Chris Brown Plea Deal Falls Through on D.C. Assault Charge

Singer Chris Brown will have to face trial in his Washington, D.C., assault case after talks on a plea agreement fell through Wednesday, although the deal would have spared him both jail time and probation.

The talks between prosecutors and Brown's lawyers broke down over the "public statement" Brown would have to make -- in other words, what he would admit in court.

The charge stems from an October 2013 incident in which he and bodyguard Christopher Hollosy were accused of punching a 20-year-old Maryland man.

That man says Brown hit him after he tried to get in a photograph that the singer was taking with the man's girlfriend and another woman outside the W Hotel in downtown D.C.

Not long after Brown entered D.C. Superior Court on Wednesday, word came that there was no agreement on a plea deal.

"He's not gonna read their script," said Brown's defense attorney, who accused prosecutors of wasting time and resources on the case.

Brown's attorney, Mark Geragos, told reporters the deal required Brown to make admissions of details that the singer says are false.

Prosecutors said they hadn't sought jail time in the potential plea deal because Brown had already been locked up recently in California. Brown was released from custody in D.C. around 4 p.m.

Fans awaited him outside the courthouse "because it's important he sees he has love in D.C.," one said.

A new trial date has been set for Sept. 8, though the defense wanted it pushed back to late autumn. The trial is expected to take about a day and a half.

Hollosy, Brown's bodyguard, was found guilty of assault during a separate trial in April. On Wednesday, Hollosy asked for a delay in sentencing due to what the judge said was possible new evidence.

A limo driver who witnessed the incident testified during Hollosy's trial that he saw Brown throw a punch that grazed the victim's shoulder. He said he then saw Hollosy throw a punch that resulted in blood.

Court papers say the victim's nose was fractured.

Brown and Hollosy were initially charged with a felony, a charge that was later knocked down to simple assault.

At the time he was arrested in D.C., Brown was on probation in Los Angeles for an attack on his then-girlfriend, the singer Rihanna, in 2009. His probation was revoked, and he was ordered to rehab for anger management but was discharged in March for a rules violation.

He was then arrested and held in an L.A. jail until U.S. marshals took him into custody and brought him to D.C. for trial in the 2013 assault case.

Brown was returned to L.A. after his trial was delayed after Hollosy decided not to testify out of fear of self-incrimination as he appeals his own conviction.

He was released from jail earlier this month.

A civil case is also in the works. The victim is suing for $3 million for doctors' bills, pain and suffering.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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