Justin Bieber is getting his day in court just as I write this (1:30 PDT) but won’t actually physically be in court as he is charged with one count of misdemeanor vandalism in connection with a Jan. 9 egg assault on his former neighbor’s house in Calabasas, Calif., the Los Angeles County District Attorney said.
It’s expected that the 20-year old will plead “no contest” to the charge of egging the home of Jeff and Suzie Schwartz in January but will not see any jail time. He will be put on probation for a year as well as given community service while being forced to pay over $10,000 in restitution for the damage he caused.
Eggs hurt houses
Yes a dozen eggs can cause serious damage to expensive plaster and imported exterior wood. Because of the dollar amount, Justin Bieber was close to being charged with a felony.
“He did it, so he should be admitting it,” Suzie Schwartz told (New York Daily) The News Wednesday when asked about his plans to not be present at the hearing.
“He should take care of the stuff that he messes up. It shouldn’t matter that he’s a celebrity. He can’t drive the way he does, say the things he does and destroy other people’s property and get away with it,” she said. “They had so much proof, they couldn’t let him off.”
Five days after the “egging” sheriffs deputies raided his house in search of surveillance video.
“The video gave the evidence (detectives) were looking for,” a law enforcement source previously told The News. “There was nothing on the video to suggest it didn’t occur or that it was someone else.”
“I believe the video bolsters our case. It allows us to move forward with what we believed this was all along – a deliberate act directed against a known neighbor,” Lt. David Thompson with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department told The News.
“We believe this meets the standard of a felony based on the witness statements and the surveillance video,” he said. “Kids do egg places, but usually it’s random. This was a neighbor he had a dispute with. It’s pretty clear-cut to me.”
The neighbor’s own video was obtained by TMZ and while it didn’t picture the miscreant it sure sounds like him as he shouts,“F—k you! I got another one for you actually.”
Justin Bieber’s additional legal problems
Justin Bieber has had a tough year legally and was arrested for drag racing a Lamborghini in Miami Beach just weeks after the “egging” incident. He was also charged with resisting arrest and failed his field sobriety test “miserably.” Marijuana, Xanax and alcohol were later found to be in his system.
Justin Bieber still faces criminal charges after allegedly assaulting a limo driver last December.
“We anticipate that this matter will be treated as a summary offense, the equivalent of a misdemeanor in the United States,” Justin Bieber’s lawyer Howard Weitzman said in statement about the Toronto case. “Our position is that Mr. Bieber is innocent.”
