Justin Bieber will reportedly be charged with vandalism this Monday over his alleged role in egging his former neighbor’s Calabasas, Los Angeles house. As of press time it’s not known whether the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office will charge the singer with a felony or misdemeanor vandalism charge.
Justin Bieber’s fate for his alleged role in a vandalism case comes full circle today, just over six months after a house-egging incident.
The 20-year-old is reportedly set to be charged with vandalism by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office today ( June 16.)
As of press time it’s not known whether Bieber will face a felony or misdemeanor vandalism charge, according to TMZ .
On January 9, the daughter of Bieber’s former neighbor in The Oaks — a gated enclave in Calabasas, California — reported the egging of the family’s residence as an assault. Jeffrey Schwartz and his then 13-year-old daughter alleged the “ Baby ” star hurled a number of eggs at the front door of their home early that evening.
Schwartz went on to submit an estimate of $20,000 damages to his home allegedly from the egging. The high figure was reportedly due to expensive finishings and materials.
With an accusation now made against Bieber, a felony vandalism investigation was opened by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office.
Just five days after the egging, a Defcon 5 police raid authorized by a felony search warrant took place at Bieber’s former Calabasas house involving 11 patrol cars, multiple helicopters, investigators and a battering ram. The singer later sold up to reality TV’s Khloe Kardashian.
During the raid, Bieber’s surveillance video hard drives and iPhone were seized.
As per CNN , since then Justin’s Los Angeles legal team met with D.A. prosecutors in March in an attempt to persuade them that the egging was “a silly prank,” and that as Bieber has no criminal record it should be treated as a misdemeanor.
Things have changed since then.
Over in Miami, Bieber’s legal team are reportedly dotting the “I’s” on a plea deal agreement with prosecutors in the singer’s DUI case .
Settlement terms reportedly include the Canadian pleading guilty to reckless driving, paying a fine and attending anger management classes.
Pleading guilty to reckless driving puts a criminal offence on Bieber’s record and may have a bearing on whether District Attorney Jackie Lacey wil press felony or vandalism charges.
In addition to amateur video shot by the Schwartz family during the egging mess — in which Jeffrey can be heard engaging in an F-bomb trade-off with an unseen male, allegedly Justin — police claim the singer’s own home surveillance video implicates him.
In April, KTTV FOX 11 aired a portion of surveillance video removed from Justin’s former Calabasas home during the raid.
It revealed the blurry image of a male, which may or may not have been the singer, “high-fiving” other males in a Calabasas road the night of the egging while wearing a sweatshirt and cap allegedly also seen on an Instagram photo of Bieber that he posted the day after.
Detectives stated in an affidavit for a search warrant for Bieber’s Instagram account that the clothes worn by him in the photo matched a description given by Schwartz and his daughter, of attire that they allegedly witnessed Justin wearing while allegedly egging their home.
A high resolution match of the image of the male in question on the video has yet to be made publicly available.
It’s no secret that the Sheriff’s department want Bieber charged with a felony and have been pushing for that since officially recommending it to the D.A’s office.
Amid reports that the D.A.’s office was split over calling an egging a felony and a degree of skepticism over the damages figure, last month TMZ claimed the prosecutor who took over the case told Schwartz, “If this isn’t a felony, nothing is.”
What are the legal consequences if Bieber is charged with felony or misdemeanor vandalism?
Under California Penal Code Section 594 , if physical damages from a criminal act are more than $400 the D.A. has discretion whether to prosecute the offence as a misdemeanor or a felony in what’s informally known as “wobbler” cases.
Under a felony charge, Bieber could face a jail sentence of between one and three (3) year and/or a fine – in his case – of beyond $10,000.
Under a misdemeanor charge, Justin could face up to one year in a county jail and/or a fine of up to $1,000.
The damages estimate and alleged identification of Bieber on video will be determinants that influence whether a misdemeanor or felony vandalism charge comes down today.
Once the vandalism charge is laid, if the case goes to trial the state will have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Bieber maliciously defaced, destroyed or damaged the property of another.
Have the wheels of justice finally caught up with Bieber after close but no cigar calls in other cases?
Do you think a felony charge for his alleged egging is absurd or reasonable, or do you think a misdemeanor charge is more appropriate?
Weigh in with your thoughts in comments below. We want to hear from you on this.
[ Images via Instagram. ]