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Celebrities lead lives that most of us couldn't dream of. Their wealth and power place them
in the lap of luxury. But when it comes to something as serious as ***, no amount
of fame is enough to avoid the criminal justice system. Some get away with it, some serve
time, but they all have to face the music at some point. Here's a list of celebs who
killed people in real life.
Don King
Don King is probably one of the most notorious figures associated with not only boxing, but
sports in general. Before he promoted his first fight, King killed not one, but two
people. The first one, which occurred in 1954, was ruled a case of self-defense. For the
other, he was convicted in 1967 of second-degree manslaughter. According to ESPN, he served
almost four years in prison for stomping a man to death over an alleged $600 debt.
Matthew Broderick
Fresh off filming Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Matthew Broderick and his co-star Jennifer
Grey took a trip to Ireland in 1987. But the trip was tragically cut short when Broderick
failed to keep his rental car in the proper lane and collided head-on with a car being
driven by a mother and daughter, killing them both instantly. Broderick was badly injured,
but Grey escaped relatively unscathed—although according to People magazine, she was traumatized
into quasi-retirement. Incredibly, Broderick only faced a fine of $175 after negotiating
the charges down to "reckless driving."
Sid Vicious
Legendary punk rocker, *** addict, and all-around maniac Sid Vicious lived up to
his foreboding name in 1978 when he stabbed his girlfriend Nancy Spungen to death in their
filthy Chelsea Hotel room. According to the police report, published online by The Smoking
Gun, Sid was under the influence of drugs, and couldn't remember the details of the incident.
Needless to say, he was arrested anyway. A few months later, while out on bail awaiting
his trial for the charge of second-degree ***, Vicious overdosed and died while crashing
at a friend's house.
Vince Neil
All the members of Mötley Crüe are known for leading lives of excess, but singer Vince
Neil's past includes a particularly dark chapter. In December of 1984, after spending a day
drinking with Hanoi Rocks drummer Nicholas "Razzle" Dingley, Neil got behind the wheel
and raced off to the liquor store for more *** with Dingley riding shotgun. Speeding
and severely impaired, Neil swerved into an oncoming lane and crashed, killing Dingley
and leaving passengers in another car with severe brain damage. Though he paid out millions
to his victims' families, he only spent 15 days in jail, finishing out the rest of his
shockingly light 30-day sentence in rehab.
Phil Spector
In 2003, after a night of drinking, followed by a romantic rejection, record producer Phil
Spector put a gun in actress Lana Clarkson's mouth and pulled the trigger. He then walked
outside and told his limo driver "I think I killed somebody"—or so the prosecution
in his eventual *** trial would have the jury believe. His defense, according to The
New York Times, alleged that Spector's non-native English speaking driver misheard Spector's
pleas to "call someone" on account of some gurgling noises from a nearby fountain coupled
with the driver's "fatigue and hunger from working all night." The jury didn't buy it,
and in 2009 Spector was ultimately convicted and handed an 18-year sentence.
Tony Stewart
Nobody ever said auto racing was safe, yet while accidents routinely occur during the
sport, deaths are relatively rare. Sadly, this was not the case when, in 2014, Tony
Stewart struck and killed Kevin Ward during a dirt-track race at the Canandaigua Motorsports
Park. Controversy swirled over whether or not Stewart intentionally struck Ward, as
well as why Ward got out of his vehicle in the first place and walked onto the track
during an active race. A grand jury cleared Stewart of wrongdoing, but Ward's family still
sued Stewart, as they felt he could have easily avoided hitting Ward—even though Ward would
still be alive had he just stayed in his car.
Charles S. Dutton
Before taking an interest in acting, Charles S. Dutton had a pretty rough life. According
to IMDb, the name of his 1990s Fox sitcom, Roc, came from his real-life nickname—which
he told the Chicago Tribune he earned through his frequent participation in rock-throwing
fights as a kid. He loved to fight so much, apparently, that he actually beat a man to
death when he was 17. He claimed that he was defending himself from an attack, but the
incident landed him a manslaughter conviction and a seven-year prison stay. After gaining
parole, he was arrested for possession of a deadly weapon and ending up serving another
prison sentence. After being put in solitary confinement during his second stint, Dutton
read an anthology of works by black playwrights, and was so inspired that he petitioned the
warden to start a prison drama group. After he got out, he ended up getting his master's
in acting from the Yale School of Drama. A popular public speaker through his "From Jail
to Yale" program as well as a family man and successful actor, Dutton's an inspiration
for anyone who's ever made a serious mistake.
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