Rapper faces trial on assault charges

Rapper faces trialon assault charges
NEW YORK -- Rapper Foxy Brown, accused of assaulting two nail salon workers in a fight over payment for a manicure, will go on trial in July, a judge said Friday.
Brown, 26, whose real name is Inga Marchand, is charged with misdemeanor assault in the Aug. 29, 2004, incident. Prosecutors allege she kicked one worker and hit the other in the face.
During her last court appearance in December, Brown was to have entered a guilty plea to a misdemeanor. But the session was derailed when Judge Melissa Jackson accused the rapper of disrespect and making faces at her.
"I don't like her attitude," Jackson then told Brown's lawyer Joseph Fleming.
A ruckus also developed when Brown was handcuffed during the December session. She shouted at a female court officer that her numerous bracelets were "in the way," and allegedly struck the officer.
Jackson said Brown could either apologize or serve up to 30 days in jail. Brown apologized, but did not enter the plea. Assistant District Attorney Gary Galperin had said the statement was legally and factually flawed, and indicated that Brown had not accepted enough blame for the nail salon fracas.
On Friday, Brown appeared before Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Gerald Harris, without incident. She arrived in court wearing her hair in two long pigtails, brown knee-length pants, stiletto heels and a clinging T-shirt with a tiger image.
Harris set a hearing and trial date for July 17, and extended orders of protection for the nail salon workers.
Today's birthdays
Novelist Herman Wouk is 91. Actor Christopher Lee is 84. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is 83. Actress Lee Meriwether is 71. Musician Ramsey Lewis is 71. Actor Louis Gossett Jr. is 70. Rhythm-and-blues singer Raymond Sanders (The Persuasions) is 67. Country singer Don Williams is 67. Actor Bruce Weitz is 63. Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) is 62. Singer Bruce Cockburn is 61. Singer Siouxsie Sioux (The Creatures, Siouxsie and the Banshees) is 49. Actor Todd Bridges is 41. Rock musician Sean Kinney (Alice In Chains) is 40. Rock singer-musician Brian Desveaux (Nine Days) is 35. Country singer Jace Everett is 34. Rapper Andre 3000 (Outkast) is 31. Rapper Jadakiss is 31. TV chef Jamie Oliver is 31.