Brown charged with battery

Pop singer Bobby Brown has been charged with battery after a weekend domestic dispute with his wife, singing star and actress Whitney Houston, left her with facial injuries, police said Thursday.

The 34-year-old Brown was accompanied by his wife as he turned himself in to authorities on Wednesday. He was released after receiving a copy of the charge, but is scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing Jan. 7, said Fulton County police spokesman Kurtis Young.

Police said they were called to the home of Brown and Houston in the Atlanta suburb of Alpharetta on Sunday evening. Houston, whose hit songs include “I Will Always Love You,” told authorities Brown had struck her with an open right hand.

Brown’s lawyer, Maurice Bennett, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that his client and Houston were trying to work out the problem “as husband and wife.”