Rebel rocker and courtroom fashion plate Courtney Love is expected to surrender to Los Angeles authorities Friday to face new charges of assault with a deadly weapon.
Love, 39, is charged with attacking singer Kristin King with a bottle and a metal flashlight on April 25, 2004. The incident occurred at the home of Love's former boyfriend and manager, Jim Barber. According to a source close to the case, Love showed up unannounced at Barber's home that morning and became enraged to find King sitting on the couch. She allegedly struck the woman with a liquor bottle.
Love's relationship with Barber has a history of alleged misconduct and legal troubles.
On December 15, 2000, the singer filed a lawsuit against Barber's ex-wife, Lesley Barber. The suit, which was later settled, charged that Lesley Barber stalked her, threatened to burn her house down and ran over Love's foot with her Volvo.
In October 2003, police responded to a potential-burglary call at about 2:40 a.m. outside Barber's home, where Love had allegedly broken some windows. Barber did not press charges, but Love admitted to police that she had taken "hillbilly heroin," the slang term for the narcotic painkiller OxyContin.
She was arrested and charged with being under the influence of a controlled substance. In May, she agreed to plead guilty to the misdemeanor drug charge and to enter a drug-rehab program as part of her plea agreement. Sentencing in that case is scheduled for July 16.
Hours after her arrest outside Barber's home, Love allegedly overdosed in her own Beverly Hills home. Police called to the scene would later testify that Love did not possess a prescription for the OxyContin and Vicodin pills in her possession. She has pleaded not guilty to two felony counts of possession of a controlled substance. A pretrial hearing in that case is scheduled for July 15.
Love was also arrested in New York in March for allegedly striking a fan in the head with a microphone stand. Gregory Burrett, who attended a concert where Love was performing on March 18, needed three staples in his head after the rocker allegedly tossed the mic into the audience. She pleaded not guilty in May to charges of assault and reckless endangerment.
Love's latest criminal charge was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on June 2, and an arrest warrant was ordered on Wednesday. According to a press agent at the District Attorney's office, Love is exected to turn herself in Friday for the alleged assault on singer/guitarist King. Because the violation allegedly took place while Love was out on bail, her bond amount was raised from the presumptive $30,000 to $55,000.
The nature of the charge also requires that Love must provide DNA samples -- blood and saliva -- when she is processed at the LA County Sheriff's Department inmate reception center.
Love's criminal attorney, Michael Rosenstein, did not return calls for comment.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/06/10/courtney.love/
