June 30

1986. The U.S. Supreme Court rules that states can outlaw homosexual acts by consenting adults.

1993. The legal thriller, The Firm, is released in the United States. Directed by Sydney Pollack, the movie stars Tom Cruise as a young law school graduate who is hired into a very exclusive law firm and soon discovers that the only way to leave the company is in a casket. When he finds a way out, the deadly game begins. The movie was based on a John Grisham novel of the same name.

1994. Ice skater Tonya Harding is stripped of the national championship and banned for life for her role in the attack on rival Nancy Kerrigan. Although Harding did not show up for the two-day hearing before a five-member panel in Colorado Springs, Colo., the board decided she knew about the January 6 attack on Kerrigan before it happened.

June 29

1972. In Furman v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court rules the death penalty could constitute "cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments" and invalidates both federal and state-level death penalty statutes. Making the nationwide impact of its decision unmistakable, the court reversed death sentences in the many cases then before it, which involved a wide range of state statutes and crimes. In 1976, several states overcame obstacles the Supreme Court had noted in its Fuhrman decision, and the death penalty was again declared constitutional in those states. Other states quickly followed suit.

June 28

1990. During Mayor Marion Barry's drug and perjury trial in Washington, D.C., 18 jurors view a videotaped sting operation showing Barry smoking crack cocaine. The 83-minute videotape revealed Barry and his former girlfriend, Hazel Diane "Rasheeda" Moore, in dim, grainy images as they talked of old friends and reminisced about their affair, interrupted occasionally when Barry reached for the telephone to make calls. It was the first public screening of the FBI videotape that showed Barry's arrest on drug possession charges.

1997. Boxer Mike Tyson is disqualified in the third round of his rematch with Evander Holyfield after biting Holyfield on the ear. Tyson was winning the round when, with about 40 seconds left, Holyfield suddenly jumped up and down in anger and walked away with blood streaming from his right ear. Tyson ran after Holyfield and pushed him before referee Mills Lane pulled him away. After the fight was stopped, Tyson complained to Lane and then charged across the ring to Holyfield's corner as the ring filled with security people. He never reached Holyfield, but he did hit a police officer before being pulled away.

2000. The U.S. Supreme Court rules in a 5-4 decision that the Boy Scouts of America can bar homosexuals from serving as troop leaders. The decision overturned a New Jersey Supreme Court ruling that the dismissal of a gay Scout leader had been illegal under the state's anti-discrimination law. The Boy Scouts also exclude atheists and agnostics as leaders.

June 27

1973. Former White House counsel John Dean tells the Senate committee investigating Watergate about a Richard Nixon White House "enemies list." Dean was charged with obstruction of justice and spent four months in prison for his role in the Watergate cover-up. Now an investment banker in Beverly Hills, 58-year-old Dean is the author of the Watergate memoir Blind Ambition.

1995. The San Francisco Chronicle receives a message from the Unabomber, now known to be Theodore Kaczynski, threatening to blow up a plane in its flight out of Los Angeles by July 4 weekend. The letter was addressed to Jerry Roberts, and the return address listed a Fredrick Benjamin Issac Wood. The Unabomber later called the threat a prank.

1995. Hugh Grant and prostitute Stella Marie Thompson, a.k.a. Divine Brown, are arrested in Hollywood and booked "on suspicion of lewd conduct in a public place." They were caught having oral sex in a rented white BMW convertible off Sunset Boulevard. Grant pleaded no contest, paid a fine and was placed on two years' probation.

June 26

1971. The U.S. Justice Department issues a warrant for Daniel Ellsberg, accusing him of releasing the Pentagon Papers to the press. The documents documents showed that the American people had been deceived about Vietnam. The charges were dismissed in 1973 after it was discovered that President Nixon had authorized White House aides to burglarize Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office in an attempt to discredit him.

June 25

1998. The U.S. Supreme Court rules that HIV-infected people are protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The act was intended to protect qualified persons with disabilities from discrimination in employment, government services and programs, transportation, public accommodations and telecommunications.

June 24

1964. The Federal Trade Commission announces that, starting in 1965, cigarette makers must include warning labels about the harmful effects of smoking.

June 23

1992. Mafia boss John Gotti is sentenced to multiple life terms in federal prison without the possibility of parole for racketeering and conspiracy to commit murder in the death of Paul Castellano. He is currently serving his sentence at Marion Penitentiary in Illinois.

June 22

1999. A judge dismisses the case brought against Jerry Seinfeld, Larry David and other executives by Michael Costanza. Costanza claimed that the character George Costanza on Seinfeld's sitcom was based on him. Costanza, a real estate agent who lives on Long Island, N.Y., said his rights were violated when the show used his "name, likeness and persona" to create the neurotic and nutty George for "Seinfeld."

June 21

1982. A jury in Washington, D.C., finds John Hinckley Jr. not guilty by reason of insanity in the shootings of President Ronald Reagan and three others. He shot the president on March 30, 1981, as Reagan left the Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., after making a speech. Reagan was severely wounded along with press secretary James Brady, police officer Thomas Delahanty and Secret Service agent Timothy J. McCarthy.

