Has a celeb ever been convicted of murder?

The hung jury in the Phil Spector trial shouldn't really surprise anyone, right? Has a celebrity ever actually been convicted of murder?
—Chanel, Chicago

The B!tch Replies:  Before I answer this question, let's get our definitions straight, shall we? We're talking celebrities. Stars. Luminaries of stage, screen or the MTV.

Not sons of celebrities. Not parents, spouses, siblings, coaches, managers, handmaidens, day nannies, night nannies, travel nannies, coke dealers or the Brother Who Watches the Car While We Up in the Club.

And not athletes, either. People who think athletes are celebrities also think the Phillie Phanatic is an A-lister.

If we keep that definition of celebrity as narrow as it should be, the answer is almost. I have found one solitary minor celebrity who was once convicted of murder. He got the conviction overturned, but he was convicted there for a while.

So, I guess he sort of counts. And now he's facing a retrial, which has yet to be resolved. In other words, he could be our guy. But really, once you learn who he is, you may decide he doesn't count either. Aside from this one case, it might look like celebrities really do get away with killing people. The reason, of course, is, as Snoop might say, the cheese...the cash money.

"A poor person who is assigned a public defender might get $250 to $500 from the state to spend money on expert witnesses, but Phil Spector spent $200,000 just on witnesses who testified in court," says Stan Goldman, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. "That's a pretty fair gap."

Or unfair, if you prefer.

There's also the fame factor.

"The benefit of being a celebrity in these cases is that we grew up with them," says Cristina Pérez, judge and host of the TV show Cristina's Court. "Robert Blake was Baretta, someone people grew up with. It's hard for a jury to convict someone they have known all their lives."

First, a roundup of folks who have avoided the dreaded murder rap.

• I'll mention O.J., of course, as long as I don't have to mention him again.
• Spector's recent trial over the shooting death of a girlfriend led to a hung jury. A retrial is planned for next year.
• Blake went on trial for the 2001 killing of his wife, Bonnie Lee Bakley. A jury in 2005 found Blake innocent of the murder.
• Back in 1993, our beloved Snoop was arrested on suspicion of being an accomplice to the killing of a reputed gang member. Snoop's bodyguard actually pulled the trigger in that death. At the trial, the bodyguard claimed self-defense. Both were acquitted.
• And lastly—cue old-timey music here—there was the case of Lana Turner. Just Google her: She had blond hair that cascaded over her face and covered one eye and drove the fellas wild. Anyway, she got mixed up with an L.A. gangster named Johnny Stompanato, back in the boppin' 1950s. He threatened her one night, the story goes, and Lana's 14-year-old daughter, Cheryl, stabbed him to death. Scuttlebutt lingered that Turner had actually done the stabbing but got Cheryl to take the fall to protect mom's stardom. (The case was later labeled a justifiable homicide.)

See a trend?

And now, for your maybe murderer. The person who got his conviction overturned is—and I am not making this up—Corey Miller, a rapper who goes by the handle…C-Murder. (He's the brother of Master P, who puts out albums on his No Limit label.)

In 2003, C was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison for shooting a teen to death at a nightclub. That conviction was overturned, paving the way for a brand-new trial over the same incident. Meantime, the rapper has since been released, put on house arrest and allowed to record and promote a new album.

So, if you're famous, your name actually has to be Murder before you can really be jailed for such an offense. And even then, you're back at home before that new CD drops. 

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