There were smirks, hopes and disappointment at the Old City Hall courthouse Monday.
The smirks were from court staff. The hopes and disappointment were from a group of teenaged girls who thought they would get to see Justin Bieber.
Bieber, who turned 20 earlier this month, was due for his first court appearance since being charged by Toronto Police with assault at the end of January. Little did the band of Beliebers know, the pop star was not required to appear in court.
High-profile criminal defence lawyer Brian Greenspan stood in his place, as the Crown announced they would be handing over surveillance video evidence, as well as the alleged victim's video statement to the defence team.
Bieber turned himself in to 52 Division station in downtown Toronto on Jan. 29, after which he was charged with one count of assault and ordered to appear in court March 10.
The assault charge stems from a Dec. 30 accusation that Bieber hit limo driver Abdul Mohar on the back of the head after Mohar pickedup the Bieber entourage outside a downtown Toronto nightclub.
Greenspan pointed out that his defence team has "independent witnesses who indicate that (Bieber) was not engaged in any wrongdoing.
"We will pursue our independent witnesses, we will compare them to the witnesses that will be provided to us in disclosure and decisions will be made. But no decisions will be made as to what will be done in the future."
The charge came on the heels of other legal drama for Bieber, whose California home was searched earlier this year in relation to a vandalism investigation and who is accused of driving under the influence, among other allegations, related to an alleged drag racing incident in Florida.
In Toronto on Monday, there was a long line-up to get inside Courtroom 111, where Bieber's case was to be addressed late in the morning. After some pushing and shoving to get inside, a Toronto Police sergeant loudly announced that Bieber was not in the building and would not be there for the brief court hearing. None of the Beliebers left, explaining to reporters later that they were still hopeful their "idol" would appear.
"I was planning on just hugging him and saying everything's going to be all right," said Rawan Armoush, 15. "I was heart-brokenbecause I was so excited and we woke up so early for this and I didn't get to see him."
"We're here to support Justin," said 15-year-old Emily Kerr. "I'm sure the media has blown everything up. Yeah, so I'll still support him no matter what." Bieber's next court date was set for April 14th, at which time nothing remarkable is expected to happen, though some of Bieber's fans said they would be there -- just in case.
Greenspan said he has not seen this many spectators for such an insignificant court date since he represented supermodel Naomi Campbell on an assault charge in Toronto in 2000.
"I have this fear that my legacy will be two common assault trials," Greenspan joked.
Perhaps the most surprising piece of information to come out of Bieber's Monday court date was a detail filed in the court document regarding his charges.
Bieber's name ("BIEBER, Justin"), date of birth ("01 Mar. 1994") and address were all filled in to the appropriate spaces by a police officer. But in the space asking for Bieber's occupation, the officer typed: "UNKNOWN."
