Chris Brown Pleads Guilty to D.C. Assault

The Chris Brown trial regarding his Washington, D.C., assault is still ongoing. Or, at least, it was. Brown went to jail for violating his parole in the 2009 Rihanna assault incident and, now that he has been released, he had to wrap up his legal trouble from the parole-breaking assault incident. According to TMZ, Brown accepted a plea deal and pleaded guilty in the D.C. assault trial, but the reason is likely to leave an even worse taste in your mouth. Apparently, Brown and his attorney told the judge that he wants this case to go away so he can go on tour, which just proves that Brown hasn't learned his lesson at all from all of his legal issues.

When Brown pleaded guilty to the charge, the judge sentenced him with time already served, meaning that Brown is now a free man. To refresh everyone's memory, Brown was arrested in D.C. when he threw a punch at one of two men who tried to photobomb a picture Brown was taking with two women. Brown was also reported to have said "I'm not into this gay shit" at the time, because homophobic statements somehow had a place in the incident. Brown broke the victim's nose and went to rehab before being kicked out and sent to jail instead.

Now, Brown has finally settled a plea bargain in his case and he only settled on this course of action because, according to his lawyer, the legal issues have been preventing him from going on tour? If these allegations are true, then it's really disappointing. After all, since his release from jail, Brown has largely been keeping his head down. He made peace with Drake enough that Brown guest starred during Drake's ESPYs skit, he released new music with Usher, and Brown was even reported to have an excellent probation report the last time he was before a judge.

However, it appears that every time Brown is taking a step forward, he immediately takes another step backward. It's bad enough that he was involved in another assault case while on probation from his first, but for Brown to accept a guilty plea deal so that he can go on tour to promote his next album is not OK. For Brown to only be thinking about how the case has impacted his career, as opposed to how his actions have hurt others (especially the victim) is not OK. For Brown to so blatantly prove that he hasn't learned his lesson despite all that has happened to him is not OK.

According to ABC, Brown's lawyer, Danny Onorato, spoke on behalf of Brown's career: "To say that [Brown's] been punished severely in this matter is an understatement." He also said that Brown's career "has been on hold for nearly a year and he wanted to take responsibility for his actions so he could go back to work, including a tour in support of a new album." Brown's only contribution was to apologize to the court. If this is how Brown is taking responsibility for his actions, then he's not off to a good start. Hopefully, at the very least, he'll take this good fortune for the blessing it is and avoid legal trouble to focus on his career from now on.

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