Chris Brown praised by Judge for probation progress

[HMG Celebrity News] – After being thrust into the national spotlight by the fight with Rihanna, Chris Brown just got praised by a Judge for obeying the rules and serving his sentence.

The 21-year old is serving five years probation for the February 2009 incident, and appeared in LA’s Superior Court yesterday to update the Judge on his progress.

Judge Patricia Schnegg said Chris had now completed 73 of the required 180 days of community service, and his domestic violence counseling is also nearly done.

“Out of thousands of probationers, no-one has done a better or more consistent job than you have,” she told Brown. “And I really want to commend you for taking responsibility and working diligently to complete all the things the court has required.”

Schnegg had ordered Chris to perform physical labor as part of his sentence, such as removing graffiti, or doing roadside cleanup. She’s letting him do this in his home state of Virginia, but Brown has to regularly check-in with the court to prove he’s making progress.

And Chris’s attorney, Mark Geragos [who you might remember as Michael Jackson's attorney in the 2005 molestation case,] is not at all surprised by Chris’s diligent work;

“Obviously he’s gratified and he’s working hard to live up to everyone’s expectations,” he told the AP.

There’s no date for another appearance yet, but we’ll keep you advised the next time Chris is in court.