That “hard cases make bad law” is a longstanding maxim among lawyers and judges. It may be time to add to it that celebrity cases often make bad law as well.

Think about O.J. Simpson, Kobe Bryant, or Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs. The media obsession. Massive pretrial publicity. The best legal talent money can buy. The list of things that make celebrity cases hard goes on and on.

Conventional wisdom has it that, in their encounters with the legal system, celebrities are treated better than ordinary people. “Just as there is ‘white privilege,’” according to one commentator, “celebrity defendants possess a supercharged version — one that trumps even race. At every step of the criminal justice process, the rich and famous have ways of avoiding liability which are unavailable to you or me.”

This “celebrity privilege” allegedly results from “the reluctance of an adoring public to admit the object of its affection is flawed.” But the picture is more complicated than is captured by conventional wisdom. Just ask Lyle and Erik Menendez, the brothers who

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