R&B singer Chris Brown charged over Rihanna assault
LOS ANGELES —
Chris Brown’s arraignment has been postponed until April 6. The 19-year-old R&B singer, wearing a gray suit, appeared in a Los Angeles courtroom Thursday alongside his attorney.
Brown had been charged hours earlier by Los Angeles County prosecutors with felony assault likely to cause great bodily injury and making criminal threats. He was arrested nearly a month earlier after police said he was involved in an early morning altercation with a woman who identified the “Run It!” singer as her attacker.
Court records list Brown’s victim as “Robyn F.” Rihanna’s real name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty.
The 21-year-old “Umbrella” singer was not present in court Thursday but was represented by an attorney.
If convicted, Brown could be sentenced to probation or nearly five years in prison.
The incident shocked the music world and left Rihanna nursing cuts and bruises to her face, forcing her to cancel a scheduled performance at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles later that day.
Speculation had mounted over whether Brown would face charges over the incident after he and Rihanna reportedly reconciled over the weekend.
Brown had issued an apology for the incident on Feb 15, saying he was “sorry and saddened” by the events and that he was seeking the counseling of his pastor, family and friends.
“Words cannot begin to express how sorry and saddened I am over what transpired,” Brown said in the statement.
“I am seeking the counseling of my pastor, my mother and other loved ones and I am committed, with God’s help, to emerging a better person.”
Although the Los Angeles Police Department has steadfastly refused to divulge specifics in the case, several details of Brown’s alleged attack have since leaked into the media.
Fox 11 News in Los Angeles reported it had obtained a copy of a detectives’ affidavit that described in graphic detail how Brown had attacked his girlfriend as they drove home from a party in Brown’s rented Lamborghini.
The affidavit said the attack was triggered after Rihanna had read out a text message from an unidentified woman found on Brown’s phone.
The singer reportedly slammed Rihanna’s head against the window of the car before repeatedly punching and biting her.
When Rihanna called her assistant to alert police, Brown raged: “You did the stupidest thing ever. I’m going to kill you” before putting the singer in a headlock so severe she nearly lost consciousness, according to the report.
Wire reports
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11 Comments
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likeitis
I can tell you which is the more stupid. You just know something like this is going to happen again. And Rihanna is either going to be dead or battered and Brown is going to be enjoying a nice long stay in prison.
Of course Brown was clearly wrong for beating Rihanna, but Rihanna was clearly asking for it. No mention in the article of her throwing the car keys out. A whole lot of guys would completely snap in the face of that drama-queenery.
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rollonarte
"Transpired"?
Words cannot and will not be employed to express his sorrow - he has none.
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skipthesong
He is being charge for the assault yet she is still staying with him.. I thought that in cases such as this, if the victim didn't press charges, nothing could be done.. I guess that's changed.
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Triumvere
They need to send his ass to jail before he ends up killing her. CNN had the details of the altercation up on its website; this wasn't like "they got into an argument and she ended up with a black eye" (as unacceptable as that would be), but rather a vicous, vicous extended beating in which he bit her thee serperate times. She appears to have only tried to fight back toward the end of the assault (taking the keys and scratching at his eyes in order to get him to stop choking her, before running out of the car), spending most of the time curled up in a defesive position while he beat her.
likeitis,
I can't tell if that last part is supposed to be a joke, if it isn't you really need to read the details of the assault. They are fairly horrifying.
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rollonarte
It's depressing to go to some of the celebrity sites out there and see people asking, apparently in all seriousness, what the singer Rihanna did to "bring on the assault". This, mind you, in the same week that the media was sputtering in faux indignation over a cartoon in the NY Post they unaccountably insisted was advocating the assassination of the president.
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likeitis
Its not a joke. I heard she threw out the keys and then he hit her. But hey, we all need to be careful about those little "details". Its his word against hers.
He deserves whatever he gets for battering her, because it seems pretty obvious she did not batter herself.
