Update: ABC News provides this in-depth look at the jurors.

*************
Jury selection has been completed in the Michael Jackson trial. It resumed yesterday after a two week hiatus.

The panel included four men and eight women, ranging in age from 20 to 79. The racial and ethnic breakdown appeared to be: seven whites, four Hispanics and one Asian.

They are now in the process of selecting eight alternates for what is expected to be a six month trial. The jurors are between 20 and 79 years old.

Among the jurors were a woman who said her grandson was required to register as a sexual offender because of a crime; a woman who said she was related to the pilot of Flight 93, one of the planes that went down on Sept. 11; a 20-year-old man who likes "The Simpsons" TV show; and a man who is interested in Western art and country music.

One of the jurors had been asked during selection if he recognized celebrity witnesses in the case including self-help guru Deepak Chopra. He responded, "I think he's a rapper."

Michaels' defense will allege the mother of the accuser told him (and persumably his brother) to lie.

by TChris

Ed Stoss and his lawyer are both in trouble with the law. Stoss was given a 30 day sentence because the City of Roseville, Michigan doesn't appreciate the mural he painted on the outside of his studio.

Stross, whose mural is a take on Michelangelo's "Creation of Man", depicts Eve with bare breasts and has the word "love" written on it. City officials say they gave the 43-year-old artist permission to paint on the wall but explicitly told him he couldn't use letters or paint genitalia. ... In sentencing Stross on Thursday, Judge Marco Santia also put Stross on probation and ordered him to pay a fine and cover up the breasts and the word "love."

The punishment seems ridiculous for an artist who is only exercising his freedom of artistic expression (and who wishes to express a concept as inoffensive as love), a point that his new lawyer, Carl Marlinga, hopes to make. Marlinga also hopes to persuade the court that breasts are not, in fact, genitalia.

Unfortunately, Marlinga, a former county prosecutor, has problems of his own: he's facing a federal criminal prosecution for campaign finance violations, charges that were brought against him before he entered private practice.

by TChris

This is the kind of crime story that makes men cringe.

An Alaska woman is in jail, accused of cutting off her boyfriend’s penis and flushing it down a toilet. Police say Kim Tran did it after her boyfriend tried to break up with her.

Holy Lorena Bobbitt, Batman!

At least Tran was kind enough to untie her boyfriend and drive him to the hospital after doing the deed. Then she drove home, where police found her cleaning the bathroom.

Tran is charged with first-degree assault, domestic violence and tampering with evidence.

Denver police went national tonight hoping someone in the public or a prison in another state would be able to lead them to Brent Brents, a recently released sexual offender suspected of sexually assaulting a grandmother and two young girls the other night in a neighborhood near downtown Denver. He's suspected of five assaults on women this week--all within a mile or so of each other.

Tonight, they thought he struck again. When police got word of an assault one block from the site of the last attack, 100 of them surrounded the home. Now, the entire neighborhood is sealed off. But, [edit: they don't know if]it's the same guy.

Tonight's guy was with a woman and fled half naked in the attacked woman's car--a gray 2004 Mazda 6 sedan with license plate 980 KLS. The woman he attacked is in the hospital. No clear word on her injuries, or whether she was sexually assaulted.

This is my neighborhood, and I'm out of coffee for the morning, but I think I'll stay by the computer and not venture out again this evening. I'd rather just broadcast the car description again, gray 2004 Mazda 6 sedan with license plate 980 KLS. If you see it, call 911.

No charges will be filed against Bill Cosby , according to the Montgomery County, PA District Attorney. Reason: insufficient evidence.

Michael Jackson made the headlines this morning when he was taken to the emergency room instead of to court. It's only the flu, but he has been admitted to the hospital. Jury selection will resume Feb. 22.

by TChris

Here's your Valentine's Day proof that love conquers all -- even the criminal law.

Mary Kay Letourneau and her former sixth-grade pupil, Vili Fualaau, with whom she had two children, have set the date for their wedding, according to an online bridal registry. Letourneau, 43, and Fualaau, 22, plan to wed April 16, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported Monday. Letourneau served 7½ years on a 1997 conviction for raping Fualaau.

In the words of a family friend: "That they lasted this long proves how strong their love is."

by TChris

One might think a state supreme court justice would know better than to try this:

A Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice hid a small pocketknife in his carry-on bag after airport screeners told him it could not be carried on the flight, Harrisburg airport police said.

Justice Thomas Saylor, Jr. was reportedly offered a number of options after TSA found the knife, but "concealing the item in his carry-on bag was not one of them." Prosecutors are reviewing the case for possible charges, while the TSA may pursue a civil penalty.

Texas panhandle prosecutor Rick Roach was in a heap of trouble last month when he was indicted for drug and gun offenses, including possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and cocaine.

He was arrested while at the courthouse. His secretary provided a sworn affidavit saying he shot meth twice at an apartment and was about to at the office when she walked out of the room.

Today, Roach pleaded guilty to being an addict in possession of a firearm in federal court in Amarillo. As part of the deal, the drug counts were dismissed.

Things are heating up at the WorldCom trial of Bernard Ebbers. Former CFO and co-defendant Scott Sullivan, now cooperating with the Government in exchange for a lesser sentence, testified against Ebbers today and in no uncertain terms linked Ebbers to the accounting fraud Sullivan put into motion.

Sullivan has some baggage, though:

He also confessed to a drunk driving conviction and using marijuana and cocaine, as federal prosecutors sought to head off damaging evidence that defense lawyers might bring out. In what seemed to be preemptive strikes, Sullivan was asked about his $10 million retention bonus, his $15 million Florida home, and his ambivalent feelings about his former boss.

Sullivan is considered "the linch pin" in the trial against Ebbers:

Ohio Supreme Court Justice Alice Robie Resnick pleaded guilty today to charges of driving under the influence. She was fined $500, must attend alcohol classes and lost her license for 6 months. Background here.

Her lawyer said she has been fighting alcoholism all of her adult life. She will be back on the bench next week.

MADD members who attended the hearing were surprisingly rational:

"She accepted she was drinking and driving and knows she did wrong. The sentencing went according to what usually happens with the first offense" said Debbie Holmes of MADD.

Tommy Chong is out of jail and interviewed by NPR. Chong is currently on tour appearing in the Marijuna-Logues. He also will be back on tv.

He currently has a recurring role on FOX TV's That '70s Show. The role comes after Chong spent nine months in prison; he pleaded guilty to conspiring to sell drug paraphernalia. ... Chong's arrest was part of the U.S. Justice Department's Operation Pipe Dreams investigation of Internet distribution of drug paraphernalia like bongs and marijuana pipes.

Chong reveals he pleaded guilty to protect his son whose company was targeted. We reported that here.

Here's some background on Operation Pipe Dreams. All of our coverage of Chong's case is accessible here.