These celebrities were accused of committing the ultimate sin. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re taking a closer look at 10 celebrities who have been charged with murder.
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00:00In the days after Nancy's death, Sid was wracked with guilt over what he might have done and sliding into a deep depression.
00:07Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're taking a closer look at 10 celebrities who have been charged with murder.
00:13For this list, we'll be looking at famous individuals who have before been charged with homicide.
00:19Some were found guilty, some were found not guilty, but all have at one stage received the charge sheet for murder.
00:26Everyone has an image of Oscar Pistorius, this athlete taking gold at the Paralympics.
00:32And then we've got this view of this quite pathetic, sobbing person.
00:37O.J. Simpson
00:39This former football star and successful actor was at the centre of perhaps the most controversial and publicised trial of the 20th century.
00:47From the beginning it is referred to as the trial of the century.
00:51The people's case? O.J. Simpson killed his ex-wife Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman.
00:56The timeline works. The evidence is clear. The defence? Simpson has been framed.
01:01When Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were found dead in June 1994, Brown's ex-husband O.J. Simpson was accused of being responsible.
01:11The accusation was followed by a court case that had a ton of TV coverage.
01:15During the trial, the defence team introduced a number of arguments for his innocence.
01:20His legal team ultimately prevailed when a verdict of not guilty was reached.
01:24We the jury in the above entitled action find the defendant Orenthal James Simpson not guilty of the crime of murder.
01:31But Simpson was later found liable for the deaths in a civil trial and was ordered to pay damages to the tune of $33.5 million.
01:41Scott Hall
01:43WWE star Scott Hall, who you may recognise by his ring name Razor Ramon, was a very successful wrestler who competed professionally for more than 30 years.
01:53In 1983, before his career took off, Hall was charged with second degree murder for the death of a man in Orlando, Florida.
02:01Hall had gotten into a fight outside of a nightclub and ended up shooting the man with his own gun.
02:05I drilled him, he went down and the shirt went up and he was reaching for the gun so I reached for it too.
02:11Although that could easily have ended his career before it even started, the burgeoning wrestler insisted that he'd acted in self-defence.
02:18After an investigation was carried out, the charges were dropped.
02:21Interviews with Hall would later suggest that the memory of this dark moment stuck with him throughout his life.
02:27A guy's dead and I'm the reason and this is bad.
02:31Don King
02:33With his crazy hair and flamboyant personality, King is one of the most famous boxing promoters ever.
02:38Unfortunately, aside from alleged organised crime connections and various litigation cases against him,
02:44he was found responsible for the deaths of at least two people in court.
02:48Is it possible for a man convicted of a felony to get a licence to promote boxing exhibitions?
02:53Yes it is, only in America. I think America's just a great country.
02:57The first was Hilary Brown, whom King shot in a justifiable homicide in 1954 after Brown tried to steal money from one of his gambling dens.
03:06Thirteen years later, Sam Garrett, a former employee of King who owed him money, was beaten to death and King was found guilty.
03:15I had a fist fight in the ghetto, you know, where others have many, many fights in the ghetto and nothing happens. I had a fight and the guy died.
03:21He spent four years in prison on a non-negligent manslaughter charge and has since been pardoned for the crime.
03:28Aaron Hernandez
03:30Aaron Hernandez was an NFL star who played tight end for the New England Patriots.
03:35But his career came to a halt less than a year after renewing his contract with the team.
03:39In the car is a New England Patriots football player who may soon become a murder suspect.
03:46In 2013, police discovered that Hernandez's friend, Odin Lloyd, died from gunshot injuries.
03:52Since the deceased man was found close to the tight end's house, authorities quickly brought him in for questioning.
03:58The ensuing trial ended in Hernandez being found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
04:05It's just hard to believe, you know, I've said it a thousand times, but it's hard to believe a guy in this position could be involved in something like this.
04:12While he was also tried for the killing of two other men, Daniel De Abreu and Sefero Furtado.
04:18He was acquitted of their murders.
04:20In 2017, Hernandez took his own life in his prison cell.
04:25William S. Burroughs
04:27A writer can profit from things that may be just unpleasant or boring to someone else.
04:35Before he became a world-renowned writer,
04:37William S. Burroughs lived with a woman named Joan Vollmer after he was discharged from the U.S. Army.
04:43The two eventually fled to Mexico to evade drug charges brought against the author.
04:48Both were at a party one night when Burroughs reportedly took out a gun
04:52and insisted he could shoot a glass that was atop Vollmer's head.
04:56I guess it's about time for our William Taylor routine.
05:00But the writer tragically missed and ended up fatally wounding her.
