Story highlights
Judge orders Brown to come back to court on June 10
Prosecutors accuse Brown of not finishing 180 days of community labor
Brown pleaded guilty to a felony assault charge in the beating of Rihanna in 2009
Brown's lawyer called the prosecutor's filing 'fraudulent'
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.
Rihanna shows support in court for Chris Brown
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.
“And I don’t mean just false, it is fraudulent,” Geragos said.
The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office has “tortured” Brown during his probation more than any client he’s ever had, Geragos said.
Despite the serious allegations outlined in the court filing, the prosecutor is not asking for Brown’s probation to be revoked and the singer sent to jail. She is asking the judge to order him to restart his 1,400 hours of community service under the supervision of a Los Angeles probation officer.
Brown and his mother were in court for Friday’s hearing, but Rihanna, who attended his last court date, was not there.
When the pop star sat behind Brown in court at that hearing, it was Rihanna’s second time in a courtroom with him. The first was the day in August 2009 when Brown was sentenced to five years’ probation and ordered to stay away from her. Then, she was a witness for the prosecution.
At the probation court date, when Geragos was asked why Brown’s assault victim was in court, he replied, “She thinks it’s utterly ridiculous what they’re doing to him.”
