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Chris Brown Pleads Guilty, Gets "Celebrity Justice"?

By Javier Lavagnino, Esq. on June 23, 2009 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

The perception that celebrities receive a different kind of justice than the rest of the world is probably shared by many. So why should Chris Brown's reported plea deal, where he gets no jail time on a felony assault charge, be any surprise? Well, perhaps some people expected that maybe, just maybe, the alleged "beating, choking and biting" of young pop star diva Rihanna might be enough to garner him at least a brief taste of the jail life.

Well, nix that idea. A judge in L.A. yesterday accepted Brown's plea deal whereby he avoid jail time in exchange for 5 years of probation and 6 months of community service (to be fair, that's a lengthy probationary period). So, it looks like folks in his home state Virginia might be able to look forward to some cleaner streets and walls courtesy of Chris Brown, who was told he'd have "to get his hands dirty" by doing work similar to cleaning up roadside trash and graffiti.

His attorney, Mark Geragos, was pretty happy with the result, "This is a kid who's never been in trouble before...He embraces this as chance to get the message out that domestic violence will not be tolerated. He wants to get his life back on track." So the message here is that domestic violence will not be tolerated?

The judge in the case apparently also wanted to keep Rihanna and Brown's chances of reconciliation down, at least for the immediate future. She issued a stay-away order (which Rihanna didn't ask for) requiring both of them to stay "at least 50 yards" from each other. However, Rihanna is already indicating she "she might ask for its terms to be loosened" after Brown's sentencing in August.

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