ALPHA Dog” nearly got neutered.

Justin Timberlake fans have a federal judge to thank for a chance to watch their heartthrob walk around shirtless and smoke ganja. The long-delayed crime drama almost got shelved because of a lawsuit brought against Universal Studios by one of the real-life criminal figures

upon which the film is based.

Jesse James Hollywood is currently set to go on trial in California for the August 2000 kidnapping and murder of 15-year-old Nicholas Markowitz, and his lawyers had been arguing

that the release of the film should be delayed because it could possibly taint the jury pool. (Characters’

names in “Alpha Dog” have been changed. Hollywood, for example, is known as “Johnny Truelove,”

played by Emile Hirsch.)

Last month, however, a judge ruled that the film could be released, citing

free-speech issues and following precedents set when courts previously failed to block airings of TV movies involving the Menendez brothers and O.J. Simpson.

Hollywood is accused of ordering the kidnapping and

murder of Markowitz when the teen’s half-brother failed to pay a debt. Four others involved in the headline-grabbing crime have already been convicted, including Jesse Rugge – the inspiration for Timberlake’s

character – who received a life sentence for kidnapping.

Shortly after the murder, Hollywood fled the country, earning him a spot on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list and a segment on “America’s Most Wanted.”

In 2005, he was arrested in Brazil, where he was teaching English and living off money sent to him by his parents.