U.S. marshals take custody of Grammy winner Chris Brown

By Anthony McCartney, AP Entertainment Writer

Thursday, April 3, 2014 | 1:50 p.m.

LOS ANGELES — Chris Brown has been taken into custody by U.S. marshals and will be transported to Washington, D.C., for an upcoming misdemeanor assault trial, an official said Thursday.

Brown was turned over to marshals on Wednesday at a Los Angeles jail, marshals' spokeswoman Laura Vega said. She declined to say when the Grammy winner would be sent to Washington.

The singer and his bodyguard are accused of hitting a man in October outside a Washington hotel. Brown is set to go on trial later this month.

A judge in Los Angeles sent Brown to jail in mid-March after the singer was dismissed from a court-mandated rehab program for anger management and other issues.

Defense attorney Mark Geragos had been trying to block Brown's transfer into marshals' custody, arguing it would deprive him of the opportunity to properly prepare for the trial.

A hearing on the motion had been scheduled for Thursday but was canceled.

Geragos wrote in an email that the U.S. Marshals Service took Brown into custody just hours after the lawyer filed the motion on Tuesday.

Brown, 24, remains under court supervision in Los Angeles for a felony assault case filed after his 2009 attack on then-girlfriend Rihanna.

If convicted in the Washington case, Brown could face additional penalties, including time behind bars, in the attack on Rihanna.