Judge Rules That Leaked Photo of Rihanna Has No Bearing on Chris Brown Assault Case

A judge ruled today that a leaked photo of battered pop star Rihanna has no bearing on the assault charge against her boyfriend, R&B singer Chris Brown.

Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg denied a motion by Brown’s attorney that sought records of the internal LAPD probe into the leak of the photo. Although Schnegg said the leak was ‘not a good thing’ and may be a criminal matter, she said it wasn’t relevant to the singer’s preliminary hearing on June 22.

Although the motion introduced by Brown’s attorney was unsuccessful, a skillfully executed pretrial motion sometimes has an enormous impact on a criminal case.