Attorney: Russell Brand to fight charges
British comedian Russell Brand arrives at Amnesty International's Secret Policeman's Ball at Radio City Music Hall in New York. (March 4, 2012) Credit: Getty Images
Robert Glass, an attorney for British comedian Russell Brand, vowed to E! News Sunday, "We're going to fight" charges that Brand tossed a photographer's iPhone through a window in New Orleans last Monday.
A warrant for Brand's arrest was issued Thursday. Contrary to reports he had turned himself in that day, New Orleans Police Department spokeswoman Remi Braden said in a statement, "Officers picked up Mr. Brand from Harrah's Casino, where he was working on [a] film. He was arrested without incident" and quickly posted $5,000 bail.
The "Arthur" and "Get Him to The Greek" star, 36, was charged with misdemeanor damage to property in the amount of $700, The Times-Picayune reports. The New Orleans newspaper noted that in Louisiana, the charge is generally a felony when property damage exceeds $500.
TMZ.com reported Sunday that the comedian plans to argue he was being provoked when he grabbed photographer Timothy Jackson's smartphone and threw it through the window of a law firm. The incident occurred on the 500 block of Julia Street in New Orleans' Warehouse District, The Times-Picayune said.
A representative for that law firm told E! News the window was replaced and paid for by a company called Lamb Productions.
Brand, Julianne Hough, Holly Hunter and recent Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer have been in New Orleans shooting "Juno" screenwriter Diablo Cody's untitled directorial debut, which initially was called "Lamb of God."
In the movie, Hough stars as a religious woman who loses her faith after a plane crash, goes to Las Vegas to live it up as a sinner and eventually reclaims her faith with the help of an unlikely friend played by Brand.
Last Wednesday, Brand jokingly confessed in a tweet, "Since Steve Jobs died I cannot bear to see anyone use an iphone irreverently, what I did was a tribute to his memory."
