Judge denies Brian Hickerson's request to reduce felony domestic abuse charges days before Hayden Panettiere's death

A Los Angeles County judge on Thursday denied Brian Hickerson's request to reduce two felony counts of injuring a spouse or girlfriend to misdemeanors, a decision confirmed by the district attorney's office. Hickerson, who pleaded no contest to the charges in April 2021, had previously been sentenced to 45 days in jail, four years of probation, mandatory domestic-violence classes and a five-year restraining order. He served 33 days after receiving credit for time already served.

The prosecution opposed both Hickerson's motions to expunge and to downgrade the charges during a hearing on Aug. 13, and the court upheld that objection. This denial follows a similar rejection of his request in July 2025.

Hickerson's legal filings note that he completed the conditions of his probation. The charges stem from a series of alleged abusive incidents involving actress Hayden Panettiere between May 2019 and January 2020. Their on-and-off relationship, which began in 2018, was marked by multiple domestic-violence allegations, including a reported assault on Valentine’s Day 2020 in Wyoming.

Panettiere later described her experience with abuse in her memoir and in interviews, saying it was difficult to sever ties with Hickerson. She died at age 36 after an overdose, with emergency responders finding Narcan at the scene.

"Getting an abusive person out of your life is like trying to rip a weed out that is so entangled into your life, and every time you pull it out another weed pops back up," Panettiere told Us Weekly in May.

"There’s a story where I was drunk, right? Hayden was standing across the room and I said, ‘Hayden, I’ll give you 10 seconds to run as fast as you can before I throw it at you,’" Hickerson recalled in an interview about the memoir.

The court's decision underscores the ongoing legal consequences of the domestic-violence case linked to the actress's death.