James Brown judge stays despite removal request

A judge handling James Brown's contested fortune refused Friday to remove himself from the case despite an argument from the late soul singer's former trustees that he forced them to resign.

“I would never force anyone to do anything, that's not me,” Circuit Judge Jack Early said.

Buddy Dallas and Alford Bradley, who both spent years handling Brown's financial affairs, resigned in November. A few weeks later, they claimed the judge had pressured them to resign. On Friday, an attorney for the trustees tried to retract the argument that the judge be removed, the judge wouldn't allow it and then ruled he wouldn't step aside.

Brown died in Atlanta on Christmas Day 2006, throwing into turmoil the future of his trust, which is said to contain most of his primary assets, including music rights and his 60-acre Beech Island home in South Carolina.

Since he died, several people, have come forward wanting a piece of his estate.

Tomi Rae Hynie, a former backup singer who claims to be Brown's fourth wife and the mother of his child, has said the singer wanted her to have his home in the western part of South Carolina, near the Georgia state line. She is vying for half of Brown's estate.

Stephen Stills' cancer surgery successful

Stephen Stills, who had surgery for prostate cancer on his 63rd birthday, will remain hospitalized until Saturday, his publicist said Friday.

“Stephen is still in the hospital and will be released tomorrow. ... But, he is doing extremely well. Doctors wanted to keep him in for an extra night,” publicist Michael Jensen said.

Stills, of Crosby, Stills & Nash (and sometimes with Neil Young), had the operation Thursday in Los Angeles, his wife Kristen said in a statement.

“Stephen's procedure went remarkably well and he couldn't be better,” she said.

Stills is scheduled for a North American solo tour this spring in support of his recent “Just Roll Tape” album.

‘Bounty Hunter' sidekick caught naked in truck

A sidekick of TV bounty hunter Duane “Dog” Chapman turned himself in to authorities Friday after a shopping center security guard reported seeing him naked in his pickup truck, performing a lewd act, police said.

But Tim Chapman's lawyer insists his client spilled juice on himself and was just changing clothes Thursday night.

The guard told Chapman to put on his clothes and get out of the truck, police said. After dressing, Chapman started his truck and drove over a sidewalk, nearly hitting the guard, then drove off, police said.

The guard told police that he recognized Chapman from Duane Chapman's show “Dog the Bounty Hunter” and that he was performing an unspecified lewd act. Duane Chapman and Tim Chapman are not related.

Tim Chapman's attorney, Brook Hart, said it was a misunderstanding.

-From wire reports

“It was simply a man who wet his pants with orange juice inadvertently and was changing them, doing nothing wrong at all and believing he had sufficient privacy to do it,” Hart said.

Police said they were investigating whether to charge Chapman, 42.

The A&E television network put the show on hold indefinitely in November after the release of a private phone conversation in which Duane Chapman repeatedly used a racial slur to describe his son's girlfriend. He has apologized repeatedly.

AP-ES-01-04-08 2343EST