Surrender Or Else...

[From E! Online]

Judge to Bobby: Surrender or Else

by Julie Keller
Jul 9, 2004, 5:05 PM PT

The seemingly never-ending saga of Bobby and Whitney is, well, not ending anytime soon.

A judge in Atlanta has ordered Bobby Brown to turn himself into authorities by Sunday on charges he smacked around wife Whitney Houston in December.

Brown must surrender to jail authorities for fingerprinting. The judge says he will then release the R&B-singing trouble magnet on $2,000 bail. If Brown skips out on his jail cameo (as he is prone to do), a bench warrant will be issued for his arrest.

The order stems from a May ruling that there is enough evidence for Brown to go to trial on a misdemeanor battery charge alleging he hit Houston in the face during a domestic dispute at their Alpharetta, Georgia, home.

So far, no trial date has been set--senior court clerk Lanny Lipsky told the Associated Press that it "could be as far down as a year before it comes up." But if convicted, Brown could face up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine. Charges are normally dismissed, however, if the defendant gets counseling.

Soon after his Dec. 7 arrest, the couple went into PR overdrive. Brown appeared on Dateline NBC and called the argument a "little spat" that was a "slap boxing" match gone awry.

If Brown's lawyer, Maurice Bennett, is to be believed, Brown shouldn't have any trouble dealing with the new legal order. Bennett told the Associated Press that his client is "doing some very good things in his life."

Brown recently appeared with his wife during her Soul Divas concert with Dionne Warwick and Natalie Cole Wednesday in Hamburg, Germany. He escorted Houston on and off stage and even danced with her during her rendition of "I Wanna Dance with Somebody."

But it remains to be seen if the former New Edition singer can stick to the straight and narrow. He's been in and out of court and jail many times in recent years.

Most recently, this past February, he camped out in the big house for a month for multiple probation violations. He then spent another night in jail for not paying a former lover more than $60,000 in back child support payments.

 

NEWSFILE: 9 JULY 2004