CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / LOS ANGELES

Brushing aside character references from an array of Swedish pop musicians, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge refused Friday to lower the $1-million bail for a hip-hop artist accused of killing a jazz pianist in a Hollywood crosswalk.

Judge Monica Bachner said she had reviewed 21 letters submitted on behalf of David Jassy, including a dozen from friends in the recording industry, but found no “unusual circumstances” to change his bail.

She said Jassy’s Swedish citizenship made him a flight risk as did his foreign family ties, which include an 11-year-old son in Sweden, a brother in Italy and other relatives in Gambia.

An attorney for Jassy, 34, had asked the judge to reduce his bail to at least $250,000, an amount he said his client’s brother could cover.

-- Harriet Ryan