Singer Chris Brown rejects plea deal in D.C. assault case, forcing trial

WASHINGTON (WJLA) - Singer Chris Brown rejected a plea deal on misdemeanor assault charges in a D.C. courtroom Wednesday, setting the stage for a trial that could send him back to jail.

Under the proposed deal terms, Brown would've pleaded guilty in exchange for time served - with no additional jail time and no probation.
However, after hours of negotiations, talks fell apart just before Wednesday's court hearing - with Brown turning the deal down when attorneys couldn't agree on what he would acknowledge happened during a scuffle that led to his arrest.
Brown's defense lawyer Mark Geragos briefly addressed the media outside the courtroom after the court hearing, saying "they wanted him to read from a script that wasn't true."
Now, it looks like Brown will head to trial to defend himself against the assault allegation stemming from an infamous confrontation outside the W Hotel in D.C. last October.
"If they want a trial, that's what they'll get," Geragos said outside court where fans mobbed Brown, screaming and taking photographs of the singer.
A judge Wednesday set a Sept. 8 trial date and the case was expected to take a day and a half.
Prosecutors maintain that Brown and his bodyguard Christopher Hollosy punched Parker Adams, a fan who said he was hit when he tried to take a selfie photograph with Brown and two women in front of the hotel on Oct. 27.
Hollosy, who was also charged in the scuffle, appeared in court too on Wednesday. He was convicted of misdemeanor assault in April but has not yet been sentenced.
Hollosy's attorney, Bernard Grimm, was granted more time to ask for a new trial after he said there was potential new evidence in the case. He did not say publicly what it was.
Geragos has said he wants Hollosy to testify at Brown's trial as a star witness for the defense. Hollosy's expected to say that only he, and not Brown, struck Adams.
At the time of the D.C. assault, Brown was on probation in California for a 2009 attack on singer Rihanna, his then girlfriend.
Brown spent the night in jail in Washington after his arrest and also served time in California after acknowledging he violated probation by committing a crime in Washington. He was released from jail in early June.
The Grammy-winning artist has had several flare-ups since the attack on Rihanna, including being accused of breaking a window after a 2011 "Good Morning America" interview and being involved in a fistfight with singer Frank Ocean's entourage, but none of them have led to charges. He also went to rehab for anger management, but was kicked out.