Fame Pictures, IncIt's Adnan against the music.
Britney's Spears' ex-beau Adnan Ghalib voluntarily turned himself in at the Van Nuys, Calif., courthouse this morning to face felony charges for allegedly ramming his car into a process server who was trying to serve the paparazzo with a restraining order on behalf of the pop princess' family.
Ghalib, 36, pleaded not guilty to one count each of assault with a deadly weapon, battery and hit-and-run for the alleged Feb. 11 incident, according to district attorney spokeswoman Jane Robison. He was booked into the Van Nuys jail and released around 11:45 a.m. PT without having to post bail.
No word yet on a court date. If convicted he could face up to seven years in jail.
Meanwhile, a few miles away in downtown Los Angeles, another judge agreed to extend the temporary restraining order against Ghalib, Spears' former manager Osama "Sam" Lutfi and attorney Jon Eardley.
The order will stay in place until April 1 at the request of Spears' father, Jamie, who is managing her affairs via a conservatorship.
Jamie Spears is trying to make the order permanent, and his lawyers are expected to call several witnesses to offer testimony on why the trio should be expelled for good from Britney's life.
Among those expected to take the stand: Daniel Haines, a man who obtained a restraining order against Lutfi two years ago; Stewart Richards, a New Zealander who somehow is linked to the IM screen name supposedly used by Lutfi or Ghalib to contact Britney; Blair Berk, Britney's attorney; a phone expert who talked about photos found on Spears' cell phone that came from an unknown source; and the process server who had the run-in with Ghalib.
Under California state law, the conservatorship grants Papa Spears power to seek restraining orders against those who would contact his daughter; bars her from consulting with any outside attorney; restricts her visitors and meetings; and allows her dad to monitor her phone calls and computer messages.
In this morning's hearing, Eardley's attorney, Roger Diamond, asked to have his client excused from the restraining order, but the judge refused.
The hearing also saw three other Britney insiders testify about the trio.
Hairstylist Roberta Romero claimed she received several "harassing" text messages from Lutfi in December seeking to get in touch with Spears
One of those missives read, "So please just relay to [Britney] the truth so she can free herself." Another stated, "I'm very close to getting her free now...her family sent her to the hospital." In a third, from Dec. 24, Lutfi texted, "Can you wish her a Merry Christmas for me?"
Britney eventually asked Romero to cease all contact with him, the stylist testified.
"He wanted to try to get information from me about Britney," Romero said. "He said he was on her side. I don't trust him and said leave me alone."
Others taking the stand included bodyguard Itamar Gelbman, who spoke about how Romero and Spears informed him of said texts and how the singer "said she was scared" and ordered security beefed up.
—Additional reporting by Claudia Rosenbaum and Whitney English
(Originally published Feb. 25, 2009 at 12:20 p.m. PT.)