Bobby Brown Gets Suspended Sentence

CANTON, Mass. – R&B singer Bobby Brown (search) was given a suspended sentence after missing three child support payments in a Massachusetts paternity case.

Brown was sentenced to 90 days in jail Tuesday for contempt of court by Norfolk County Family Court Judge Paula Carey, but the sentence was immediately suspended because the payments had been made Monday, said Patrick McDermott, the court's Register of Probate.

Brown, 35, was jailed in March for one day after failing to pay $63,500 he owed Kim Ward of Stoughton, the mother of two of his children, now 12 and 14. He was released after paying the debt.

Tuesday's hearing was held to determine whether he had complied with a court order to make monthly payments of roughly $5,000.

The sentence can be imposed if Brown fails to make his scheduled payments.

"I'm still trying, you know," Brown said after the hearing. "Working, you know, and that's the most I can do. I can work harder, you know, to try to keep up with the payments."

Brown's wife, singer Whitney Houston (search), did not attend the hearing.

Last month, Brown was ordered to stand trial in Atlanta on charges that he allegedly hit Houston in the face at their home near Alpharetta in December. He's charged with misdemeanor battery.

Brown and Houston, 40, have been married since 1992 and have a 10-year-old daughter, Bobbi Kristina. (search)