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Washington - Singer Chris Brown was close to resolving his assault case in a deal that would have kept him out of jail, but talks fell apart on Wednesday when attorneys couldn't agree on what Brown would acknowledge happened during a scuffle that led to his arrest.
Brown was arrested in October and charged with misdemeanour assault after a man accused the singer of hitting him when he tried to get in a photograph Brown was taking with two women outside a Washington hotel. At the time, Brown was on probation in California for a 2009 attack on singer Rihanna, his then girlfriend.
Prosecutor Kevin Chambers said in court that Brown rejected a deal to plead guilty to misdemeanour assault and receive a sentence of time served. Brown spent the night in jail in Washington after his arrest and also served time in California after acknowledging he violated probation by committing a crime in Washington. He was released from jail in early June.
The Grammy-winning artist has had several flare-ups since the attack on Rihanna, including being accused of breaking a window after a 2011 Good Morning America interview and being involved in a fistfight with singer Frank Ocean's entourage, but none of them have led to charges. He also went to rehab for anger management, but was kicked out.
In the Washington case, the singer's attorney, Mark Geragos, said defense lawyers and prosecutors couldn't agree on a statement of facts about what happened outside the W hotel.
"They wanted him to read from a script that wasn't true," Geragos said after the hearing.
Asked what disagreement was over, Geragos declined to say.
The attorneys had been in talks until hours before the hearing, but could not resolve the issue. A trial for Brown was scheduled for 8 September. It is expected to take a day and a half.
"If they want a trial, that's what they'll get," Geragos said outside court where fans mobbed Brown, screaming and taking photographs of the singer.
Also in court was Brown's bodyguard, Christopher Hollosy, who was charged in the same Washington scuffle. Hollosy was accused of being the second person after Brown to strike Parker Adams, the man who said Brown became agitated after Adams tried to take a selfie with Brown and two women Adams was with. Hollosy was convicted of misdemeanor assault in April but has not yet been sentenced.
Hollosy's attorney, Bernard Grimm, was granted more time to ask for a new trial after he said there was potential new evidence in the case. He did not say publicly what it was.
Brown's lawyers have said they want Hollosy to testify at Brown's trial. He's expected to say that he, not Brown, struck Adams.
