brooklyn, claiming they are subjecting him to "cruel and unusual punishment" under the harsh conditions of suicide watch because he's a celebrity.

Kelly claims he was put on suicide watch this week after he was sentenced to 30 years in prison, arguing his 8th Amendment rights are being violated because "he is not suicidal and expressly told MDC officials that he was not suicidal and had no thoughts of harming himself or others."

In the docs, he mentions Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell -- who was also placed on suicide watch -- saying the same thing has happened to him.

Kelly says he's been placed in a single cell without bed rails, no showers, no shaving, no toilet paper, being forced to eat meals with his hands, and being shut off from loved ones. Kelly also says it's ironic inmates on suicide watch don't even receive psychiatric care.

Kelly is suing for damages from emotional distress.

The Bureau of Prisons tells TMZ ... "The BOP is committed to ensuring the safety and security of all inmates in our population, our staff, and the public. Humane treatment of the men and women in our custody is a top priority."

Justin Timberlake's deal to make a documentary about his blockbuster album "The 20/20 Experience" isn't sitting well with the project's director, who's now suing JT for years of hard work ... according to a new lawsuit.

The singer is being sued by John Urbano, who claims JT recruited him back in 2012 to shoot and edit a documentary film about the making of his third studio album.

According to the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Urbano claims Justin proposed an arrangement where he would share profits from the film with Urbano instead of paying him his normal fee -- but Justin shelved the doc, which is why the director feels he got the shaft.

Urbano claims he filmed Justin for a total of 60 days all across the world and spent about 2,500 hours editing the footage into a documentary titled, "The Making of The 20/20 Experience."

The director says if he had been paid on the front end for the project, his filming and editing fees would have reached $2,450,000 ... but he says the only money he's seen out of Justin is a modest $20,000 upfront fee, plus reimbursements for expenses incurred while filming. According to his math, Urbano's been paid just $7 per hour for the project.

Urbano claims Justin was moved by the documentary at first, but after his album became his most successful solo project he lost interest in the doc, which has never been released.

The problem for Urbano ... he says Justin promised to share profits with him, but if the doc sits on a shelf, the promise of a big payday goes out the window.

Urbano claims Justin used his network of agents, managers, and handlers to stop the director from getting paid ... and he wants compensation for an allegedly breached agreement.

The director wants Justin to cough up lots more money, and he also wants a judge to declare he owns all the rights to the documentary.

R. Kelly will be in his 80s when/if he gets out of prison, but there are still concerns the old man will remain a threat -- especially to minors -- so, he'll have to live under a slew of strict conditions and counseling.

When Judge Ann M. Donnelly handed down Kelly's 30-year sentence for federal sex crimes, she also ordered mental health treatment for the singer upon his release. According to docs, his treatment will include therapy for an unspecified sexual disorder, and he must avoid all contact with anyone under 18.

That seems like a no-brainer, considering how the disgraced R&B hitmaker ended up in prison -- but there are even more criteria.

As we reported ... prosecutors said Kelly is especially menacing to society, because he'd continued his criminal behavior for years after standing trial in Chicago for sex crimes. Seems that struck a chord with the judge, who ordered Kelly must inform anyone choosing to live with him that he is a sex offender.

The only way he'll be allowed to be around someone under 18 is if it's a family member, or it's in a therapeutic setting with a "responsible adult" present -- ditto for associating with convicted sex offenders. And, all of the above scenarios would first have to be approved by his probation officer.

He's gonna get to know that P.O. very well -- Kelly will remain under supervised release for 5 years once he gets out ... and, that's just for this sentence.

Jamie Spears flatly denies bugging his daughter's bedroom ... one of the most explosive charges leveled against her former conservator.

Jamie filed a declaration, obtained by TMZ, in connection with the ongoing battle over alleged misdeeds committed during Britney Spears' 13-year conservatorship, and he said flatly, "I am informed of the allegation by Britney's counsel that a listening device or 'bug' was placed [in] her bedroom as surveillance during the Conservatorship. This allegation is false. I never conducted or authorized any surveillance of Britney's bedroom at any time, including during the conservatorship."

He went on to say he was not aware of any such device that was placed in his daughter's bedroom.

The New York Times documentary about Britney's conservatorship featured Alex Vlasov, a former employee of Black Box Security ... the company Jamie hired. He claimed such a device was indeed secretly placed in her bedroom to spy ... allegedly listening to private conversations.

Britney's lawyer, Mathew Rosengart, has gone after Jamie hard, saying he violated his client's privacy and civil liberties.

Brad Kelly, the star of Discovery Channel's "Bering Sea Gold," will serve prison time after striking a plea deal for a brutal domestic violence case in Alaska ... TMZ has learned.

The reality TV star was arrested back in February after beating up a woman with whom he shares a child. Cops said hospital staff told them the woman suffered life-threatening injuries after being struck in the head.

According to the police report, obtained by TMZ, the woman told cops she got into an argument with Kelly, went to sleep and woke up to find him standing over her in a pool of her own blood.

Kelly told officers the woman fell and hit her head on a table, but he was arrested and charged with second-degree assault domestic violence.

Kelly's attorney, Jon-Marc Petersen, tells TMZ ... his client pled guilty to felony assault and prosecutors dropped the remaining charges.