1989. The U.S. Supreme Court rules that burning the American flag as a form of political protest is protected by the First Amendment. They decided in favor of Gregory Johnson, who had been convicted of violating a Texas law by burning a U.S. flag.

June 20

1893. Lizzie Borden is found not guilty of the brutal ax murders of her father and step-mother on August 4th, 1892 in Fall River, Massachusetts. Abbey Borden was struck with the axe 19 times to the back of her head and neck and Andrew Borden recieved 11 blows to the head and face. Visit the Crime Library for more detailed information.

1947. Mobster and notorious ladies man "Bugsy" Siegel is murdered by a gunman lurking just outside the Beverly Hills mansion of his girlfriend, Virginia Hill. He had been shot five times in the head with a rifle and one of his eyeballs was found 15 feet across the room . He was known as one of the most ruthless killers in the Mafia. Visit the Crime Library for more information on him.

1967. Boxer Muhammad Ali is convicted in Houston of violating draft laws. He was stripped of his title and and his boxing license was revoked because of his refusal to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces during the Vietnam war. Ali stated that his refusal was due to his religious beliefs as a minister of the Nation of Islam. His conviction was later overturned by the Supreme Court.

2001. Andrea Yates is arrested after drowning her five children in her Texas home. Yates' claims she suffered from postpartum depression, but jurors rejected her not guilty by reason of insanity defense at trial and she was found guilty of capital murder. She was sentenced to life in prison. A few days after her sentence the district attorney's office of Houston said it was looking into the role of her husband, Rusty, played in the drownings.

Read courttv.com's full coverage of the Andrea Yates trial.

June 19

1953. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are executed by electrocution at Sing Sing prison. The couple was accused and convicted of passing information from the Manhattan Project to spies for the Soviet Union, allegedly compromising the United State's position in the race to develop the atomic bomb. For more information on the Rosenbergs, click here.

1964. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is passed after surviving an 83-day Senate filibuster. It protects constitutional rights in public facilities and public education, and prohibits discrimination in federally assisted programs. It was amended by the Civil Rights Act of 1991, which seeks to eliminate discrimination in the workplace on the basis of sex, race, religion and national origin. Click here to read the text of the act.

1990. The drug and perjury trial of Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion Barry begins. He was convicted of one misdemeanor count of drug possession in 1990 after he was videotaped smoking crack cocaine at the Vista Hotel in an FBI sting. He served six months in prison and was reelected mayor in 1994.

June 18

1873. Susan B. Anthony, a famous proponent of women's suffrage, is fined $100 for attempting to vote in the 1872 presidential election. The fine was never paid. For more information, click here.

1984. Jewish Denver radio host, Alan Berg is shot to death outside his home. The 50-year-old former lawyer had been a controversial radio talk-show host since 1981. He described himself as "the man you love to hate." Two white supremacists were later convicted of civil rights violations in the slaying.

1990. During a shooting rampage in a General Motors Acceptance Corp. office in Jacksonville, Florida, James Edward Pough kills nine people and wounds four others before killing himself.

June 17

1963. The U.S. Supreme Court strikes down rules requiring reciting the Lord's Prayer or reading Biblical verses in public schools. The court found that while reading the Lord's Prayer was obviously not forcing a government-written prayer on students, the practice still violated the Constitution. That's because, said the court, its purpose was to promote religion

1972. Five men are arrested attempting to bug the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at Watergate. The burglary and subsequent cover-up eventually led to moves to impeach President Richard Nixon. Nixon resigned the presidency on 8 August 1974. Click here for more information on Watergate.

1994. O.J. Simpson leads police in the famous car chase on Los Angeles freeways. His white Ford Bronco was driven by friend, Al Cowlings. Simpson eventually surrendered in his driveway and was arrested for the murders of Nicole Brown-Simpson and Ronald Goldman. For more information on the case, click here

June 16

1944. 14-year-old George Stinny Jr. becomes the youngest person executed in the United States in the 20th century. The black boy was convicted of murdering two girls and was executed in South Carolina.

1990. Kathleen Ann Soliah, a fugitive member of the Symbionese Liberation Army is captured at her home in Minnesota after evading authorities for almost 23 years. She was living there under the assumed name, Sara Jane Olsen. Authorities say Soliah placed two pipe bombs under Los Angeles police cars in 1975 in retaliation for a shootout with police that left six of her SLA companions dead. Click here for more information.

June 15

1995. O.J. Simpson tries on the blood-stained leather gloves linked to the murders of Nicole Brown-Simpson and Ronald Goldman in a Los Angeles courtroom. The gloves did not fit his hands.

June 14

1989. Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor is arrested for slapping a Beverly Hills police officer for writing her a traffic ticket.

1990. The U.S. Supreme Court upholds police checkpoints where drivers are tested for signs of intoxication.

June 13

1966. In its "Miranda" decision, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that police must read criminal suspects their constitutional rights before questioning.

1967. President Lyndon Johnson nominates Thurgood Marshall to be the first black justice to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.

1997. Timothy McVeigh is sentenced to death for the Oklahoma City bombing. Nearly four years later, he is executed by lethal injection on June 11, 2001 at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind. For more information click here.

