While Britney may be free of her hit & run charges, the city attorney still wants to press charges against Britney for driving without a valid license: The LA City Attorney Michael Amerian refused to reduce misdemeanor charges against Britney Spears for driving without a valid California driver’s license, Spears’ lawyer, J. Michael Flanagan, tells Usmagazine.com outside the courthouse.
Flanagan had been hoping that the City Attorney would agree to reduce Spears’ misdemeanor to a traffic citation after she obtained a valid California driver’s license on October 2. Spears’ attorney says that his client is being held to a higher standard than an ordinary person. “I’ve never seen a 12500 that has been correc.d go down as a misdemeanor with probation and I’ve only been practicing law 37 years,” Flanagan tells Us.
Another sticking point is that Amerian is asking that Spears be placed on probation for 12 months if she pleads guilty to driving without a license. Flanagan said he is not necessarily going to push for a trial, but just wants more time to research Spears’ options. “I just need a little more time to figure out does the prosecution have the right to treat a person this way especially when they have done everything they could to right the situation.”
Spear’s lawyer was in court to address his client’s hit-and-run property damage incident with Kim Robard-Rifkin, the owner of the 1999 grey Mercedes station wagon that Spears mashed into on August 6 in a parking lot in the San Fernando Valley. The run-in was caught on camera, which is how Robard-Rifkin said she found out about it. Spears settled with the 59-year-old nurse to cover the cost of fixing the dent and scratches on her car.
In light of the settlement, Judge Speer and the City Attorney agreed to dismiss the hit-and-run charge. The 25-year-old pop star has another court date tomorrow, when she and ex-husband Keven Federline are expected to appear in front of Judge Scott M. Gordon about their custody arrangements.
