Sensational Trials (10 images)

The disappearance of Washington, D.C. intern Chandra Levy captivated the nation in May 2001, a mystery which many assumed was the result of an alleged affair with former California Democratic Rep. Gary Condit. He was never officially a suspect, however, and in Nov. 2010, illegal immigrant Ingmar Guandique was convicted of murdering Levy, for which he has been sentenced to 60 years in prison. (rlw/Roger L. Wollenberg. UPI)

US pop icon Michael Jackson was at the center of a 14-week trial in which he was accused of child molestation. On June 13, 2005, Jackson was acquitted of all charges. The charges, which led to outcry and protest from supporters, would have seen him jailed for more than 18 years. (UPI Photo/Jim Ruymen)

Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant was arrested in 2003 after a 19-year-old hotel employee accused him of sexual assault. Though Bryant admitted sexual relations with the woman, he insisted it was consensual. The case was ultimately dismissed and the woman's lawsuit settled out of court, but only after high media coverage of both Bryant and his accuser.

In 1995, Football star O.J. Simpson pleaded not guilty in the murder of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ron Goldman. After an eight-month trial filled with media gold: a slow-speed police chase, a glove that didn't fit and theories of racial profiling, Simpson was found not guilty on two counts of murder.