Britney Misses Hearing, Kevin Keeps Kids    ·    January 15th, 2008

Britney still may not visit her children, a court commissioner ruled Monday, following a custody hearing she missed.

Kevin Federline, who testified at the session, maintains sole legal and physical custody of their two sons Preston, 2, and Jayden, 1, “indefinitely,” a court spokesman says.

“The word victory is not something Mr. Federline or his counsel would ascribe to this situation,” Federline’s lawyer, Mark Vincent Kaplan, said. “His hope is that he will be able to parent the children at some point in the future with participation from the mother.”

In a bizarre and chaotic scene outside the courthouse, Spears arrived for the afternoon session of the proceedings – but abruptly left the courthouse after paparazzi surrounded her.

“I’m scared. I want to get in the car. I’m going in the car,” she said after stepping out of the car as photographers crowded around her.

Spears, 26, then got back in the car. Police tried to coax her out, but she slammed her back against the seat and shouted, “No!” Spears’s car eventually drove off.

Church and Lunch
Spears, who had also missed the morning session, then drove to the Little Brown Church near her home in Studio City, where she went inside briefly.

“She wasn’t even there for long, just in and out,” said assistant pastor Michael Kosik, who noted that even though Spears was wearing white she “did not try to get married.” “I think she just needed to get away.”

Spears then had lunch at the Gaucho Grill with her paparazzi pal Adnan Ghalib, friend Sam Lutfi and a third man.

“Britney was very quiet and seemed sad and upset,” the singer’s waitress says. “She wore her sunglasses inside. … She seemed drained.”

The court hearing had focused on Spears’s four-hour Jan. 3 standoff with police, firefighters and paramedics at her Studio City home. Events that evening resulted in Spears being hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and later being stripped of visitation rights.

Five witnesses testified at the hearing, including two police officers, the court-appointed custody monitor and Federline’s bodyguard – who all were at Spears’s house during the standoff. Also testifying was a parenting coach who was not at the scene.

The next hearing is on Feb. 19. A trial in the case is set for April.

Source: People.com