According to a legal expert, Chris Brown may be facing hard prison time for his brawl with Frank Ocean. This is if it can be proven by prosecutors that Frank Ocean was the victim of a hate crime. Frank Ocean is a homosexual singer/songwriter and member of the group Odd Future who has had runaway success as a solo artist.
Chris Brown bumped into Ocean at a studio in California and several versions of what transpired have been documented. Some versions state that Chris Brown was upset that Frank Ocean called Rihanna a “ho”. Another version said it was a dispute over a parking space. Whilst yet another version said Chris Brown called Frank Ocean a “fa**ot”.
“It is my understanding that there have been reports that the altercation between Mr. Chris Brown and Mr. Frank Ocean involved more nefarious issues than a parking space,” Atlanta based lawyer Kevin T. Connor told BOSSIP. “Specifically, it has been suggested that the incident was motivated and fueled by Mr. Brown’s anti-gay sentiments. If it could be established that, indeed, the brawl was motivated by the actual or perceived sexual orientation of the victim, it could be prosecuted as a hate crime in the State of California and/or under federal law.”
Generally speaking, a “hate crime” is one where the accused uses force or threatens the use of force to injure, intimidate, or interfere with another’s exercise of constitutional rights if motivated by the actual or perceived membership in a protected class, including race, religion, gender, and sexual orientation. The litmus test is the motivation of the aggressor, which may be established by the nature of the accused’s prior statements and conduct, including through those exhibited through social media.
Unfortunately Chris has called Frank ocean unbecoming names on social media in the past.
The commission of a hate crime might also expose Mr. Brown to civil liability,” Connor added when discussing the case with BOSSIP. “In such a case, the circumstances do not require the violence be extreme or motivated by hate, or even that the acts constitute a crime.”
“Prosecution under a hate crime statute provides for an enhanced punishment beyond the normal maximum sentence for the underlying crime,” Connor told BOSSIP. “In California, for example, should Mr. Brown be charged and convicted of felony assault in this case, his 2-4 year sentence could be enhanced (increased) under the hate crime statute by another 1-4 years, depending upon whether he is found to have acted in concert with others. Additionally, because Mr. Brown is on probation for his previous assault on Rihanna, he is subject to having the balance of his probation revoked, which is to say that he could go to jail for the remainder of his probationary period in addition to any new sentence.”
While it’s still unclear who started the beef, an eyewitness source told BOSSIP that Breezy actually tried to resolve the dispute at one point:
“Frank started it, Chris was cool, he pulled Frank to the side and was like ‘Yo we don’t need to beef,’ but Frank said ‘Yo, you in my parking spot,’” the source told BOSSIP. “They got into it so Frank’s boy tried to punch Chris outta nowhere so Chris’ boy Hood came and started punching him. They jumped Frank. Chris was punching him and everything moving ni**as away and getting hits in. He stopped because he thought they f***ed up Frank enough but Frank still was trying to get hits in so they f***ed him up again. They were tossing tables and isht, on some bully isht. There was blood everywhere though.”
According to yet another source, “Chris, 23, and Frank, 25, fought over a parking spot outside the studio, at which time the “Don’t Wake Me Up” singer started shouting homophobic comments at openly-gay Frank. A source tells HollywoodLife.com that Chris was saying: “F*ck y’all gay a** n***as.”