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CeeLo Green, Chris Brown Make Court Appearances In Downtown LA

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — For at least one day, a downtown Los Angeles courthouse may have been the top place in the city to spot a Hollywood celebrity.

KNX 1070's Jon Baird reports singers CeeLo Green and Chris Brown and actor Ryan O'Neal were all scheduled for court hearings Wednesday.

CeeLo, Chris Brown, Ryan O'Neal Set For LA Court Hearings

Singer and "The Voice" coach Green, who is accused of slipping ecstasy to a woman during dinner at a downtown restaurant, showed up in court for a preliminary hearing wearing all black and dark glasses and holding the hand of a young woman.

Attorneys blocked the 38-year-old singer — whose legal name is Thomas Calloway — for most of the proceedings in an effort to get the judge to prohibit cameras in the courtroom. Before the hearing, an attorney for Green argued against allowing a TV camera into the proceedings, claiming the focus would be the singer himself and not the actual trial.

Despite the plea, the judge allowed the camera. Green was ordered back to court in January.

Green pleaded not guilty in October to one count of furnishing a controlled substance, MDMA/ecstasy. If convicted, Green faces up to four years in state prison, according to prosecutors.

Fellow Grammy winner Brown also appeared in court to update a judge on his probation for his 2009 attack on singer Rihanna.

The judge ordered Brown to complete 90 days of rehab and prohibited him from leaving Los Angeles County after a probation hearing Wednesday. Brown was also ordered to complete 20 hours a week of community service.

Wednesday's hearing was the first time Brown was in court since he was arrested last month in Washington, D.C., after a 20-year-old man accused Brown of punching him after he tried to get in a photo with the R&B singer.

Brown recently underwent treatment for anger management, but left the rehab facility after only two weeks, according to TMZ.

A judge also heard final pretrial motions in a lawsuit filed against "Love Story" actor O'Neal by the University of Texas demanding he hand over an Andy Warhol portrait of O'Neal's longtime love interest, the late Farrah Fawcett.

Superior Court Judge William MacLaughlin is being asked to determine whether the university's lawyers can tell the jury about the actor's alleged infidelity during a temporary breakup with Fawcett in 1997.

(TM and © Copyright 2013 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2013 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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