The merger of the Bronx criminal and supreme courts has been deemed unconstitutional by an appeals court, raising doubts about the validity of thousands of misdemeanor convictions. In a ruling that could turn out overturning every misdemeanor conviction in the courthouse since 2004, the state Appellate Division determined that a judge didn't have the authority to make the merger, according to the Daily News. more ›

A judge has refused to throw out the criminal case against a TV producer who is accused of trying to blackmail David Letterman. Robert "Joe" Halderman, the former CBS News producer, had allegedly demanded $2 million from Letterman in exchange for keeping quiet about a film script that dramatized Letterman's affairs with staffers. A lawyer for Halderman had argued that "his client simply had valuable information and wanted to get paid for it." In ruling against Halderman, Justice Charles Solomon wrote, "Defendant argues that the statute is overbroad as it applies to him because he has a constitutionally protected right to write a book or screenplay about a public figure. Since the defendant is not being prosecuted for authoring either a book or a screenplay, his constitutional right to free speech is not been impacted." more ›

Two Fire Island police officers have been acquitted of most of the charges against them stemming from a 2005 incident that left a tourist with a burst bladder. While the jury remains deadlocked on a lesser charge of third-degree assault, a misdemeanor with a maximum sentence of a year in jail, they have found Police Chief George Hesse and Officer Arnold Hardman not guilty of first-degree gang assault, as well as other charges. The two were accused of beating a drunken marketing exec named Sam Gilberd at the Ocean Beach police station after arresting him for littering. The beating allegedly occured after an irate Gilberd kicked the station door after he was initially released; he says the cops then pulled him back inside and beat him senseless. According to Newsday, the officers' lawyers may now try to get the other charge dismissed, but Gilberd's still proceeding with his civil lawsuit, seeking $22 million in damages. more ›

Last summer Lorne Michaels's "stalker," 31-year-old Evans Pidhajecky, went to court for allegedly "mailing, calling or visiting Michaels at least six times" in 2007. Well how else was he going to accuse the SNL producer of stealing ideas from his brain telepathically? Oh right, telepathically! Today reports are coming in that the case has now "been adjourned for six months. The judge says it will be dismissed and sealed if he stays out of trouble." Criminal Court Judge Robert Mandelbaum also "ordered Pidhajecky to undergo therapy twice a week for six months," and of course leave Lorne alone. This also means that Lorne is still to blame for his own bad ideas. more ›

The cookbook author who's locked in a vicious legal battle with Jerry Seinfeld and his wife Jessica says the Bee Movie star's "jokes" at her expense on the David Letterman show last January scared her and her daughter. In court papers filed Tuesday, Missy Chase Lapine—who is suing Jessica Seinfeld for stealing her recipes for sneaking vegetables into kids' food—reveals that she was emotionally devastated by Seinfeld's comments, which compared her to notorious killers with three names like Mark David Chapman, John Lennon's murderer. "I have never felt so frightened and vulnerable as the day my daughter, 7 years old, came home from school and asked, 'Mom, what is an assassin?,'" Lapine says. "I started feeling scared. I thought I made a big mistake talking to any reporters because now this billionaire is angry and attacking me everywhere." more ›

Jerry Seinfeld’s lawyers urged a judge yesterday to throw out a defamation lawsuit brought against him by litigious cookbook author Missy Chase Lapine. In addition to suing Seinfeld’s wife Jessica for plagiarizing her book about sneaking healthy food into kids’ meals, Lapine has also sued Jerry for slander after he likened her to an assassin on David Letterman's show: "If you read history, many of the three-name people do become assassins. Mark David Chapman and, you know, James Earl Ray. So, that's my concern." more ›

The six person jury in the trial of Christopher Carter – the stockbroker accused of assaulting an overly vocal spin classmate at Equinox gym – found him not guilty yesterday of a misdemeanor assault charge which could have landed him in jail for a year. Though the victim, hedge fund manager Stuart Sugarman, spent almost two weeks in the hospital undergoing surgery for a herniated disc, the jury remained unconvinced that his injuries resulted from the incident. more ›

The case of the spin class smackdown has been sparking a lot of debate about proper workout etiquette. According to the Times, the noisy behavior of Stuart Sugarman – who was thrown against the wall during a spin class by a guy who was fed up with his vocalizations – is not at all abnormal. There are too many people grunting, cursing, and hollering “Let’s do it!” in gyms all over town, and also plenty of people who’d like to shut them up with brute force. more ›

It was about nine months ago that New Yorkers were thrilled by the story of the spin class smackdown; now the case has gone to trial, and reading the testimony is like watching a montage of the all the greatest moments. For those of you just joining us, the incident was sparked at an Upper East Side gym when 44-year-old broker Christopher Carter became enraged at the grunting and bellowing from his spin classmate two bikes down, 48-year-old hedge fund manager Stuart Sugarman. more ›