SAG HARBOR, N.Y. (AP) — Justin Timberlake on Friday urged drivers not to get behind the wheel of a car if they had consumed even a single alcoholic drink, shortly after pleading guilty to driving under the influence in New York’s Hamptons earlier this year.
The public safety announcement outside the Sag Harbor Police Department was part of the agreement he made with prosecutors to settle the criminal case. He was also sentenced to a $500 fine with a $260 surcharge, 25 hours of community service at a nonprofit of his choice and a 90-day suspension of his driver’s license.
The boy band singer turned solo star and actor appeared in the neighboring court in Sag Harbor Village to plead guilty and express remorse for his actions.
“I try to set very high standards for myself, and that was not the case here,” Timberlake told the media and other spectators after the hearing.
“Even if you’ve only had one drink, don’t get behind the wheel of a car,” he said. “There are so many alternatives. Call a friend. Take an Uber. There are a lot of travel apps. Take a taxi anyway. That’s a mistake I made, but I hope that anyone watching and listening right now can learn from that mistake. I know I certainly did.”
He made similar comments during the trial, saying he grew up in a small town and knew the toll his arrest had taken on Sag Harbor. He said he had had plenty of time to reflect on his actions.
Timberlake said he was “grateful for the opportunity to move forward” and hopefully use his platform to help others make “better choices.”
“I should have judged better,” he told the judge. “I understand the seriousness of the situation.”
Judge Carl Irace expressed disappointment with the plea deal proposed by prosecutors. He questioned the appropriateness of the public statement Timberlake planned to make shortly after the trial. He was concerned that it did not give him enough time to reflect on his actions and said he would therefore add community service requirements to the sentence.
“My experience is that these conditions can prove helpful and even enjoyable for the defendant,” the judge said.
The pop star initially pleaded not guilty to the drunk driving charge and had his Driving license revoked during a hearing last month.
Edward Burke Jr., Timberlake’s attorney, insisted outside the courtroom after Friday’s hearing that his client had only one drink in two hours at the American Hotel. “Contrary to what has been reported, he did not drink other people’s drinks, nor was he warned in advance not to drive,” Burke said, adding that Timberlake was also polite and cooperative during his arrest.
Burke said the lesser charge to which Timberlake pleaded was “consistent with those facts.”
Prosecutor Patrick O’Connell told the judge that Timberlake’s public announcement would hopefully show that no one is above the law and that even celebrities can be treated like anyone else. He said prosecutors also considered recommending community service, but they felt the announcement was a valuable service in itself because of its potential impact on young people.
Timberlake was arrested in Sag Harbor shortly after midnight on June 18 after he missed a stop sign in the village center, left his lane and got out of his BMW smelling of alcohol, according to police.
In court documents, police also said the 43-year-old Tennessee man’s eyes were “bloodshot and glassy,” he “spoke slowly,” was unsteady on his feet and scored poorly on all sobriety tests.
Timberlake told the officer he had been drinking a martini and was following some friends home, police said.
Sag Harbor is a former whaling village mentioned in Herman Melville’s classic novel Moby-Dick and is located in the heart of the Hamptons, a region of coastal communities about 100 miles east of New York City.
Timberlake’s New York license suspension likely affects his driving privileges in other states, a legal expert said this week.
Refusing a breathalyzer test, as Timberlake did when he was arrested, automatically results in a driver’s license suspension under New York state law, which should be enforced in other states, said Kenneth Gober, managing partner at the law firm Lee, Gober & Reyna in Austin, Texas.
“Most states participate in the interstate Driver’s License Compact, an agreement to share information about driver’s license suspensions and traffic violations,” he explained in an email. “If a driver’s license is suspended in one state, it should be suspended in all states.”
In practice, however, it could take a long time for such changes to be implemented across state borders, Gober admitted. The pop star also has the means to easily organize a driver and does not need a car for his work, he added.
Timberlake has been touring for months to promote his latest album, and he’ll return to the New York area in the coming weeks with shows in Newark, New Jersey, and Brooklyn.
Among the people who lined up outside the police station on Friday to hear Timberlake speak was a local mother who said her 12-year-old son was killed by a drunk driver in 2018. Alisa McMorris, who now runs a foundation in memory of her son, said she hoped Timberlake’s remarks would help raise awareness about the dangers of driving under the influence.
“Justin has given the next generation such a huge platform. People listen to him,” she said after the singer left. “Five words I say to kids when I go into high schools are ‘How do we get home?’ and he talked about that. Make a plan. I don’t want another sister or another family to have to go through what we went through.”
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Associated Press writer Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this report.
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Follow Philip Marcelo on twitter.com/philmarcelo.
