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Chris Brown Charged With Two Felonies
Chris Brown was charged with two felonies in Los Angeles court this morning and he’s expected to be arraigned this afternoon on charges of assault likely to cause great bodily injury and making criminal threats.
The 19-year-old R&B singer is accused of assaulting girlfriend Rihanna, 21, early Feb. 8, hours before the couple was supposed to appear and perform at the Grammy Awards. They were both no shows at the event.
Photo: AP Photo
Chris Brown arrives at the Clive Davis pre-Grammy party in Beverly Hills, Calif. on Saturday.
The felony complaint identifies Brown’s alleged victim only as “Robyn F.” Rihanna’s real name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty.
District attorney spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said if Brown is convicted, his sentence could range from probation to four years and eight months in state prison.
Brown is free on $50,000 bail.
He was arrested Feb. 8 and booked on suspicion of making criminal threats. The next week a photo was leaked from the Los Angeles Police Department and posted by TMZ.com of a beaten and bloodied female with the title “Rihanna – The Face of a Battered Woman.”
People magazine reported that, according to detective’s notes from the scene of the assault, Brown punched Rihanna while driving, bit her, put her in a headlock and threatened to kill her. An argument between the couple began Feb. 8 after Rihanna read a text message from a woman on Brown’s phone.
In an interview with LAPD cops after the attack, Rihanna said Brown had been violent in the past and that the attacks were getting “more violent,” according to TMZ.com.
Photo: AP Photo
Rihanna performs at the American Music Awards in Los Angeles.
Since the arrest Brown’s boy next door image has been destroyed. His songs were pulled from radio playlists and he was dropped by the Got Milk? campaign and Wrigley’s Gum ads. There were also rumors that Sony Screen Gems, the studio releasing Chris Brown’s new movie, “Bone Deep,” is cutting the artist out of marketing materials such as the movie poster, trailer and TV ads, according to hip hop blog www.woooha.com.
Brown said he was “sorry and saddened” in a statement issued a week after the alleged incident. In her own statement, Rihanna thanked fans for their support and said she wouldn’t comment at the request of authorities.
People reported that almost three weeks after the incident, Brown and Rihanna were back together. The magazine said the couple was holed up at one of Sean “Diddy” Combs’ homes on Miami Beach’s Star Island.
Read the Associated Press article here.
Read the Wooha article here.
Read the TMZ article here.