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Justin Timberlake has pleaded not guilty to a charge of driving while intoxicated after he was arrested in Long Island in June.
The pop singer and actor, 43, attended the hearing in Sag Harbor, New York by video call.
Village Justice Carl Irace suspended his driving license in New York State because Timberlake refused to take a breathalyzer test when he was pulled over. The judge did not say how long the suspension will last.
Although the hearing was largely procedural, NBC reports that the judge did at one point admonish Timberlake’s lawyer, Edward Burke Jr, for making “irresponsible” comments to the media.
After arguing that his statements “comes off as an attempt to poison the case before it even begins,” the judge urged Burke to be more cautious in the future.
Last Friday, Timberlake’s lawyer insisted that the superstar was “not intoxicated” when he was arrested for allegedly driving drunk.
“He was not intoxicated. I’ll say it again. Justin Timberlake was not intoxicated,” he said during a previous hearing, according to ABC7. “And we are very confident that charge, that criminal charge, will be dismissed.”
Burke further argued that police responding to the scene “made a number of very significant errors in this case.”
He said Timberlake “cooperated” with police officers “from the second he was ordered out of his car to the second he was charged,” and argued that police had made mistakes while investigating the incident.
“You heard the DA try to fix one of those errors, but that’s just one, and there are many others. Sometimes the police, like every one of us, make mistakes. And that’s the case in this very instance,” he said.
Timberlake was arrested on June 18 after he was pulled over by a police officer in Sag Harbor, New York, for alleged drunk driving. Police said the singer was driving a 2025 BMW when he was spotted failing to stop at a stop light and weaving out of his lane.
Timberlake reportedly told police he only had a single drink, a martini, and refused to take a Breathalyzer test three times at the scene of the incident.
Police said in their complaint that Timberlake’s eyes were “bloodshot and glassy” and noted they detected a “strong odor of an alcoholic beverage” from his breath. They further claimed he had slowed speech, had difficulty splitting his attention, and seemed “uneasy afoot.”
Timberlake did not attend that hearing as he was scheduled to perform in Poland over the weekend. He is currently traveling in Europe as part of his “Forget Tomorrow” tour.
