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Justin Timberlake's Attorney Speaks July 26 in Sag Harbor
Justin Timberlake's attorney Ed Burke, in the gray suit, outside Sag Harbor Village Justice Court on Friday, July 26. T.E. McMORROW
Justin Timberlake is set to be arraigned again, on Friday, August 2, on his misdemeanor DWI charge in Sag Harbor Village.
Timberlake was arrested on June 18 on the charge after leaving the bar at the American Hotel, according to witnesses, after which he was pulled over shortly thereafter by a police officer for running a stop sign, according to police.
But this time, Timberlake will not be in handcuffs for the arraignment, as he was on June 18. In fact, he will not even be in the building, or, for that matter, in the country. The pop star is currently on tour in Europe.
That all is a result of a motion made by Timberlake’s attorney, Eddie Burke Jr., on Friday, July 26. Burke moved to have the entire case dismissed, based on what he said was an irregularity with the accusatory instrument.
In legalese, an “accusatory instrument” is the official criminal complaint made by the state against a defendant.
Burke told Sag Harbor Village Justice Carl Irace that the official document had not been properly signed off on by a supervising officer. Instead, Burke said, a nonsupervisory officer, a part-time police officer, had signed off on the document, making it invalid.
The assistant district attorney handling the case, Ashley Cangro, responded that the error had been fixed in a supplemental, superseding complaint against Timberlake made on July 2, which a sergeant signed off on.
Cangro said that, instead of a dismissal, what was needed was a new arraignment on the superseding document.
Irace agreed and asked Burke when Timberlake could return to court.
Burke said that his client was in Europe at this time and asked for him to be allowed to appear virtually, which Irace agreed to.
Burke stepped away, and after he apparently conferred with Timberlake’s representatives for a short time, the date of August 2 was set.
Afterward, Burke spoke briefly to the press, saying that his client should not have been arrested, because Timberlake was not intoxicated at the time of the arrest. He also said that the Sag Harbor Village Police Department had made “a number of very significant errors in this case.”
“Sometimes the police, just like every one of us, make mistakes,” he said. “And that’s the case in this very incident.”
