The judge has officially accepted Justin Timberlake's plea deal ... and he will do 25 hours community service within one year, and pay a fine up to $500. The judge thanked Justin for all that he said and for speaking from the heart. His license in NY State will have a 90-day suspension.
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PeopleTranscript
00:00We told you we were going to deliver Justin Timberlake.
00:02Here we go.
00:03Yes, Justin Timberlake, as promised,
00:05was in court in Sag Harbor, New York.
00:07Causing quite the stir.
00:08Out in the Hamptons.
00:10Big to do in that small town.
00:13And he went into court and did exactly what we said
00:17was going to happen.
00:18We broke the story a couple of days ago.
00:20He pled to a much lesser offense than DWI,
00:23which he was arrested for, I believe, back in June.
00:26Yes.
00:27Back in June.
00:28Now, basically he walked out of court with a traffic offense.
00:32Justin won this case.
00:33DWAI, driving while ability impaired.
00:37He won this case.
00:38This was a criminal case with consequences with DWI.
00:44It is now a non-criminal case.
00:46It is a traffic offense.
00:48It's like a speeding ticket.
00:50I mean, if I hurt my elbow and I tried to drive,
00:53that could be DWAI.
00:55And so that's what this amounts to.
00:59This is a huge win for Justin Kimberley.
01:00And it seems like he, I think he understands that.
01:03That his lawyers really did him a solid here.
01:06He went into court.
01:07He entered his plea.
01:09Signed some paperwork.
01:11And then walked out of court.
01:13That's his lawyer, by the way.
01:14Ed Burke, Jr.
01:14Ed Burke, Jr.
01:15Who really won the day.
01:16Yeah.
01:17And outside court, Justin spoke to the media
01:21and clearly had a message.
01:25I think he's concerned that he-
01:26I don't think the word clearly fits him.
01:27Well, I think people, I think he's concerned that people,
01:30fans, might think he is taking DWI too lightly
01:36because he got off, like you said, with a traffic offense.
01:39So here's what he had to say outside court.
01:42Many of you have probably been covering me
01:45for a lot of my life.
01:46And as you may know, I try to hold myself
01:51to a very high standard for myself.
01:56And this was not that.
02:00This was not that.
02:04I found myself in a position where I could have made
02:07a different decision.
02:12But I've had some time to reflect on that.
02:15To everyone watching and listening,
02:18even if you've had one drink,
02:22don't get behind the wheel of a car.
02:24There's so many alternatives.
02:27This is a mistake that I made,
02:30but I'm hoping that whoever's watching
02:33and listening right now can learn from this mistake.
02:37I know that I certainly have.
02:39You know, this is the right tone that he's striking.
02:41He seems to be taking full accountability of this.
02:43He's very somber in his presentation
02:45and telling people not to drink and drive,
02:47but it didn't convince everyone.
02:48There were protesters outside of the courthouse,
02:50one of whom held a picture of a young boy
02:52presumably killed in a drunk driving accident.
02:54And some people do think he got a little dose
02:57of celebrity justice,
02:58but I think he's doing everything he can
02:59to show that he took this matter seriously
03:01and wants to turn the page.
03:02I mean, one of the things,
03:03because you gotta remember,
03:04there's a prosecutor on the other side,
03:06and there's a reason the prosecutor did this.
03:09And part of it has to do, I think, with the police officer.
03:14And I'm not saying the police officer
03:16even did anything wrong,
03:18but the police officer allowed the woman
03:22who was in the passenger seat of the car
03:24he was following to drive his car home.
03:28His lawyer, Ed Burke, made it clear to the prosecutors,
03:32we are gonna argue,
03:33she had been drinking for two hours
03:36before Justin even showed up at the bar
03:39and had way more than Justin.
03:40And yet the officer, in his judgment that night,
03:44allowed her to drive home.
03:45So the issue is, if you are evaluating her incorrectly,
03:50we think you are also evaluating him incorrectly.
03:53That's a question.
03:54Do you think that PSA he did outside court
03:57was a handshake deal with the prosecutors?
04:02We'd really appreciate it if you said something
04:05to the community about that.
04:06I never thought of that.
04:07I don't think so, but it's interesting.
04:10I mean, I don't think they can force him to do that.
04:12No, they certainly couldn't force him,
04:13but in the spirit of...
04:16You know, it was interesting,
04:17because when he was saying,
04:19I did something wrong that night,
04:21I thought, wow, he's gonna copy it.
04:22Careful, he did.
04:23And then he said one drink.
04:24I had one drink.
04:25But he made the point that one drink is too much
04:27and you shouldn't get behind the wheels.
04:29I'm not so sure you need the prosecutor
04:30to force him to do this.
04:31This is Justin Timberlake trying to salvage his reputation
04:34and look like he's taking matters seriously
04:36for his own career.
04:36I think it might be something that is beneficial
04:38for prosecutors to get out of him as well,
04:40but I think he wanted to do that for his own reputation.
04:42Okay, final thing, final thing.
04:44Um,
04:46you wore a cardigan.
04:48I thought it was kind of a good move.
04:50Oh, we're gonna do fashion now?
04:51Yeah, we're kind of gonna do fashion
04:52because fashion matters in court.
04:54I thought it was pitch perfect, Harvey.
04:56I call this Hampton's casual.
04:57You don't have to put on a full suit.
04:59It's summer in the Hamptons.
05:00He looked to the part of someone taking it seriously enough,
05:04but also it's summertime in the Hamptons,
05:05been a hell of one.
05:06We'd appreciate it if you could upgrade
05:07to a cardigan every now and then.
05:08Right.
05:09You're just lucky I'm not wearing a Phil Collins shirt
05:13or something.
05:14That's the best you're gonna get is a plain tee.
05:16All right, hey, what's up, TMZ?
05:18It's Judson from Tucson, Arizona,
05:20and I would just like to tell you, look,
05:23Justin got off with a slap on the wrist,
05:25the proverbial slap on the wrist,
05:27but he did look absolutely great.
05:30He looked great coming out,
05:32and I guess the rose-colored glasses,
05:34hey, they really, really worked.
05:36Actually, never thought of that.
05:37Yeah, the rose-colored glasses, yeah.
05:39Absolutely true.