Justin Timberlake’s lawyer claims singer was ‘not intoxicated’ during DWI arrest: Police made ‘significant errors’
By Social Links for Eileen Reslen
Published July 26, 2024, 1:35 p.m. ET
Justin Timberlake’s attorney emphatically denies that his superstar client was drunk when he was arrested on DWI-related charges in June.
“
The most important fact to know about this case is that Justin was not intoxicated and should not have been arrested for DWI,” Edward Burke Jr. told Page Six on Friday.
Timberlake’s case had a hearing earlier Friday, for which the “Mirrors” singer did not show up because he was not required to do so.
Burke reportedly pointed out inside the courtroom that prosecutors failed to get a superior officer’s signature on the initial charging papers — and therefore the case should be dropped.
He tells us that the paperwork mixup is allegedly one of many mistakes the Sag Harbor police have made.
“
The police made a number of very significant errors in this case,” the New York-based lawyer claims.
“In court today, you heard the district attorney try to fix one of those errors. But that’s just one and there are many others. Sometimes the police make mistakes and this is just one of those instances.”
Page Six has reached out to the Sag Harbor police for comment but did not immediately hear back.
Despite what occurred, Burke maintains that Timberlake, 43, “respects law enforcement and the very important job that they do.”
“He cooperated with the police officers at all times and treated them with the respect they deserve,” the attorney adds. “He also respects the entire judicial process including the district attorney and judge who were in court today.”
Burke then concludes, reiterating, “But the fact remains, he was not intoxicated and they made an error in arresting him for it. We are confident that this charge will be dismissed.”
When Timberlake was taken into police custody on June 18, he was issued two citations for
failure to stop at a stop sign and failure to keep right because he was allegedly swerving lanes.A criminal complaint previously obtained by Page Six claimed the *NSYNC member had
“bloodshot and glassy” eyes, “a strong odor” of alcohol “emanating from his breath,” was unable to divide attention, had slowed speech, was unsteady afoot and “performed poorly on all standardized field sobriety tests.”
Timberlake admitted to officers he had “one martini” — but refused to take a breathalyzer test.
A mugshot of the “SexyBack” crooner released shortly after also appeared to show the bloodshot and glassy eyes mentioned in the report.
An eyewitness who spotted Timberlake allegedly boozing it up at the ritzy American Hotel in Long Island, NY, then claimed that the singer “was wasted” and drank another patron’s unfinished alcoholic beverage.
However, the bartender who was working when Timberlake was at the hotel backed the “Bye, Bye, Bye” singer’s account of the events.
The unnamed employee previously told People that Timberlake had “one martini” and added, “If he was drinking more, it wasn’t here.”
Timberlake was in the midst of his Forget Tomorrow World Tour when the incident took place, and told fans on his first tour stop back in Chicago, “It’s been a tough week.”
The “Cry Me a River” singer then said, “I know I’m hard to love sometimes but you keep loving me right back.”
Timberlake is due in court for his arraignment on Aug. 2, and is expected to attend the hearing virtually.
