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Chris Brown avoids prison time for brawling at a London nightclub · Best of: Features

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  Chris Brown avoided prison time for brawling at a London nightclub Written
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  by Brian Melly This article is being read by an automated voice
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  generated by Everlet. LONDON, the AP. Grammy winning singer Chris Brown
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  avoided prison time Monday for beating a music producer with a tequila
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  bottle at a London nightclub three years ago. The thirty seven year
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  old was given an eight month sentence, suspended for a year. He
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  had faced up to three years in prison, after pleading guilty to
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  a count of
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  a fray in July, for the attack on the dance floor of
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  Tape, a private club in the Swanky Mayfair neighborhood, in february twenty
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  twenty three. Video footage played in Court.
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  Showed Brown having to be pulled away from the victim, his former
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  friend Abraham Da, after striking him twice in the head with a
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  bottle. The repeated use of a glass bottle in that way, especially
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  aimed at the had was plainly dangerous. It carried the risk of
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  delivering a more serious injury than was ultimately sustained, Judge Tony Baumgartner
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  said in Southwark Crown Court. Despite the seriousness of the attack, Baumgartner
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  said Brown did not qualify for a custodial sentence, because he pleaded
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  guilty, and there were several mitigating circumstances, including stable employment and charity
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  work. The judge acknowledged Brown's previous convictions, but said he had maintained
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  a clean record in recent years. Previous brushes with the law. Brown
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  has faced repeated legal trouble since his felony conviction in the two
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  thousand nine assault of his then girlfriend, Rihanna, hours before the pair
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  were due to perform at the Grammys. He has been arrested in
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  several US states over altercations, but was either not charge or prosecutors
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  later dropped the charges. In twenty nineteen he was arrested in Paris
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  and questioned on suspicion of rape, but was released without charge. In
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  return for his guilty plea, prosecutors dropped charges of assault, attempting to
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  cause grievous bodily harm, and having an offensive weapon, a bottle. Brown
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  friend and vocal coach Omololu Akinlolu also pleaded guilty to a fray
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  and was given a four-month suspended sentence. A fray is the use
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  or threat of unlawful violence that leads someone to fear for their
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  safety. Brown has apologized for the attack. Prosecutor Heidi Stonecliffe said
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  Brown played a leading role in the attack. By any circumstances, when
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  one watches that footage, it is mister Brown that moves first, Stonecliffe
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  said. Defense lawyer Sally Bennett Jenkins said Brown apologized to all those
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  at the club that night, though she emphasized the attack lasted no
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  more than twenty seconds. This is an ugly and unattractive incident, Bennett
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  Jenkins said. It is something which undoubtedly would have caused distress to
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  those who are present, and for which mister Brown offers a profound
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  apology to all those present. Diaw was discharged from the hospital with
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  head and knee injuries, Stonecliffe said. Crowds greet Brown outside court. Brown
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  was cheered outside the courthouse by fans who came from as far
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  as Italy and the Netherlands. His face was covered by a black
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  mask and dark glasses, and his bleached hair was mostly hidden from
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  view under a black ball cap. He wore a black leather jacket
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  and light colored turtleneck. He blew a kiss to one fan and
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  appeared to sign an autograph for another as he moved through a
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  pack of photographers and onlookers. Not everyone was cheering for him. When
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  he arrived at court in the morning, a lone voice could be
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  heard shouting at him to ask when He was going to learn
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  that violence is not okay. Brown left the United Kingdom after the
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  brawl but was arrested in may twenty twenty five at a Manchester
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  hotel after flying to the city for a concert. He had been
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  free on bail of five million pounds, six point seven million dollars,
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  which allowed him to tour Europe and North America the past two
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  summers. Brown rose to stardom as a teen in 2005 and won
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  his first Grammy for Best R B Album in 2011 for fame.
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  He earned his second in the same category for 1111 Deluxe in
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  2025.