Facing Charges...

[From Associated Press]

R&B singer Brown to face charges he hit wife

The Associated Press - ATLANTA

R&B singer Bobby Brown will be in court Wednesday on charges that he hit his wife Whitney Houston in the face.

Brown, 34, is scheduled to appear before Fulton County Magistrate Judge Barry Zimmerman for a preliminary hearing. The outcome of the hearing will determine if there is enough evidence to go to trial on the misdemeanor battery charge.

Brown has described the Dec. 7 incident as a "little spat." In an interview with Dateline NBC, he said he and Grammy-winning singer Houston were goofing around and that he did not hit his wife.

"I'm not saying it was made up. It was just, like, we play like that. We play slap box," Brown said in the Friday interview. "That's what we do, and you know, I guess one she just took it a little serious, and she'll tell you the same thing."

Brown was unavailable for comment on Tuesday. An automated message at the singer's Alpharetta home, which he shares with Houston, stated the voicemail box was full.

Houston's publicist in Los Angeles, Nancy Seltzer, did not immediately return calls, and attempts to reach Houston were unsuccessful.

According to a Fulton County Police Department report, Houston called authorities Dec. 7 and said she and Brown had been in a fight at their home about 10:20 p.m.

Houston, 40, told police that Brown said he was going to beat her "and then struck the left side of her face with an open right hand," the report states.

"The victim had visible injuries to her face which included a bruise on her left cheek approximately 1 inch in diameter and a cut upper lip on the inner upper left portion of her mouth," the report says.

No arrest was made because, according to the report, Brown left about five minutes after the incident to catch a plane to Los Angeles.

Brown addressed the report's specifics in the Dateline interview, saying, "I got big hands, man. I would hurt her, you know? It would be more than just a little cut on the lip."

Simple battery is punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. Normally on a first offense in domestic-violence cases, the charge is dismissed if the defendant undergoes counseling.

Brown's attorney, Vincent Dimmock, did not immediately return messages left by The Associated Press Monday and Tuesday. A receptionist indicated the attorney was out of town until Tuesday afternoon.

Brown has been jailed twice this year. In February, he spent a month jail for multiple probation violations before being released a month early for a March child-support hearing in Massachusetts.

In Massachusetts, he spent another night in jail before paying more than $60,000 in back child-support payments.

Brown and Houston have been married since 1992 and have a 10-year-old daughter, Bobbi Kristina.

 

NEWSFILE: 4 MAY 2004