Justin Bieber’s Pointless Jail Urination Video Drops, Ew! Is For Those Who Asked For It
Three of Justin Bieber’s previously withheld jail videos following the singer’s January arrest for suspected DUI were released by the Miami-Dade State Attorneys office Wednesday.
One – which is not redacted – shows Bieber urinating into a a cup for a drug test while at the Miami Beach police station where he and co-arrestee Khalil Amir Sharieff were taken, after police arrested them during what was described as a drag race on January 23.
NBC reports the other two clips show Bieber sitting in the jail and another being escorted to a holding cell. Two further clips which also show the singer urinating for the urine test – from different angles – are reportedly likely to be unveiled Thursday.
These releases follow a motion to stop public disclosure by Bieber’s legal team after a public records request for the jail videos by news media organizations.
A subsequent release v sealing fight kicked off over five jail videos deemed “intimate” by the defense and which included urination content.
The issue was resolved Tuesday by Miami-Dade County Judge William Altfield, who said the disputed videos were public record under Florida’s Public Records Act.
But the judge also upheld Bieber’s privacy rights. He ordered the supervised redaction of two urination clips by a State Attorney’s-supplied video technician to black out or blur Bieber’s genitalia and the act of his urination.
“While the defendant may not enjoy all of the expectations of privacy that he enjoys outside of a jail setting he still retains his expectation of dignity and that’s what’s important here,” Judge Altfield said of Bieber in the court.
At another point in the hearing, the judge added,
“The court acknowledges that we were all 19 at one time or another, some longer ago than others. But — ah — we do stupid things in our lives, we do foolish things in our lives. And this defendant, his expectation of privacy, should stay with him at all, at all chapters in his life and even beyond when he leaves this Earth.”
Judge Altfield was compelled by Florida law to release the jail videos, but he clearly strove for fairness and humanness in weighing the public’s right to know against Bieber’s privacy rights.
In the urination video released today, Bieber has his back to the camera. Very little is seen as he is covered by a small wall in the right corner of the frame as he urinates for a drug test.
But if the other two urination videos still to come are as non-illuminating as today’s, the farce of releasing intimate footage of Bieber for the sake of mass voyeurism masquerading as a higher “right to know” comes into even sharper relief.
It’s as legal as apple pie, but it adds nothing to the DUI case.
And judging by insulting comments posted underneath the jail urination video, it’s greatest achievement is to serve up more grist to the Bieber-bullying bandwagon and hot content for upcoming GIF’s.
What was relevant and important about the urine test is, in fact, already known by Miami-Dade prosecutors.
A toxicology report revealed Bieber had the active ingredient of marijuana and the anti-anxiety drug Xanax in his system when he drove a yellow Lamborghini along a residential Miami Beach street. Whether he exceeded the zone’s 30 mph limit is a key question, but that’s another article.
Previously released videos of Bieber being patted down by an officer, wobbling unsteadily during a station sobriety test, doing pushups in a holding cell, and a slew of photos of the singer being forced to display his extensive tattoo collection are now available online.
All of this before the trial, which may or may not take place depending on whether Bieber’s lawyers – led by Roy Black – accept a plea deal.
The former teen star, who turned 20 on Saturday, has pleaded not guilty to DUI, driving with an expired licence and resisting arrest.
Do you think Bieber’s jail urination videos should be released or not?
Why is Miami Police Department releasing surveillance videos of Justin Bieber’s arrest (including his private parts)? What is the point?
— Sky Ferreira (@skyferreira) March 5, 2014
To humiliate him & invade his privacy?
— Sky Ferreira (@skyferreira) March 5, 2014
