Dec 23, 2005 7:40 pm US/Eastern
Foxy Brown Rapper Flap In NYC Courtroom
NEW YORK (AP) ―
Rapper Foxy Brown was handcuffed, threatened with jail and made to apologize today after she stuck her tongue
out at a judge who told her to stop chewing gum.
Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Melissa Jackson told Brown she was showing disrespect to the court and told Brown's lawyer, Joseph Fleming, that she didn't "like her attitude."
Brown denied she was chewing gum, but the judge said she believed she was. At that, Brown opened her mouth and stuck her tongue out. Jackson ordered the rapper handcuffed to a bench along a courtroom wall.
While Brown was being handcuffed, a ruckus erupted in which she and a female court officer yelled at each other. Brown shouted that the numerous bracelets and bangles on her left wrist were in the way, and struck the officer.
The judge gave Brown two chances to apologize. After the first, Fleming seemed to be telling the judge that Brown didn't feel she had anything to apologize for.
The judge told the lawyer to tell his client that without the apology, she would find Brown in contempt of court. A contempt charge carries 30 days in jail and a $1-thousand dollars fine.
The rapper, both hands cuffed, then appeared before the judge and apologized.
Brown came to court expecting to plead guilty to a misdemeanor and get a non-jail sentence stemming from a fight over a manicure bill in a Chelsea nail salon. The deal hit a snag, apparently because the judge was unsatisfied with Brown's plea statement.
A prosecutor said the statement was legally and factually deficient, indicating that Brown hadn't accepted enough blame for the manicure fracas.
The judge set a return date of January 23rd for Brown.
Brown, whose real name is Inga Marchand, is accused of assaulting two nail salon workers last year, in a fight over
payment for a manicure. Prosecutors alleged that Brown, with a cell phone clutched in her closed fist, attacked and kicked one worker, and hit a second worker in the face.
Under the proposed plea deal discussed at her last court appearance, Brown would have pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and served 10 days of community service.
(© 2005 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Comments