LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Chris Brown sat alone in court for 35 minutes on Friday while his lawyer talked with the judge and prosecutor behind closed doors in his probation violation case.
The judge emerged from his chambers to order Brown to come back on June 10 because lawyers need more time to look at “additional discovery” in his case.
While not much happened in Friday’s hearing before Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge James Brandlin, ultimately it could be big trouble for the singer.
In a court filing in February, prosecutors accused Brown of not completing the 180 days of community labor ordered when he pleaded guilty to a felony assault charge in the beating of his girlfriend Rihanna.
The paperwork Brown submitted to show he had completed community labor is “at best sloppy documentation and at worst fraudulent reporting,” District Attorney Jackie Lacey said. Brown wasn’t in town on some of the dates reported, the motion said.
Mark Geragos, Brown’s attorney, said after the last hearing that the prosecutor’s filing was so fraudulent that he would ask the judge to punish the deputy district attorneys involved and call for a contempt of court hearing for filing false documents with the court.
If the judge decides Brown cheated on his probation, it could mean he’ll have to start over on his court-ordered labor and be under the supervision of a probation officer even longer. Or worse, there could be some jail time.
Brown and his mother were in court for Friday’s hearing, but Rihanna, who attended his last court date, was not there.
Alan Duke | CNN
