Bobby Brown found guilty of drunk driving; gets five days in jail and drug treatment

Jet, Feb 16, 1998

Bobby Brown recently was convicted of a 1996 drunken driving charge and ordered to spend five days in jail and undergo drug treatment.

Judge Leonard Feiner sentenced Brown to five days in jail, a year of probation and suspended his license for a year. Feiner also ordered Brown to pay a $500 fine, spend 30 days at a residential drug treatment center and serve 100 hours of community service. In addition, the singer-actor must appear in prime-time anti-drug public service announcements. If the television networks refuse to give him free time, he must pay to air the spots.

Brown buried his face in his hands and cried when he learned of his fate. His famed wife, Whitney Houston, was in court and sat behind him and cried as well after hearing the verdict.

The 29-year-old entertainer was on trial after he crashed his black Porsche, which was leased to his wife. The car spun out of control, jumped the curb and struck hedges and a street sign in Hollywood, FL, south of Fort Lauderdale, two years ago. Brown broke four ribs and a foot in the accident.

Prosecutors said the performer's blood-alcohol level after the wreck was above 0.2 percent--more than twice Florida's legal limit--and blood tests showed the presence of drugs.

Defense attorney Robert Buonauro attacked the handling of a blood test administered when Brown was admitted to a hospital and questioned the police's motives in waiting four months to charge him. Buonauro, who said he will appeal, paid $15,000, to keep Brown out of jail.

"He's a person who they are looking at under a microscope," Buonauro said, suggesting police targeted Brown because of his celebrity status.

The prosecution argued that Brown's celebrity status wasn't a factor in his treatment either by police or at the hospital.

"Lady Justice doesn't look at the race of a person or how much money he makes," prosecutor M. Rebeca Stevens said.

Brown and Houston had no comment as they left the courtroom.