June 12

1994. Nicole Brown-Simpson and Ronald Goldman are stabbed to death in Brentwood, Calif. Ex-husband O.J. Simpson is later tried and acquitted of the murders but held liable in a civil trial.

1963. A sniper shoots civil right leader Medgar Evers to death in the driveway of his Mississippi home. In 1994, white supremacist Byron de la Beckwith is convicted of the murder and sentenced to life imprisonment at 73.

June 11

1990. Former national security advisor John Poindexter gets six months in prison for making false statements to the U.S. Congress regarding his role in the Iran-Contra affair. In 1991, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit overturned Poindexter's conviction. For more about the scandal, click here.

1986. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a law making abortion illegal in Pennsylvania. The ruling reaffirmed the court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision establishing a woman's right to abortion. To see the ruling, click here.

2001. Convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh is executed by lethal injection for killing 168 people at the Murrah Federal Building. Convicted of being the main orchestrator of America's worst terrorism attack, McVeigh was the first to die under the federal death penalty since 1963. He said in numerous interviews that in his death he would be a martyr for the right-wing politics he fervently believed in and took few legal steps to delay his execution.

Read courttv.com's full coverage of McVeigh's execution.

June 10

1977. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s convicted assassin, James Earl Ray, breaks out of a Tenn. prison only to be recaptured three days later.

1985. In his murder retrial, Claus Von Bulow is cleared of injecting his wife, Sunny, with a fatal insulin dose.

June 9

1999. President Bill Clinton orders federal law agencies to compile race and gender data for people stopped by police. For more information, click here.

June 8

1968. Police capture fugitive James Earl Ray, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s suspect assassin. Ray entered a guilty plea to charges he had assassinated the civil rights leader but recanted 16 days later. He ended up convicted and sentenced to 99 years in prison. Later in life, Ray tried to get a retrial with the blessing of the King family but terminal liver disease cut his efforts short.

June 7

1999. Osama bin Laden makes the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List. The Saudi dissident is suspected of masterminding the bombing of two U.S. embassies in Africa.

1998. In Jasper, Texas, a 42-year-old black male hitchhiker is savagely beaten by a trio of white men who dragged his body from behind their pickup truck for two and a half miles. The ringleader, a white supremacist ex-con sporting Nazi and Ku Klux Klan tattoos, and one of his accomplices were eventually sentenced to death. The trio's remaining member, the only one to give police a statement after the murder, received life in prison.

June 6

1997. Actor Charlie Sheen is sentenced to two years probation after pleading no contest to battering former girlfriend Brittany Ashland. Sheen violated his probation in 1998 by nearly dying of a drug overdose.

1990. A federal judge in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., rules that 2 Live Crew's "As Nasty As They Wanna Be" is obscene. Two days later, a record retailer was arrested for selling the hit album.

June 5

Palestinian immigrant Sirhan Sirhan assassinates Robert F. Kennedy shortly after midnight in the kitchen of Los Angeles' Ambassador Hotel after the presidential hopeful had just won California's Democratic presidential primary. Kennedy, whose pro-Israel views disturbed the 24-year-old college dropout, died one day later of a gunshot wound to the head. In 1969, Sirhan Sirhan was convicted and sentenced to death, which was later commuted to life in prison. As a teenager, RFK's assassin belonged to the California Cadets, a high school ROTC group, which introduced him to the world of target shooting. For more information about the assassination, click here.

June 4

1990. Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the famed right-to-die advocate, oversees the suicide of Janet Adkins, the first terminally ill patient he has assisted. Dubbed Dr. Death, Kevorkian claims to have been present at the suicides of 130 people over nine years. He is currently serving 10 to 25 years for second-degree murder in connection with the lethal injection death of a Lou Gehrig's disease sufferer. For more information on the case, click here.

June 3

1968. Pop icon Andy Warhol is nearly fatally shot by militant feminist Valerie Solanas in his New York studio after he refused to use her scripts to make a movie. Solanas, a struggling actress and writer who authored the anti-male S.C.U.M. Manifesto, turned herself in to police and was found guilty of attempted murder in 1969. Sentenced to three years in prison, she was released early in 1971 and shortly after landed back in trouble after sending threatening letters to several people, including Warhol. The shooting served as the inspiration for the movie, I Shot Andy Warhol.

June 2

1997. A federal jury convicts Timothy McVeigh on 11 counts, including eight counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Eleven days later, he was sentenced to die by lethal injection. For more on McVeigh's scheduled execution, click here.

June 1

1997. Malcolm Shabazz, the 12-year-old grandson of Malcolm X's widow, sets fire to the apartment of his grandmother Betty, who dies of burns three weeks later. Her grandson is later convicted in juvenile court of manslaughter and arson. In 1999, Malcolm is sentenced to additional time for escaping juvenile jail three times since his manslaughter conviction.

1996. Woody Harrelson purposely defies the law making the possession of cannabis illegal by planting four hemp seeds. The actor, who argued that the statue was unconstitutional because it didn't differentiate between marijuana and hemp, is subsequently arrested and charged with misdemeanor marijuana possession and acquitted of the charge in 2000.

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