March 13, 2006

Police Comr Raymond W Kelly says DNA evidence shows conclusively that blood found on plastic ties used to bind Imette St Guillen, 24-year-old graduate student who was sexually assaulted, strangled and dumped in Brooklyn marshland on Feb 25, belongs to Darryl Littlejohn, bouncer at Manhattan club where she was last seen alive; says evidence against Littlejohn, who is being held at Rikers Island on parole-violation charge, will be presented to grand jury that could hand up formal indictment within days; photos (L)

The crime itself was sensational. A fashion model was shot dead in an unlicensed bar stuffed full of fashionable people. The prime suspect was a member of the capital's brat pack and the son of an influential politician. The verdict turned out to be even more lurid. Nearly seven years after the killing of Jessica Lall at the trendy Tamarind Court bar and the about-face of several celebrity witnesses on the stand, a Delhi court acquitted all nine defendants, including Manu Sharma, the one accused of being the gunman. The others were charged with aiding him.

Tony DiSanto stood in his sun-drenched corner office on the 23rd floor of MTV's headquarters in Times Square, staring intently at his supersize flat-screen television. He was watching ''The Andy Milonakis Show,'' an MTV2 series about the bizarre antics of Mr. Milonakis, a chubby, hyperactive comic who looks nearly two decades younger than his 30 years. It didn't take long for Mr. DiSanto, 37, to burst into boyish giggles as Mr. Milonakis chewed through his sidekick's legs with diamond-encrusted false teeth (you had to be there). ''The 'Andy' show is not for everybody,'' Mr. DiSanto said happily. ''But it certainly works for me.'' And if it works for Mr. DiSanto chances are it will work for MTV Networks, where he is the executive vice president of series development and animation. He is the man behind a slew of MTV's major hits, including ''Say What? Karaoke'' and the hormonal screamathon ''Total Request Live.'' In recent years, he has done well in the reality-show realm with programs like ''Made,'' a Pygmalionesque makeover series; ''Run's House,'' which follows Run, the rapper turned reverend, and his family; and ''Laguna Beach,'' the nighttime drama about rich teenagers in Southern California. ''Laguna'' has done so well that in May, MTV will begin broadcasting a spin-off, ''The Hills.''

Record eight Big East Conference men's basketball programs are selected to NCAA Tournament; photos (M)0

The man in black turns sunshine yellow in ''Ring of Fire,'' the show that strings songs associated with Johnny Cash into an artificially sweetened candy necklace. Though Mr. Cash, who died in 2003, is not himself a character in this latest entry in the jukebox musical sweepstakes of Broadway, his spirit is invoked as a friendly ghost with dimples and a twinkling disposition. In other words, ''Ring of Fire,'' which opened last night at the Ethel Barrymore Theater, has little to do with the dark, troubled and excitingly dangerous presence that most people remember as Johnny Cash. If the current bio-flick ''Walk the Line'' portrays the craggy country singer as a man wrestling with demons, ''Ring of Fire'' wrestles with a really bad case of the cutes. Personally, I would always pick demons over the cutes for solid entertainment value, but you may feel different. If so, then let ''Ring of Fire'' transport you to a bygone era -- not the vintage years of the Grand Ole Opry or bouncy old Broadway, but the age of ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' and ''Sing Along With Mitch.''