Rapper Foxy Brown Trial Set for July

Rapper Foxy Brown, accused of assaulting two nail salon workers in a fight over payment for a manicure, will go on trial in July, a judge said Friday.

Brown, 26, whose real name is Inga Marchand, is charged with misdemeanor assault in the Aug. 29, 2004, incident. Prosecutors allege she kicked one worker and hit the other in the face.
During her last court appearance in December, Brown was to have entered a guilty plea to a misdemeanor. But the session was derailed when Judge Melissa Jackson accused the rapper of disrespect and making faces at her.

"I don't like her attitude," Jackson then told Brown's lawyer Joseph Fleming.

A ruckus also developed when Brown was handcuffed during the December session. She shouted at a female court officer that her numerous bracelets were "in the way," and allegedly struck the officer.

Jackson said Brown could either apologize or serve up to 30 days in jail. Brown apologized, but did not enter the plea. Assistant District Attorney Gary Galperin had said the statement was legally and factually flawed, and indicated that Brown had not accepted enough blame for the nail salon fracas.

On Friday, Brown appeared before Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Gerald Harris, without incident. She arrived in court wearing her hair in two long pigtails, brown knee-length pants, stiletto heels and a clinging T-shirt with a tiger image.

Harris set a hearing and trial date for July 17, and extended orders of protection for the nail salon workers.

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