Chris Brown Heads to Court to Hear Charges in Rihanna Case

Chris Brown is scheduled to appear in a Los Angeles courtroom today as the L.A. Police Department has handed over all evidence regarding the R&B singer's alleged assault of Rihanna on February 8th to the district attorneys, TMZ reports. Brown was initially charged with making criminal threats, but will learn whether he'll stand trial on charges that carry a heavier penalty. Worst-case scenario for Brown, he'll face felony domestic battery charges and be arraigned today.

However, it's possible that this case will never get that far. According to E!, Brown's high-power lawyer Mark Geragos met with the D.A. on Monday to discuss a possible plea deal. Under the terms of the proposed agreement, Brown would plead guilty to a misdemeanor and avoid jail time — the best-case scenario for his career, as he'd avoid the drama of a public trial.

The D.A. had initially sought evidence Brown committed a felony, and at first it seemed like Rihanna would cooperate with the investigation. But given the reports that Brown and Rihanna reconciled and reunited last weekend in Florida, it's unlikely she would testify against Brown, leaving the district attorneys without their lone witness to the crime. However, since reconciliation is a common occurrence in domestic violence cases and the victim often refuses to testify, the D.A. could use Rihanna's crime scene statements, as well as that "shocking" photograph of her facial injuries and other evidence gathered the night of the altercation in place of her taking the stand.

So how did word of the couple's reconciliation hit the streets, anyway? Page 6 is reporting Brown and his camp alerted the media themselves. "Chris tipped off the photographers. He needs it to be out there that he and Rihanna are back together," a source said. "His only chance for a career was if she got back together with him, and he wanted people to see them there." A rep for Brown said, "To my knowledge this is not true."

Related Stories:

• Chris Brown and Rihanna Reportedly Reconcile at Diddy's Miami Home
• Chris Brown Erased From "Bone Deep" Promotion, Voluntarily Goes To Anger Management
• Shocking Photo of Rihanna's "Horrific" Facial Injuries Leaks

• 
  MUSIC Exclusive Live Chat With Linkin Park and Incubus
• 
  MOVIES & TV Peter Travers: 'The Avengers' Has it All
• 
  POLITICS Matt Taibbi: Jon Corzine Is the Original Zimmerman
• 
  VIDEOS Exclusive Premiere: Tenacious D's 'Tinnitus'

Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter