Justin Timberlake is expected to plead guilty in the criminal case brought against him in New York state, according to prosecutors.
Timberlake is expected to enter a plea during his next scheduled court date, or Sept. 13, a spokesperson for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office told The Epoch Times in an email. He will appear in person at the Sag Harbor Village Justice Court.
“Beyond that, we are not releasing further details of the plea at this time,” the spokesperson said.
An attorney representing Timberlake declined to comment when asked if the expectation is accurate.
The hearing on Friday will not be livestreamed, county officials said.
Timberlake, 43, a famous singer and actor, was arrested in June for allegedly driving while intoxicated. Sag Harbor Village Justice Carl Irace in August suspended Timberlake’s driver’s license and threatened to impose a gag order on Timberlake’s attorney after the lawyer made comments to the press.
The lawyer, Edward Burke Jr., told reporters after one hearing that there were significant errors in court documents and that he expected the charge against his client to be dismissed.
“He was not intoxicated,” Burke told reporters outside court. “I’ll say it again. Justin Timberlake was not intoxicated.”
Timberlake previously pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charge.
Timberlake was pulled over after leaving a Sag Harbor hotel at about 12:30 a.m. on June 18, according to police.
“His eyes were bloodshot and glassy, a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage was emanating from his breath, he was unable to divide attention, he had slowed speech, he was unsteady afoot and he performed poorly on all standardized field sobriety tests,” police said in a court filing.
Timberlake told the officer he had drunk one martini and was following some friends home, according to police. He was arrested and spent the night in custody at a police station.
Driving while intoxicated can lead to jail time and a fine. It’s possible Timberlake has reached a plea deal with prosecutors that will allow him to avoid time behind bars.
A 10-time Grammy winner, Timberlake began performing as a young Disney Mouseketeer, rose to fame as part of the boy band NSYNC, and embarked on a solo recording career in the early 2000s.
Sag Harbor is a one-time whaling village mentioned in Herman Melville’s classic novel “Moby-Dick” that’s nestled amid the Hamptons, about 100 miles east of New York City.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
From The Epoch Times