‘No One Is Above Law,’ Judge Tells James Brown in Denying New Trial

AIKEN, S.C. —  A judge denied soul singer James Brown a new trial Friday and refused to reduce his six-year prison sentence on charges resulting from a police chase in September.

“Regardless of how much good you’ve done or how big you are, no one is above the law,” Circuit Judge Herbert Long said. “Everyone has to be treated equally.”

Brown was convicted Thursday of two counts of assault and failing to stop for police, charges leveled against him after he led police on a chase Sept. 24 that straddled the Georgia-South Carolina border.

In addition to the six-year prison term, Brown was sentenced to five years of probation and fined $6,000.

Defense attorneys Bill Weeks and James Whittle offered the new trial motion in Aiken Superior Court. Long denied the motion and another asking for a reduction in Brown’s sentence.

Apparently in reference to defense claims that police were “out to get” Brown because he was a celebrity who had had past run-ins with authorities, Long told the singer: “I have no feeling of revenge in my heart.”

Because he was convicted of a nonviolent crime, Brown will be eligible for parole after 18 months, and other factors could further reduce the time, court officials said.

The defense has 10 days to file an appeal in the case, but Brown’s attorneys gave no indication if they would do so. They said they may ask for an appeal bond for Brown, who is being held at the Aiken County Detention Center.