Chris Brown's bodyguard said he, not singer, punched man: detective

[April 08, 2014]  By Lacey Johnson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — A bodyguard for R&B singer Chris Brown told police that it was he, not Brown, who punched a man in the face outside a hotel in Washington last year, a detective involved in Brown's arrest said in court on Monday.

Brown and the bodyguard, Christopher Hollosy, are both facing misdemeanor assault charges for allegedly punching a man who was trying to board Brown's tour bus outside Washington's W Hotel in October.

Police Detective Kimberly Metivier testified in Washington Superior Court that Hollosy yelled for officers to arrest him, not Brown, for hitting the man after he tried to board the singer's tour bus.

"He was yelling on his own accord that he was the one who did it ... and not to arrest Mr. Brown," said Metivier, adding that Hollosy said, "I punched him — not Chris."

Hollosy's attorney, Bernard Grimm, requested that the confession be suppressed as evidence at trial because his client had not been read his Miranda rights. The judge presiding over Monday's evidentiary hearing, Patricia Wynn, denied the motion. Wynn also ruled to have Brown and Hollosy's cases tried separately, against protests from prosecutors.

Brown, who did not appear at the hearing on Monday, has rejected a deal from prosecutors to plead guilty to simple assault. A lawyer for Brown, Danny Onorato, told reporters the deal had been turned down because "Chris Brown's not guilty."

The 24-year-old singer was jailed last month after violating his probation when he was dismissed from a facility where he was receiving court-ordered treatment related to his 2009 assault of his then-girlfriend, singer Rihanna.

In the 2009 case, Brown was sentenced to five years' probation, community labor and domestic violence counseling.

Brown's probation was revoked by a Los Angeles judge last month following the Washington fracas. He was not taken into custody because of good reports on his progress in a court-ordered rehabilitation program.

Brown's probation was also revoked in July after he was charged in a May hit-and-run traffic accident. A Los Angeles judge reinstated probation in August after Brown agreed to complete an additional 1,000 hours of community service.

Since the 2009 sentence, Brown has been involved in altercations with rapper Drake and his entourage in a New York nightclub and R&B singer Frank Ocean in a Los Angeles parking lot.

(Editing by Scott Malone and Leslie Adler)

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