Chris Brown Pleads Not Guilty On Two Felony Charges Of Assualt

MTVNews.com:

An expressionless Chris Brown arrived to an L.A. County criminal courthouse Monday afternoon (April 6) and pleaded not guilty to two felony charges of assault and making criminal threats stemming from his alleged altercation with girlfriend Rihanna on the eve of this year's Grammy Awards.

The singer arrived 25 minutes late for his scheduled 3 p.m. PT court appointment. Brown was wearing all black and showed no emotion as he entered the courthouse to a mix of fans cheering and protesters demonstrating against domestic abuse. A police escort ushered Brown into the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Center promptly after he exited his black SUV. Brown, 19, was also accompanied by four bodyguards and his mother, Joyce Hawkins. Hawkins was seated in the front row during her son's hearing and her eyes appeared to be red, perhaps from crying.

Brown was in court for less than 15 minutes as he quickly entered his plea and left the courtroom. The singer and his lawyer didn't answer any questions afterward. The only words the singer uttered was a hushed "not guilty, your honor," after Judge Patricia Schnegg read the charges against him.

Mark Geragos, who is representing Brown in the case, said in court that more discovery is needed. The lawyer is seeking a plea deal and the negotiations have been characterized as "serious," according to a report this past weekend from TMZ. A number of unrelated reports have stated that the parties might be close to reaching a deal.

I think that he'll cop a plea deal based on some first offender nonsense, serve no jail time, get probation and/or mandatory counseling and get to move on with his life as long as he stays out of trouble. Chris Brown is not the monster that the media is portraying him out to be, he's a young man who made a huge mistake and he needs help to deal with his anger. As does Rihanna, who from all the reports I've read, seems to be doing just fine. The biggest mistake here would be for Brown and Rihanna to get back together without getting professional help first, plus they need to stay away from each other for awhile anyway.