05:04Before facing trial, Burroughs fled back to the U.S.
05:08In his absence, he was found guilty and handed a two-year suspended sentence.
05:13Robert Blake
05:15Blake was famous for his film and TV roles, notably and perhaps ironically,
05:19including his portrayal of a real-life killer in 1967's In Cold Blood.
05:24Blake married Bonnie Lee Bakley in 1999,
05:27a woman notorious for scamming older men for their money.
05:30Two years later, she was found dead in a car from a gunshot.
05:34He suspected Blake from the very beginning.
05:36We have not ruled anyone out as a suspect in this case.
05:40They thought it highly likely that he had either shot his wife himself or hired someone to shoot her.
05:47Blake was arrested and charged the following year.
05:50Although several witnesses claimed he tried to hire them to kill her,
05:53he was acquitted in the criminal case.
05:56The murder weapon was not the gun that Blake was carrying on the night of the killing,
06:00and they could not trace the gun that was used back to Blake.
06:03But two retired stuntmen had come forward and said that Blake had tried to hire them to kill his wife.
06:09But Blake was found liable for his wife's wrongful death in a civil suit
06:13and was ordered to pay $30 million.
06:16Snoop Dogg
06:18In 1993, Snoop Dogg was arrested for his involvement in the murder of Philip Waldemariam.
06:28The two had plenty of bad blood prior to the incident.
06:31On one fateful day, Waldemariam allegedly threatened the musician
06:35before his bodyguard, McKinley Lee, fired at the attacker.
06:39Since Snoop Dogg was reportedly driving the car when Lee fired the fatal shot,
06:43he was considered an accomplice to the crime and charged with first-degree murder.
06:48The two hired notable celebrity lawyer Johnny Cochran to help defend them.
06:52The trial, which lasted about four months, ended in both Snoop and Lee being acquitted of the murder.
07:04Phil Spector
07:06Ranked as one of Rolling Stone's greatest artists of all time
07:09and acclaimed for his roles as a producer, songwriter, and music pioneer,
07:13Spector was a giant in the industry,
07:15which is why many were shocked when a woman turned up dead in Spector's California home in 2003.
07:21After he had been out of the music spotlight for years,
07:24damaged by drug abuse and his own eccentric reputation,
07:28he was suddenly back in the headlines.
07:30The woman was actress Lana Clarkson,
07:33and although he was quoted as saying that he thought he had killed her,
07:36he later claimed that she accidentally took her own life because she had
07:42Regardless, the eccentric celebrity was tried twice in relation to Clarkson's death
07:47and was ultimately convicted of second-degree murder in 2009.
07:57Oscar Pistorius
07:58This South African runner first made it to the news as a gold-medal-winning Paralympian.
08:03He would later make history as the first runner with an amputation
08:07to participate in an Olympic track heat.
08:10Although Pistorius was initially seen as an inspiration,
08:12everything changed in February 2013.
08:15On February 14th, he shot and killed his girlfriend, Reva Steenkamp,
08:20at his home in South Africa.
08:22He claimed that he thought she was a home invader.
08:30Although Pistorius was found not guilty of the murder,
08:32he was found guilty of culpable homicide.
08:35After sitting in on multiple sentencing hearings and going to prison,
08:39it was reported that he'd be eligible for parole in 2023.
08:43Everyone has an image of Oscar Pistorius,
08:45this athlete taking gold at the Paralympics.
08:49And then we've got this view of this quite pathetic, sobbing person.
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09:11Famous for his rebellious lifestyle and his musical career with the Sex Pistols,
09:15Vicious was also well-known for his relationship with the equally unruly Nancy Spungen.
09:20Their tumultuous love affair was marked by physical and emotional torment.
09:25On October 12th, 1978, Vicious woke to find Spungen dead in the bathroom of their suite
09:31in New York's Chelsea Hotel.
09:33He has no recollection of the attack.
09:36He'd been out of his mind on drugs,
09:38but all he remembers is that when he woke up,
09:41Nancy was dead.
09:43Although it's unknown whether her death was accidental,
09:46the unintentional result of a fight or deliberate murder,
09:50Vicious was released on bail.
09:52A few days after Nancy's death, Sid was wracked with guilt over what he might have done
09:56and sliding into a deep depression.
09:59The incident deeply affected the musician
10:01and reportedly led him to committing self-destructive acts.
10:05He would later pass away less than a year later.
10:08Which of these entries took you the most by surprise?
10:11Let us know in the comments.
10:13And he kept saying,
10:15I didn't mean to do it, I didn't mean to do it.
10:22You