But I SERIOUSLY doubt he battered her for no reason at all. I SERIOUSLY doubt that her being battered had nothing to do with her own actions prior to the battering.
I give Brown no free pass. Why should I give one to Rihanna? Just because there are no bruises left from whatever psychological violence she may have inflicted? No way. Brown belongs in jail regardless. I do not advocate jail for Rihanna because she has already suffered for what might have been her own stupidity or selfish and aggressive action. I am not buying the innocent lamb story. Seen it a million times.
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sensei258
"Words cannot begin to express how sorry and saddened I am over what transpired"...he means that he got caught and will be tried, not that he beat the crap out of a woman. By the way, is he any relation to Bobby Brown? Does violence against women run in their family?
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Triumvere
likeitis,
I'll say it again, if you haven't read the complaint then you need to. Here's the link: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/03/05/chris.brown.charged/index.html Please note this is not merely "her word", but that of the police and prosecutors who have charged him with felony assault and criminal threats. It is backed by witnesses, and forensic and other coroboratory evidence. As you say, that doesn't make it true, but it does make it a lot more credible than some random stuff you read on the internet, unless you got your version of the story from Brown's lawyers.
Frankly, I find your attitude distubing. You seem to have made a snap judgment based on your own preconcieved notions of abused women and relationships. This attitude ("Well, she must have done something to cause it.") does tremendous damage to women and helps to perpetuate domestic violence. (Likely Rihanna agrees with you as she seems to be back with Brown, despite his attempt to cause her serious injury.) In any case, I think you will find from the complaint that it was Rihanna who started the verbal arguement which lead to the violence over text messages sent to Brown by a former lover. I'm not sure what lesson you think Rihanna and other women is supposed to take from this: "Don't accuse your boyfriend of fooling around on you because it might cause him to beat you nearly to death"?
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likeitis
Triumvere,
And people call me liberal! Crap man!
But nobody accuses me of being a feminist!
I thought I said "I heard..." in my last response to you. Checking... Yeah, I did. Look, half my opinion was based on what I heard, okay? The rest was based on par for the course. Usually when a man hits a woman, she pushed some buttons. That is my experience.
Sez u! I think the typical giving to the woman a free pass does damage to relationships and helps perpetuate domestic violence!
Sigh. How about: tread lightly on the subject? How about: don't snoop through your man's private stuff?
Its hard to tell without a video, but I bet Rihanna broached the subject with ZERO tact or mind to keep the situation calm. Women as well as men MUST learn to keep a cool head, or hot heads will prevail on both sides. This is what I believe. No free passes for woman beaters. No free passes for male button pushers. Men and women work together. One shouldering all the responsibility is bullcrap and it doesn't work.
Now I am interested. I hope all three of those are in there, because I never would have expected it.
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Triumvere
Some men hit women becasue they didn't cook the pot roast right.
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likeitis
Yes they do. And they belong in a jail cell right next to Brown.
Neither situation is improved by declaring the woman totally incapable of controlling herself so as to avoid a beating. Not saying a woman should have to walk on eggshells, but going through his phone messages is risky. Mistake one. Bringing up the contents while he is driving and you are in the passenger seat is problematic at best. Mistake two.
Read the affadavit and the article. I must say I was disappointed. You mentioned something about witnesses??? You need to read all that again. The only witness mentioned in the article is the person who heard Rihanna screaming for help after it was all over. That is no witness at all. The other so called witness is in the affadavit. Rihanna called her after the beating. Again, no real witness at all.
Its her word against his, just like I said.
And man, that affadavit has Rihanna taking more hits than google.com! Either it is very drama-ed up or Rihanna is one tough cookie. But notice how they just skim over the details of the argument? Who knows what Rihanna said to Brown. Whatever it was I bet it was very verbally violent. Mistake three. Then, she had her chance to get out of the car after getting him so worked up. She did not take it. Mistake four.
I count four ways Rihanna could have avoided a beating. I hope she learned at least one of them.
And yes, I hope Brown gets plenty of jail time. I only hope it is commensurate with what he actually did.
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