"Yesterday an arrest warrant was issued for Michael Jackson and today, by mistake, cops picked up Diana Ross." Boom boom.

Of course, if MJ is convicted, he won't be alone. Think back and you'll recall that, over the years, quite a few famous celebrities have had tussles with the law (and, as the song goes, the law usually won).

The most famous celebrity court case in recent times was probably that of Winona Ryder. The diminutive star of Reality Bites, Little Women and Girl, Interrupted was arrested for shoplifting on 12th December, 2001, by security guards at Saks Fifth Avenue - a posh Beverly Hills store. A store employee watched Ryder through the slits in the dressing room door (hello?) and saw Ryder cutting security tags off two purses and later stuffing a number of purses, some socks and a hair bow into her own bag.

Guards nabbed Ryder as she left the store. The actress managed to get public sympathy in the year leading up to the trial - photographed wearing a "Free Winona" T-shirt on the front of W magazine and making fun of herself on Saturday Night Live. However, on 5th November, 2002, she was found guilty of felony counts of grand theft and vandalism. A month later she was sentenced to three years' supervised probation, ordered to complete 480 hours of community service, complete drug and psychiatric counselling and pay more than $10,000 in fines and restitution.

Some stars don't have to even leave home to get arrested. Police raided the home of Texan actor, Matthew McConaughey, in 1999 and found him playing the bongo drums in the nude and charged him with cannabis possession.

In 1992, crooner Harry Connick Jr was arrested and charged at JFK Airport for having a 9mm pistol in his luggage. After spending a day in jail, charges were dropped. Why? Connick agreed to make a community service announcement warning people about breaking gun laws. He was, however, ordered to stay out of trouble for six months.

In 1995, Australians woke up to front-page headlines that Four Weddings and a Funeral star Hugh Grant had been busted with a prostitute in LA and charged with indecent conduct. The LA vice squad claimed Grant - who was in Hollywood to promote Nine Months - drove up to Divine Brown on Sunset Boulevard at 1:30am. Minutes later, the police were standing outside the car window watching the couple engage in a "lewd act" and both Brown and Grant were taken into custody.

Celebrity couple Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown go together like supermodels and kneepads by the toilet bowl. In July 2000, Brown was arrested for cocaine possession while on probation for a drink-driving charge. He was sentenced to 75 days in a Florida jail. He has been in and out of jail ever since.

But let's look at the bright side. A jail term won't necessarily hurt your career. Home Improvement star Tim Allen went to prison for drug dealing as a student.

Oscar-nominated star Robert Downey Jr had been jailed for heroin and cocaine possession before going on to win rave reviews for his performance in Ally McBeal. (Although he was arrested again for drug possession during the shooting of the series, so his character was quickly written out.)

Then there's Martha Stewart who served a five-month term at Camp Cupcake, a minimum security prison in West Virginia. Despite being convicted of lying to investigators over the sale of stock, post-prison the Queen of Good Taste is teaming up with reality TV king Mark Burnett to create a new daytime series.

Closer to home, there's Nathan Jones, a convicted armed robber who did time in Boggo Road jail. On his release, the 150kg giant went on to a successful career as a professional wrestler.

And never let a few murders, and 24 years in the slammer, get in the way of reinventing yourself. In 2002, former Melbourne gangland leader Mark "Chopper" Reed joined former AFL footballer Mark "Jacko" Jackson for the "I'm Innocent Tour" telling stories about his time in jail. In 2003, "Chopper Art", an exhibition of Reed's paintings almost sold out within two days of opening.