Foxy Brown appeared in court in Florida yesterday and pleaded not guilty to charges relating to that previously reported incident at a beauty store in the state's Broward County. Brown, aka Inga Marchand, was, of course, charged with battery in relation to her dispute with Queens Beauty Shop owner Sam Hayssam, as well as with resisting an officer without violence.
As you will no doubt remember, it's alleged that Marchand arrived at the shop close to closing time and purchased some hair glue, retiring to the store's bathroom to use the product to fix her hair. Hayssam claims that when he told her that the shop was closing and asked her to vacate the bathroom, she became violent, spraying him with the hair glue, spitting at him and causing damage to the store's displays.
The rap star was late for the hearing, due to the late running of her flight from New York. She had already missed one court date in relation to the incident, an arrest warrant being issued on 22 March when she failed to show at a previously scheduled hearing. Lawyers explained yesterday that she had not intended to miss the date, but that the notice of arraignment was sent to her old address and she did not receive it. A full trial has been scheduled to take place in June.
Marchand didn't speak in the courtroom, but outside told reporters that she was planning to "stand up and fight and take care of this". The hip hopper previously held a press conference in Brooklyn, protesting her innocence, and claiming to be "the victim of an overzealous police department who engaged in police brutality and a money hungry store owner whose motives are for me to pay his mortgage on his house and his children's tuition".