Justin Bieber’s Florida DUI case has reportedly reached a plea deal. The DUI charge is expected to be dropped. Instead, the pop star will plead guilty to careless driving, take a 12 hour anger management class and donate $50,000 to charity.
Justin Bieber’s Florida DUI case has reportedly reached a plea deal. It will be heard in a court hearing Wednesday, at which the singer is not expected to appear.
At the outset it’s noted, in most US states first time offenders facing non-fatal DUIs or lesser driving offences do not get jail time, but are typically offered DUI diversionary programs with mandatory requirements.
After Bieber’s January arrest which reportedly followed F-bombs galore in Miami Beach , the 20-year-old pleaded not guilty to charges of driving under the influence, resisting an officer without violence and driving with an expired license.
As part of the deal struck between Miami-Dade prosecutors and Bieber’s defense team, the DUI charge will be dropped .
Instead, the Canadian will plead guilty to lesser charges of misdemeanor careless driving and the resisting count, the Miami Herald and the Associated Press report.
The “Baby” singer is also required to take a 12-hour anger-management class – privately – to prevent inevitable media-fan hysteria.
In addition, Bieber must watch online videos that show the reality of DUI tragedies , pay court fines and has agreed to make a $50,000 local charitable donation.
The plea deal will be set out before Miami-Dade County Judge William Altfield with lawyers for both sides present.
Bieber was previously arrested just after 4 am on January 23 in Miami Beach, Florida, after what police described as an illegal street drag race between the singer and pal, R&B singer Khalil Amir Sharieff. Both were 19 at the time.
Justin drove a rented, high-performance yellow Lamborghini. Sharieff, a red Ferrari.
In the end, neither young man was charged with drag racing and subsequent GPS readings from both vehicles reportedly did not bear out speeds indicating one took place.
Following his arrest, two Breathalyzer tests showed Bieber’s blood alcohol was well below the 0.02 limit for underage drivers. However, urine analysis showed the singer tested positive for marijuana and the anti-anxiety drug Xanax, which police say he admitted to taking.
The Miami Herald reported that “the evidence against [Bieber] was never overwhelming. In police surveillance videos, he did not appear staggeringly intoxicated, and his blood-alcohol level was well below the legal limit.”
Sharieff will receive a similar plea deal.
In July, Bieber pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor vandalism charge for throwing eggs at his former neighbor’s house in Los Angeles. The singer was placed on two years probation , ordered to pay $80,900 restitution, complete 12 weeks of anger management and five days community service.
The singer is also charged in Toronto, Canada of allegedly assaulting a limousine driver last December. Bieber’s lawyers previously said the performer is innocent of the assault charge.
In addition to these still-to-be resolved criminal cases, Bieber is a defendant in a number of civil lawsuits.
The singer was recently judge-ordered to attend a second deposition in a lawsuit filed by a paparazzo named Jeffrey Binion.
The photog alleges Bieber ordered his bodyguards to confront him, after he took snaps of the singer outside a Miami recording studio on June 5, 2013.
He is also being sued by paparazzo Jose Duran, over an alleged assault in May 2012. The photog alleges the singer kicked and punched him in Calabasas, California.
Regarding Bieber’s reported $50,000 charity donation in his plea deal, it’s worth noting that the singer contributes sizable funds to the Pencils of Promise organization; the Child Hunger Ends Here program; previously raised $13 million for charity from a concert ticket levy over two tours; donated partial proceeds from his 2011 Christmas album and Someday fragrance ; raised over $3 million for Tyhoon Haiyan survivors in the Philippines and is the biggest music artist “wish” contributor to the Make-A-Wish foundation .
( Photo: Bieber’s defense team and Miami-Dade state prosecutors have reportedly reached a plea deal in the singer’s eight month DUI case . )