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If Rihanna Forgives Chris, Can He Still Face Charges?

Wed., Mar. 11, 2009 3:40 PM PDT by Leslie Gornstein

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If Rihanna has forgiven Chris Brown, why is the media still dredging it up? She isn't pressing charges. We all need to leave them alone to work things out.
—Elli

I've seen this kind of sanctimonious crap over and over again in our comments section, and while I'd prefer to ignore it and go back to your burning questions about Twilight, I can't.

If Brown indeed beat up Rihanna, that's a crime—and not just against the woman. By law, it's considered a crime against the people. You. Me. Kristen Stewart. Everybody. That's why criminal court cases say things like People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson. The O.J. case didn't read "family of Nicole Brown," it read "people."

And of course RiRi isn't pressing charges, because, unlike the crackling TV cop dramas you obviously watch way too much of...

...Rihanna doesn't have to press charges.

"From a technical point of view, Brown has [allegedly] committed a crime, so it doesn't matter whether the victim wants to press charges or not," Dallas-based family law attorney Mary Jo McCurley explains to me.

"If the police have enough evidence, they may want to move forward because there are societal reasons, other than just what happened to the victim, for moving forward with this."

Even if Rihanna and Brown are recording together—and apparently they are—or marrying or making kids, Brown could still go to jail. For the good of everyone.

"We've learned from past experience that abusers continue to abuse unless there is some sort of intervention," McCurley explains. "Otherwise, the law is going to have to continue to deal with this sort of situation, and it costs everybody money—or worse, you end up with a woman who is very badly injured, or even dead."

Got that, you screwed-up Brown fans? Can I go research more scoops on fake vampires now?

Ask me a question, already!

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