E! Online Report...
Bobby and Whitney Go Courtin'
Mon Nov 25, 9:15 PM ET
By Joal Ryan
Some celeb couples show off their couple status on the red carpet. Then there's
Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown. They seem to prefer the courtroom.
The R&B duo was back at it Monday, putting in face time in a Decatur,
Georgia, hall of justice. Per usual, the appearance was the result of Mr. Brown's deeds.
Or, as authorities allege, misdeeds.
Brown is in hot water--again--for a November 7 arrest in Atlanta in which police pulled
over the onetime teen heartthrob for alleged speeding and subsequently also booked him on
suspicion of not having a driver's license, not having proof of insurance and having a
baggie of pot.
The traffic and drug charges may be the least of Brown's troubles--police say Brown had
less than an ounce of marijuana on him.
The bigger deal is the court hearing that Brown skipped the last time he was arrested in
Georgia for speeding. Brown's 1996 bust in DeKalb County also saw the singer accused of
driving under the influence, not signaling a lane change and (stop, us if you've heard
this one before) not having proof of insurance.
It's the old case that prompted Brown's appearance today in Decatur.
The lawyer for the former New Edition boy bander asked the judge to dismiss the charges
stemming from the 1996 arrest, saying that since it happened so long ago no one would
remember what happened.
State Court Judge Wayne Purdom wasn't buying. He ordered Brown to face the music, setting
a January 21 trial date.
In court, Brown, 33, didn't look the bad boy more famous now for his numerous arrests than
for his long-ago reign as the King of New Jack Swing. He wore a grown-up, staid dark suit
and played the responsible adult who held hands and conferred quietly with the wife.
The wife, aka Whitney, accessorized with a lavender scarf, looking stylish, if a little
gaunt and fried in the hair department.
The couple didn't talk to the press, but Brown's attorney Xavier Dicks told Reuters that
his celeb defendant "feels he's getting a fair shake."
Brown did try to settle the 1996 case once before. Back in 1997, he asked if he
could plea without, you know, actually showing up in court. But then as now, the judge
(the same one he went before Monday) wasn't buying. When Brown didn't put in a live
appearance in his courtroom, an arrest warrant was issued.
Brown most recently served 26 days in a Florida jail relating to a 1996
drunken-driving case in that state.
Barring any further run-ins with the law, Brown and Houston will next be seen
sitting across from Diane Sawyer, in a prime-time chat to air on ABC's 20/20 early next
month. The interview was taped in Atlanta the day after Brown's most recent arrest but was
arranged long before, ostensibly to hype Houston's new album, Just Whitney.
According to the New York Post, Sawyer originally was only interested in talking
to Houston, herself the subject of drug rumors since a January 2000 marijuana bust in
Hawaii, but then her hubby made himself newsworthy again.
At least Bobby Brown can be counted on for something.
NEWSFILE: 25 NOVEMBER 2002
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