NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — Justin Timberlake is scheduled to enter a new plea Friday in his drunken driving case in the Hamptons, New York, prosecutors said. Details of the plea were not disclosed, but a person with knowledge of the deal said Timberlake has agreed to plead guilty to a lesser offense than the original drunken driving charge.
The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
Timberlake’s attorney, Edward Burke, declined to comment.
The pop singer will appear in person in Sag Harbor Village District Court on Friday to enter a plea, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney’s office confirmed Wednesday.
Woodlake was arrested in the village of Sag Harbor, on the eastern side of Long Island, on June 18 after police said he ignored a stop sign in the town center, swerved out of his lane and got out of his BMW while smelling of alcohol. The 43-year-old Tennessee resident has pleaded not guilty to a charge of driving under the influence.
During a hearing last montha judge has suspended Timberlake’s driving license in New York.
His attorney, Burke, has maintained that Timberlake was not drunk and that the case should be dropped.
According to police, Timberlake was arrested around 12:30 a.m. after leaving a hotel in Sag Harbor.
“His eyes were bloodshot and glassy, his breath smelled strongly of alcohol, he had trouble focusing, his speech was slower, he was unsteady on his feet, and he scored poorly on all standardized field sobriety tests,” police said in a court document.
Timberlake told the officer he had had one martini and that he was following some friends home, police said. He was arrested and spent the night in custody at a police station.
The boy band’s lead singer, now a solo artist, the actor’s agent and other representatives did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment on Wednesday.
Timberlake is a ten-time Grammy winner who got his start performing as a young Disney Mouseketeer. He rose to fame as a member of the boy band NSYNC and began a solo career in the early 2000s.
Sag Harbor is a former whaling village mentioned in Herman Melville’s classic novel Moby-Dick. It is located in the heart of the Hamptons, about 100 miles east of New York City.
