Justin Timberlake Pleads Not Guilty To Revised DWI Charge In Virtual Court Appearance In NY

UPDATED with details throughout: In a virtual court appearance in Sag Harbor, NY, Justin Timberlake pleaded not guilty Friday to a revised misdemeanor charge of driving drunk in June in the waterfront village about 100 miles from New York City.

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Sag Harbor Village Justice Carl Irace also officially suspended Timberlake’s permission to drive in New York. The next court hearing is a lawyer conference scheduled for Friday, August 9 that Timberlake isn’t required to attend. He could be compelled to appear in person at future hearings as early as September 13, but Irace held off on that determination, allowing the “special accommodation” of virtual court appearances for Timberlake to continue for the time being.

Timberlake is currently on a world tour in Europe, and appeared in court today by a video link from Germany, his lawyer, Edward D. Burke Jr., said afterwards.

During the hearing, Burke withdrew his previous motion to dismiss the case after the judge questioned its timing, substance and value to his client.

Irace also threatened Burke with a gag order, but did not impose one yet, for Burke’s comments outside court last week, telling the attorney, “It comes off as an attempt to poison the case before it even begins.”

In those comments, which were delivered without Timberlake present, Burke said flatly that his client “was not intoxicated” when Sag Harbor Village police officers pulled him over in June, and he criticized the arresting officer as a “young” and “part time.” Burke didn’t make those same claims inside the court on that earlier occasion — a divergence noted today by Irace — but instead attacked the case on procedural grounds because the arresting officer’s supervisor didn’t sign off on the original criminal complaint.

Burke withdrew his dismissal motion today after the judge gave him two options: waive it, because the Suffolk County District Attorney has already submitted a new criminal complaint with the procedural errors fixed; or continue to challenge it and, in the process, possibly force Timberlake to appear in person to be re-arrested. Burke chose the first option.

With Timberlake looking on impassively from a remote video screen frame this morning, lrace addressed Burke’s impromptu press conference after last Friday’s hearing. “Think about the law … before making comments,” Irace told Burke.

A more circumspect Burke briefly addressed reporters today outside the small red-brick municipal building where court was held, two doors down from the hotel bar and restaurant where Timberlake had been drinking with friends on the night of his arrest.

Asked about the prospect of a gag order, Burke said, “I don’t see that happening. We all have jobs to do. We’re obligated to zealously defend our client.”

Timberlake has yet to return to the village court in Sag Harbor in person since his arrest, which occurred during a scheduled break in U.S. dates for his eight-month “Forget Tomorrow” world tour in support of a new album, Everything I Thought It Was . He was arrested on June 18 after a night out with friends in this popular summer waterfront community and wealthy enclave whose residents include Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Billy Joel and ex-CNN news anchor Don Lemon.

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The former ’N Sync vocalist turned solo star was pulled over for blowing through a stop sign and weaving, according to the criminal complaint filed by the officer who made the arrest. The writeup described Timberlake “in an intoxicated condition” with “bloodshot and glassy” eyes and “a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage” coming from him.

“I had one martini and I followed my friends home,” he told the officer, according to the police report. But he “performed poorly on all standardized field sobriety tests,” the officer wrote.

Timberlake refused a breathalyzer, according to the police report, and spent the night in a local jail. His lawyer told reporters last week that Timberlake “cooperated with the police officers from the second he was ordered out of his car to the second he was discharged on June 18th” by the judge.

His remote arraignment today coincided with another scheduled break on the tour’s European leg. He is set to perform in Antwerp, Belgium this weekend.

Timberlake appeared to address his legal woes at a Chicago tour stop in late June, telling the audience, “It’s been a tough week, but you’re here, and I’m here and nothing can change this moment.”

As a first-time offender facing a misdemeanor DWI charge, Timberlake could face up to a year behind bars and a fine up to $2,500. The singer and actor whose screen credits include The Social Network and Trolls wasn’t the first public figure to be caught driving under the influence in the upscale Hamptons area of eastern Long Island. In 2001, publicist Lizzie Grubman reversed her SUV into a crowd outside a Southampton nightclub, injuring several people, and then fled the scene. Grubman spent 38 days in jail.

Another potential line of defense emerged this week when TMZ reported that police allowed one of Timberlake’s drinking companions in another car to take the wheel of his rental — a gray new-model BMW SUV with Florida license plates, according to the police report — despite appearances that she, too, had been drinking that night at The American Hotel. TMZ, citing unidentified sources, reported that Burke would argue that the officers’ faulty judgement in letting Timberlake’s companion drive off cast doubt on their treatment of Timberlake.

Outside court today, Burke didn’t talk about the particulars of his planned defense but said that more motions could be filed on his client’s behalf.

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