R&B singer Chris Brown, left, appears in Los Angeles court with his attorney Mark Geragos during a probation-review hearing. The judge rejected a prosecutor’s request to have Brown sent to jail over the misdemeanor assault case filed last year in Washington, D.C.
A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge sided with the short-fused singer when he rejected a prosecutor’s motion to toss Brown behind bars pending a probation violation hearing related to his Rihanna assault case.
Judge James Brandlin said Brown appeared to be showing progress in his anger management rehab program and should stay put for the foreseeable future.
The “Kiss Kiss” crooner was ordered to undergo in-patient treatment in November after he was arrested Oct. 27 in Washington D.C. for allegedly punching a man in a dispute over a fan photo.
He has pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor assault charge in the nation’s capital .
California prosecutors said Monday that additional witness statements obtained last month from Washington authorities provided “sufficient evidence” to move forward with a full-blown mini-trial.
That hearing, decided by a judge instead of a jury, could result in revocation of the singer’s felony probation and imposition of a new jail sentence for his 2009 beating of Rihanna.
“He continues to pose an increasingly violent danger to society,” Deputy District Attorney Mary Murray wrote in her motion filed Monday. “Defendant Brown’s violent behavior continues to increase in severity and frequency.”
She cited other “violent outbursts” that preceded Brown’s agreement last August to serve 1,000 new hours of community labor, and she underscored a probation report that said Brown, 24, was expelled from a prior, voluntary stint in anger management therapy for hurling a rock through his mom’s car window.
Murray also attached new witness statements to her filing that shed new light on Brown’s Washington arrest.
