It’s Justin Bieber Miami Beach jail video release day, and it arrives with something of a whimper after all the hype.
One of the videos shows the singer stumbling through a white line walk for a sobriety test.
Prosecutors released the video evidence to a queue of eager media at $175 a time this afternoon.
In the clip, Bieber wears a black hoodie and massive bright orange trainers as he attempts his unsteady shuffle inside a custodial part of Miami Beach police headquarters. The seated young man is likely Khalil Sharieff, a singer who was arrested along with Bieber last month.
Over 10 hours of footage on nine DVDs of Bieber filmed at the station, where he was taken following his January 23 morning arrest on suspicion of DUI, has now been rolled out by the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office so there’s more to come.
The release follows a request under Florida’s public records law by media organizations who argued in a hearing last week that jail videos become public record once they were turned over to the defense as part of the discovery process in the DUI case and should be viewed in full.
However, the footage released today is edited .
Five clips containing sensitive footage has been held back while case Judge William Altfield reviews them to decide if Bieber’s attorneys’ view that footage of the star urinating into a cup for a drug test and other semi-clad content is exempt from public disclosure under Florida’s Constitution and Statutes stands.
On Tuesday, Justin’s defense team said they did not object to prosecutors the footage that has now hit the Internet.
Altfield is reviewing the still sealed videos and will announce his decision on their fate in a March 4 hearing, which has necessarily meant the previously scheduled March 3 DUI trial date has been canceled.
A new trial date will be rescheduled at a future hearing.
Media line to pick up Justin Bieber police videos at Miami Dade State attorneys office pic.twitter.com/WZJDJ8deuT
— David Ovalle (@DavidOvalle305) February 26, 2014
Bieber and Sharieff were stopped and arrested by Miami Beach police shortly after 4 am on January 23, during what officers described as a drag race on a residential street with a 30 mph limit.
The pair drove a rented yellow Lamborghini and a red Ferrari respectively.
Police said Bieber failed a field sobriety test and admitted to taking prescription medication, smoking marijuana, and consuming a beer earlier.
Breathalyzer tests revealed the Canadian’s blood-alcohol concentration was below Florida’s legal limit for under 21 drivers, but a later toxicology report showed the singer tested positive for the active ingredient in marijuana and the anti-anxiety drug Xanax.
Bieber has pleaded not guilty to driving under the influence, resisting arrest without violence, and driving with an expired license.
Contrary to a report from TMZ claiming Bieber’s legal team – led by the famed attorney Roy Black – have already rejected a plea deal from Miami prosecutors , Ed Griffith, a spokesman for the Miami-Dade state attorney’s office, told CNN Tuesday,
“It’s way too early to offer a plea deal, if one was to be offered.”
Thoughts on Bieber’s stumbling jail video . A blow for public interest or just a chance to gawk at a celebrity in a vulnerable moment?
Add your comments below.
