People: Chris Brown taken into custody for assault trial
Chris Brown has been taken into custody by U.S. marshals and will be transported to Washington, D.C., for an upcoming misdemeanor assault trial, an official said Thursday.
Brown was turned over to marshals on Wednesday at a Los Angeles jail, marshals’ spokeswoman Laura Vega said. She declined to say when the Grammy winner would be sent to Washington.
The singer and his bodyguard are accused of hitting a man outside a Washington hotel in October. Brown is set to go on trial later this month.
A judge in Los Angeles sent Brown to jail in mid-March after the singer was dismissed from a court-mandated rehab program for anger management and other issues.
Defense attorney Mark Geragos had been trying to block Brown’s transfer into marshals’ custody. A hearing on the motion had been scheduled for Thursday but was canceled.
Geragos wrote in an email that the marshals service took Brown into custody just hours after the lawyer filed the motion on Tuesday.
Brown, 24, remains under court supervision in Los Angeles for a felony assault case filed after his 2009 attack on then-girlfriend Rihanna.
If convicted in the Washington case, Brown could face additional penalties, including time behind bars, in the attack on Rihanna.
‘Judge Judy’ family friend acquitted
A close friend of a district attorney who is the son of TV’s Judge Judy has been acquitted of child rape.
A jury in Putnam County, N.Y., found Alexandru Hossu not guilty Thursday on each of four counts.
The case led to allegations of improper interference by District Attorney Adam Levy.
Levy recused himself from the case, saying Hossu was a close friend and frequent houseguest. But he helped pay for Hossu’s defense and the county sheriff claimed Levy had interfered with the prosecution. The prosecutor on the case also complained to the judge.
No charges were filed against Levy. His mother, Judy Sheindlin is the star of “Judge Judy” and publicly supported her son.
Hossu, a 36-year-old Romanian immigrant, was charged with raping the 13-year-old daughter of his former girlfriend.
Reggae star sentenced to life in prison
Dancehall reggae star Vybz Kartel and three other Jamaican men have been sentenced to life in prison for a 2011 murder.
A Jamaican judge ruled Thursday that Kartel must serve 35 years behind bars before he can be eligible for parole.
Last month, a jury convicted Kartel and three co-defendants of murdering Clive Williams. He was beaten to death in August 2011 after being lured to a house to answer for two missing guns.
Kartel, whose real name is Adidja Palmer, is known for innovative, but often violent, X-rated lyrics.
Birthday bunch
Author-poet Maya Angelou is 86. Recording executive Clive Davis is 82.