Justin Bieber may be able to breathe a little easier today. The singer is reportedly due to accept a plea deal in his Miami DUI case on Wednesday (August 13) that will spare him jail time and bump down his charges to a pair of misdemeanors.
According to the Miami Herald, lawyers for Justin will appear in Miami criminal court to accept the deal in the case, which was spawned seven months ago when Bieber was arrested in South Beach for driving under the influence after police said he was racing a rented luxury car at high speeds through a residential neighborhood.
In exchange for a guilty plea for careless driving and resisting an officer without violence, prosecutors have reportedly agreed to drop the DUI charge. In addition to a privately managed 12-hour anger-management course, Bieber will also have to watch online video about real-life, tragic DUI cases, pay court fines and make a $50,000 charitable donation.
As you might recall, in January Miami Beach police arrested Bieber and friend Khalil Sharieff after the pair allegedly drag-raced their rented cars down a residential street that had been blocked off by the singer’s security detail. Bieber, 20, told police that he had been smoking marijuana and had taken prescription medication that day, with a urine screen testing positive for pot and Xanax.
Though he was not charged with drag racing, police said the sound of high-end vehicles revving their engines from 0-40 m.p.h. on a residential street at 4 a.m. got their attention. When they pulled Bieber’s rented Lambo over, officers said they smelled alcohol — though a test showed just trace amounts in Justin’s system — and they arrested him on suspicion of DUI, resisting arrest without violence (reportedly because he refused to take his hands out of his pockets as requested by police) and driving on a Georgia license that expired six months earlier.
The officer asked Bieber to take his hands out of his pockets, fearing there might be a weapon in them, and to put his hands on the car so the police could perform a pat-down. “What the f— did I do. Why did you stop me?” Bieber asked them at the time, according to a police report. While taking his hands off the car again against orders and adding, “I ain’t got no f—ing weapons. Why do you have to search me?”
The Herald reported that, in the end, the evidence against Bieber was not overwhelming. In police surveillance videos he did not appear clearly intoxicated and his blood-alcohol levels were well below the legal limit. Sharieff will reportedly get a similar plea deal.
When the Miami case is resolved it will represent a second major legal hurdle cleared by the singer in the past few months following his no contest plea last month to egging a neighbor’s California home. In that case, Bieber avoided potential jail time and felony charges by agreeing to two years of probation and enrollment in an anger-management class, as well as community service and $80,900 in restitution.
No Comments