鈥檚 lawyer said Friday that the pop singer wasn鈥檛 intoxicated during a traffic stop last month, as he seeks to get his in New York鈥檚 Hamptons dismissed, citing errors in documents submitted by police.
But Sag Harbor Village Justice Justice Carl Irace ordered Timberlake to be re-arraigned Aug. 2 with the corrected paperwork.
He also agreed the former NSYNC member, who is currently on tour in Europe, could appear virtually for the proceeding. Timberlake didn鈥檛 attend Friday鈥檚 hearing as his appearance was waived in advance.
Timberlake鈥檚 lawyer, Edward Burke, said after the hearing that police made 鈥渧ery significant errors鈥� and expects the charge to be dismissed. He also maintained that Timberlake didn鈥檛 drive drunk.
鈥淗e was not intoxicated,鈥� Burke told reporters outside court. 鈥淚鈥檒l say it again. Justin Timberlake was not intoxicated.鈥�
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney's office, which is prosecuting the case, described the paperwork issue as a 鈥渕inisterial error鈥� and that an amended charging document was filed July 2.
鈥淭he facts and circumstance of the case have not been changed or amended,鈥� spokesperson Emily O'Neil said in an email.
Burke, in a follow-up statement, suggested there were other problems with the arrest documents but didn鈥檛 elaborate.
鈥淭he police made a number of very significant errors in this case,鈥� he said. 鈥淚n court today, you heard the district attorney try to fix one of those errors. But that鈥檚 just one and there are many others. Sometimes the police make mistakes and this is just one of those instances.鈥�
Timberlake respects law enforcement and the judicial process and cooperated with officers and treated them with respect throughout his arrest last month, Burke added.
Tierney's office declined to respond to Burke's comments.
鈥淲e stand ready to litigate the underlying facts of this case in court, rather than in the press,鈥� O'Neil said.
Timberlake was charged with the misdemeanor on June 18 after police said he ran a stop sign and veered out of his lane in Sag Harbor, a onetime whaling village mentioned in Herman Melville鈥檚 classic novel 鈥淢oby-Dick鈥� that's nestled amid the Hamptons, around 100 miles (160 kilometers) east of New York City.
The boy band singer-turned-solo star and actor was driving a 2025 BMW around 12:30 a.m. when an officer stopped him and determined he was intoxicated, according to a court document.
鈥淗is 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,鈥� the court papers said.
Timberlake, 43, told the officer at the time that he had one martini and was following some friends home, according to the documents. After being arrested and taken to a police station in nearby East Hampton, he refused a breath test.
The 10-time Grammy winner 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.
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Associated Press reporter Karen Matthews in New York contributed to this story.
Philip Marcelo, The Associated Press
