Judge suspends Justin Timberlake’s licence over drink-drive arrest in New York

A New York judge has suspended Justin Timberlake’s driving licence at a virtual court appearance on Long Island.

Timberlake pleaded not guilty to driving while intoxicated. Police arrested Timberlake on June 18 after they say he drove through a stop sign and veered out of his lane.

The former Nsync singer, who is on tour in Europe, said little during the remote arraignment.

His lawyer, Edward Burke Jr, has maintained that Timberlake was not drunk and that the case should be dropped.

“The facts remain he was not intoxicated,” Mr Burke said on Friday, according to Newsday.

“I’ll say it again: Justin Timberlake was not intoxicated and we’re very confident that charge, that criminal charge, will be dismissed.”

Sag Harbor Village Justice Carl Irace suspended Timberlake’s licence and threatened to impose a gag order on Mr Burke, saying the lawyer’s comments to the media have been inappropriate.

Mr Irace set a next court date for August 9.

The case was delayed after Mr Burke said the original charging document lacked a sergeant’s signature and should be thrown out.

Assistant district attorney Ashley Cangro said new documents were filed on July 2 that should address that flaw.

Timberlake was driving a BMW in the posh beach town of Sag Harbor at around 12.30am when an officer stopped him and determined he was intoxicated, according to court documents.

“His eyes were bloodshot and glassy, a strong odour 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 standardised field sobriety tests,” the court papers said.

The 43-year-old told the officer he had had one martini and was following some friends home, according to the documents.

He was arrested and spent the night in custody at a police station.