FXWith the news that onetime Sons of Anarchy actor Johnny Lewis has been accused of killing his 81-year-old landlady before either falling off a roof or jumping to his death on Wednesday in Los Angeles, it got us thinking about other celebrities—some more famous than others—who've been accused of ending somebody else's life.
Oh, and if folks like Todd Bridges and that 40-Year-Old Virgin guy Shelley Malil come to mind, remember, they were only accused of attempted murder, with the former being acquitted and the latter found guilty.
Here's who we came up...
1. O.J. Simpson: The football icon-turned-Naked Gun! thespian was charged with brutally killing ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman in 1994. "The trial of the century" ended on Oct. 3, 1995, in L.A. with a verdict of not guilty. "The Juice," however, was later found liable for their deaths during a civil trial and ordered to pay nearly $34 million in damages, and is currently locked up in Las Vegas on an armed-robbery charge.
2. Robert Blake: The actor best known for playing the title character on the hit '70s series Baretta faced a judge and jury in 2005 on charges that he had murdered his wife, Bonnie Lee Bakley, outside an Italian restaurant in Studio City, Calif., in 2001. While he was acquitted, he was eventually found liable for the wrongful death of his wife in a civil suit brought on by Bakley's children and ordered to pay $30 million in damages.
3. Lillo Brancato Jr.: The former Sopranos star was charged in the 2005 shooting of an off-duty New York City police officer. While he was found not guilty of second-degree murder, he was later sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in the botched burglary.
4. John Holmes: The late porn star was charged with killing not one, not two, not three, but four people in connection with a drug-related robbery that went terribly wrong that became known as the Wonderland Murders. He was later acquitted on all counts.
5. Irvin Allen: The man who played Che Che in the 1969 James Bond flick On Your Majesty's Secret Service was charged with killing his wife in 2005, but was found not guilty nearly a year later in a London court due to insufficient evidence.
6. Michael Brea: The erstwhile Ugly Betty background player charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon in Nov. 2010 connection with the slaying of his own mother. While he confessed to the crime, he subsequently underwent psychiatric evaluation.
(Originally published Nov. 24, 2010 @ 1:00 p.m. PT)