Rihanna is expected to break four months of silence on Monday and sing on the witness stand about her alleged beating by boyfriend Chris Brown.
The “Umbrella” hitmaker could face a deluge of questions about the choking, biting and “barrage of punches” she received, according to a police affidavit, during a violent pre-Grammy night lovers’ quarrel last February.
Rihanna, 21, was subpoenaed by prosecutors who must demonstrate they have sufficient evidence to try Brown on felony charges of assault and making criminal threats.
R&B star Brown, 20, has pleaded not guilty.
“[The subpoena] is not a guarantee they will call her as a witness, but I fully expect that they will,” Rihanna’s lawyer Donald Etra told the Daily News. “She will testify truthfully.”
Sources said Rihanna initially considered reconciliation with Brown.
But the Barbados-born beauty has reportedly moved on to new romantic and career interests in New York.
“Who knows what she’ll say? But it’s wise for the prosecution to put her on now because if she refuses to testify at trial, they can use her preliminary hearing testimony,” said Loyola Law School Prof. Stanley Goldman, a former public defender in Los Angeles County.
Brown’s lawyer, Mark Geragos, took his attempt to postpone today’s hearing all the way to the California Supreme Court.
He argued that a Superior Court judge erred in denying his request to review internal police records related to the police photo of Rihanna’s bruised and bloody face that was leaked to gossip site TMZ.com.
“This highly prejudicial photograph was sold by an LAPD officer to [TMZ],” Geragos argued in a court filing. “The purpose of the leak was certainly to vilify the defendant and deprive him of a fair trial.”
Geragos said the files might offer ammunition he could use to attack the credibility of any police officers called to the stand.
The state Supreme Court declined to intervene in the case.
(source)
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