Big Picture
Ashlee & Vincent Take NY Plus, Nicole Kidman hangs out with her family and Bradley Cooper is a grizzly guy. The latest pics!
MORE PHOTOS +Most Commented
- TV's Top Couples Tournament: Vote in the Final Round! (2036)
- TV's Top Couples Tournament: This Round Is Closed, Please Stand By (974)
- TV's Top Couples Tournament: This Round Is Closed, Please Stand By (695)
- Afternoon Mail! Are Gleeks Having More Sex Than Vamps? (586)
- TV's Top Couple Tournament: And the Winner Is... (480)
- Whitney Houston Dead at 48 (394)
- Beyoncé and Jay-Z Share First Photos of Baby Blue Ivy! (392)
- Morning Mail! Is Lea Michele Ready to Walk Like an Egyptian? (286)
- Twilight Director Talks Kristen Stewart and Ex Michael Angarano: "They Were Such a Great Couple" (261)
- Life After Breaking Dawn?! Maybe, Says Studio Head! (226)
Top 10 Stories
- Did Sony Try to Cash In on Whitney Houston's Death? Label Apologizes for Pricing "Mistake"
- Whitney Houston Death Probe: Doctors, Medical Records Sought in Investigation
- So True? So False? Did Billy Bob Thornton Use Bizzarro Relationship With Angelina Jolie as Basis for New Movie?!
- Sienna Miller Shows Off Baby Bump at Fashion Week Fête
- Teen Mom 2 Finale Recap: Jenelle Rehabs, Leah Divorces, Kailyn Gets Dumped and Chelsea... Sigh
- Playmate Claire Sinclair Describes Scene of Alleged Domestic Dispute With Marston Hefner
- Glee-Dux: Guess Who's Back?! V-Day Episode Delivers Romance, Smooches and Shockers!
- Blake Lively Gets Restraining Order Against Man Who Wanted to "Guide" Her
- 19 Kids and Counting Alleged Extortion Plot: Singer Laughs Off "Intimate Photos"
- Rumer Willis' Hollywood Hills Home Burglarized
Fashion Police
Angelina: Going Grey! Plus, Christina Hendricks, Vanessa Hudgens, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Michelle Williams and Kristen Wiig. Rate the highs and lows!
MORE PHOTOS +
Our Partners
Ray Charles Theft Case Tossed
Those theft charges against Ray Charles's longtime sound man have just hit road, jack.
A Los Angeles judge on Thursday threw out a case alleging Terry Howard, the late R&B legend's longtime audio engineer, had swiped master recordings valued in excess of $8 million.
Howard, who had worked with Charles for more than 20 years until the artist's death in 2004, was arrested in February after hundreds of recordings belonging to Ray Charles Enterprises were seized from his home. Howard, 48, was charged with grand theft by embezzlement and receiving stolen property.
But Superior Court Judge Samuel Mayerson dismissed the charges after two days of preliminary hearings, ruling there to be insufficient evidence for a trial.
"I do not find?that he at any time intended to permanently deprive the victims of this property, and I dismiss this case," Mayerson said in court.
Howard's lawyer, Steven Cron, argued that his client had gained possession of the tapes legitimately and at no time attempted to sell or profit from the recordings. Cron claimed that the charges arose from Howard's testy relationship with Joe Adams, head of Ray Charles Enterprises.
"No one ever called or wrote Terry Howard and said, 'We think you might have some tapes that belong to Ray Charles,' " Cron told reporters. "They just went to police.
"There was no showing that he ever intended to profit by selling anything belonging to Ray Charles," Cron continued. "He had worked on these materials and because he wasn't very organized at the time, failed to return them."
For his part, Howard claimed the disorganization was a result of being with the singer almost constantly during the final two years of his life.
"He was like a father to me," Howard said.
Howard has worked on nearly every Charles album in the past two decades; he won three Grammys earlier this year for his work on the posthumously released chart-topping Genius Loves Company.
The engineer, whose résumé also includes stints with Barbra Streisand, Stevie Wonder, Tom Jones and Fleetwood Mac, stopped working for Charles' company once the singer died and has been doing freelance work.
Prosecutors will review whether to refile charges against Howard.
0 Comments
Now loading...