Fame PicturesTry as she might, Britney Spears isn't driving away with a clean rap sheet just yet.
The judge tasked with deciding whether the singer will need to stand trial on a misdemeanor count of driving without a license has once again postponed the inevitable, delaying for the last time (fingers crossed) his ruling on whether Spears will be heading back to court.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James A. Steele was supposed to decide during a pretrial hearing today whether a trial is merited for Spears' August 2007 hit-and-split incident, but he rescheduled for Sept. 16—coincidentally, the same day mama Lynne Spears' memoir, Through the Storm: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World, is due out.
Could be a banner day for the ladies Spears. Or not.
Britney Spears, who has been on her best behavior of late, seemed unconcerned with any court dates over the holiday weekend as she made the rounds in Las Vegas.
Spears' attorney Michael Flanagan has long been a proponent of dismissing the case, and today's scrapped hearing is the latest in several postponements. Just last month the pretrial hearing was delayed while Spears worked on her mental-health fitness.
"I think he's going to rule in my favor," Flanagan told E! News Tuesday, adding that he's expecting a "tentative ruling" in one or two days. "The law is clear. She should have just been issued a notice to correct pursuant to the vehicle code. The law says you shall issue a notice to correct.
"They did not do that. They just moved to prosecute. And she corrected it by obtaining a valid California license before she even got the notice."
If the case is not dismissed, it should go to trial within 30 days of the official ruling, Flanagan said.
The attorney blames the ongoing saga on Spears' celebrity, arguing that she was in possession of a valid Louisiana license when she dinged a parked car last year and that the incident should have come to a much swifter, not to mention less costly, resolution.
—Additional reporting by Claudia Rosenbaum