Dramatic new developments in the Chris Brown case are poised to develop as Brown’s high powered attorney, Mark Geragos, formally filed a motion late Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court seeking access to internal LAPD records.
Geragos believes that the chilling, beaten Rihanna photo was illegally leaked to the media by an LAPD officer and could lead to the case being dismissed.
The attorney states in the new motion that Rihanna, whose real name is Robyn Fenty, was very concerned about information being leaked to the media.
Prior to the photo being leaked to celebrity gossip site TMZ, Geragos’ motion states that, “Ms. Fenty requested that the police reports related to this incident be kept confidential, and a Request for Confidentiality of Information was completed.”
That clearly wasn’t enough to ensure her privacy.
Will Chris Brown’s case be dismissed based on the controversial leak?
“I’m informed and believe that on or about February 19, 2009, a photograph taken by the LAPD depicting physical injuries on Ms. Fenty was illegally leaked to the media. Specifically, I am informed and believe that this highly prejudicial photograph was sold by an LAPD officer to the entertainment website, TMZ.”
“The photograph was immediately viewed by hundreds of thousands of viewers and was displayed on every news channel for several weeks. In fact, the photograph still remains on the TMZ website. The purpose of the leak was necessarily for profit and to vilify Mr. Brown and poison the potential jury pool.”
“The defense intends to prove and argue that the afore-mentioned officers are not credible and that the Court should not believe any or all of their testimony.”
“If the Court does not believe these statements, I believe there is a reasonable likelihood that the case will be dismissed at the preliminary hearing.”
Geragos goes on to say that the leaking of a photograph (for profit or not) of a complaining witness violates a variety of criminal and regulatory prohibitions.
In and of itself, these actions not only constitute demonstratable bias on the part of the involved officers, but are grounds for dismissal, he believes.
Sources close to Chris Brown say that ongoing plea bargain talks with the district attorney are moving forward, but there isn’t a resolution, yet.
Brown’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 28. He has pleaded not guilty to two felony charges, assault and criminal threats. Stay tuned.