Justin Bieber pleads guilty to charges of careless driving and resisting arrest as his Florida DUI case is finally put to bed. The judge said he hoped the superstar would recognize he is a role model and that he would grow up.
Justin Bieber’s Florida DUI nightmare has finally ended seven months later, as a plea deal was formalized Wednesday.
In a court hearing, Bieber’s lawyer, entered his guilty plea to lesser charges of misdemeanor careless driving and resisting arrest without violence.
A previous charge of driving under the influence was dropped in exchange for a plea deal struck between Miami-Dade state prosecutors and Justin’s legal team led by famed criminal defense attorney Roy Black.
Miami-Dade County presiding Judge William Altfield accepted the plea, but also gave advice and a positive message to the absent 20-year-old who was not required to be present, The Associated Press reports .
After accepting Bieber’s plea, Altfield referred to both the Canadian’s millions-strong young fans and said he hoped the singer would alter his behavior for the bettter.
Telling the court: “I hope that he realizes that his actions not only lead to consequences that affect him but they lead to consequences that affect others that are looking up to him as a role model.”
Continuing, Altfield predicted: “He just hopefully will get the message. He will grow up. He will use his talents positively for young persons.”
( Photo: Justin Bieber with Grace Kesablak at the 2014 Young Hollywood Awards. The star gave his “Champ of Charity” award to the 11-year-old cancer sufferer and candidate in the Make-A-Wish Foundation program he was honored for at the event. )
Bieber attorney Howard Srebnick, who was in court with colleague Mark Shapiro told Altfield his words would be relayed to the singer.
“We will turn this into a positive experience,” Srebnick said. “We’re relieved that it’s over.”
In addition to pleading guilty to careless driving and resisting arrest, Bieber’s plea deal has three requirements.
The “Baby” singer must attend a 12-hour anger management course, which he will complete privately to avoid media-fan frenzies.
Justin also agreed to a $50,000 charitable contribution, already made to Miami’s “Our Kids.” The organization provides “safe havens for children and families through adoption and foster care.”
Miami Herald notes the money will be used for services to help victims of human trafficking – which is a spotlighted issue in Florida .
The heartthrob will also pay a $500 court fine. The plea deal meant Bieber avoided a driving under the influence conviction and jail time. A charge of driving with an expired license was dropped after he showed proof he had a valid one.
Bieber was arrested just after 4 am on January 23 in Miami Beach , after what police officers described as an illegal street race in a residential street that the singer’s security blocked at one end with 4x4s. At the time, Justin was driving a rented Lamborghini. Co-arrestee, R&B singer Khalil Sharieff drove a Ferrari.
The then 19-year-olds were not charged with drag racing and GPS records reportedly later negated police claims of high-speed racing.
Bieber’s Breathalyzer results were below Florida’s 0.02 limit for underage drivers. But urine tests revealed marijuana trace and the anti-anxiety drug Xanax in his system.
The resisting arrest count arose from police claims that the singer dropped F-bombs when he was first stopped prior to his arrest.
A subsequent and still contemptible motion by media organizations — including AP — to view Bieber’s urine testing led to a battle royale with the singer’s lawyers who argued that invasion of privacy trumped the public’s right to know.
In the end, Altfield’s “King Solomon” ruling saw blacked out boxes to be superimposed over sensitive footage. The result? A laughable reveal of precisely nothing and a strike for basic, common decency . Other non-tampered jail videos showed Bieber walking unsteadily during a sobriety test, being frisked and doing push-ups in his cell.
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.
Looking back to Bieber’s self-propelled YouTube stardom at 12, discovery by his manager Scooter Braun and powerhouse help of Usher to secure a record deal at 15, two Grammy Awards nominations for 2010’s full-length album debut My World 2.0 and five No. 1 albums on Billboard by 19; this is the hope visualized by Altfield:
That, as Bieber’s lawyers whittle down remaining cases, the singer can also shed the infamy he has accrued — albeit a proportion unfairly come by — and fulfil the dazzling promise he partially achieved; and has the talent for yet more.