Kelly was sentenced to 4 years behind bars, with 3 of those years being suspended. His lawyer says Kelly could be released after 8 months ... as long as he keeps his nose clean behind bars. Once he's out, he'll be on probation for 5 years.

Ghislaine Maxwell can't go anywhere near kids after she serves her prison sentence in the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case ... at least for the 5 years she's on supervised release.

According to new legal docs obtained by TMZ, Maxwell's supervised release calls for some pretty serious restrictions once she's out from behind bars in about 20 years, with a heavy emphasis on keeping her away from minors.

Maxwell can't have any deliberate contact with anyone under the age of 18, unless she gets prior approval from the U.S. Probation Office ... and she can't loiter within 100 feet of places regularly frequented by minors, such as schoolyards, playgrounds and arcades.

In addition, Maxwell can't view and/or access any web profile of a user under the age of 18 ... social networking sites, chat rooms, community portals, etc. ... unless she secures prior approval from her probation officer.

The guardrails are in place for a reason ... Maxwell was found guilty by a New York jury on 5 of the 6 counts she faced in her sex trafficking trial, including a conviction on one count of sex trafficking a minor.

Remember ... Maxwell stood accused of soliciting and grooming minors for abuse and sex crimes at the hands of Epstein between 1994 and 2004, with 4 women testifying during her trial Maxwell sometimes even joined in on the abuse.

Pigs are flying ... O.J. Simpson is supporting Los Angeles County law enforcement.

The ex-con took a stand (not THE stand) Wednesday for the L.A. County Sheriff's Department with a video rant ripping West Hollywood for voting to cut funding for the agency.

Simpson says the decision is all wrong, pointing  out his infamous history with the law in L.A. and saying, "Trust me, we need police, we need the sheriffs' department" ... referring to the time he spent behind bars during his murder trial.

Frankly, the fact O.J. is supporting L.A. County law enforcement is rich, and probably pretty galling to cops -- considering his murder trial defense team famously and viciously attacked LAPD for allegedly contaminating evidence and being racist.

They effectively made the trial more about LAPD actions than O.J.'s.

Now years later, Simpson says he's always been against defunding the police ... claiming he's always said instead of cutting funding, money should be redirected and used for better training and expanding Internal Affairs departments where police investigate other police.

Besides his eye-brow-raising thoughts on police, O.J. is also weighing in on Donald Trump's actions on January 6th and what's going on at the southern border.

Britney Spears is not going to sit willingly for a deposition ... that was made clear by her lawyer, who filed legal docs saying Jamie Spears is "shameless"  by, among other things, asking a judge for a depo date "shortly after his daughter's wedding and just before Father's Day."

Attorney Mathew Rosengart claims in searing legal docs ... "Mr. Spears refuses to simply go away, as he should and as any decent man or father would do." Rosengart goes on to say Jamie is piling up legal fees to rehabilitate his reputation.

Rosengart says there's no legitimate purpose to force Britney into a deposition and calls it "morally abominable" and "revenge."

Britney and Rosengart have accused Jamie of gross conflicts of interest -- among other things, alleging he approved unjustified fees requested by business manager Lou Taylor and used Britney's money to pay for unwarranted personal expenses.

On the other hand, among the abuses, Britney has alleged ... that Jamie illegally forced her into rehab and refused to allow her to remarry. These are alleged abuses that might convince a judge that he has a right to confront Britney over these claims. The counter to that is that Rosengart is simply asking for an accounting to determine if Jamie squandered Britney's money, and that can be determined without Britney's direct participation.

Outkast's Big Boi is divorced from Sherlita Patton, officially bringing their 20 years of marriage to a close.

Legal documents obtained by TMZ show the court entered the final divorce decree last month, making this a pretty quick dissolution. Big Boi just filed for the divorce in April.

In his filing, he said there was "no reasonable hope of reconciliation" between Sherlita and him -- noting they'd already separated and were living apart.

The two agreed to a postnuptial agreement in 2016, in which they divided up their assets and debts, and more recently agreed to a confidential settlement to tie up any loose ends. The exes also agreed to keep details of their finances private.

Both parties are looking to avoid any mud-slinging -- as part of the divorce, they agreed neither would make threats of "injury, maltreating, molesting, harassing, harming, or abusing" in any way shape or form.

Translation: Let's keep this above the waist and amicable.

As we reported, Sherlita filed for divorce from the rapper way back in 2013, demanding financial support and full custody. Big Boi responded she wasn't getting anything without a fight, but the couple reconciled.

A man who has already been arrested for stalking Ariana Grande has been arrested again ... this time after breaking into her Montecito home on her 29th birthday.

Aharon Brown has a history of dogging Ariana. He was arrested last September at her L.A. home after showing up with a large hunting knife, allegedly screaming at her security, "I'll f***ing kill you and her!" He was arrested for making criminal threats and a judge issued a restraining order prohibiting him from coming near Ariana.

That did not stop him. He violated the restraining order recently by trying to find Ariana and apparently got close. He was supposed to turn himself in Tuesday for violating the restraining order, but Sunday he traveled to Montecito and broke into her house.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... on Sunday, Brown somehow got into Ariana's Montecito home. She was NOT home at the time, but the security alarm went off and cops showed up and arrested Brown.