Justin Bieber's DUI trial delayed as judge reviews jail video footage
Justin Bieber's Florida DUI trial has been postponed to allow a judge time to decide whether surveillance videos featuring the pop superstar behind bars should be made public.
Lawyers for the Baby hitmaker filed papers to block the release of the footage earlier this month (Feb14) after a clip from CCTV records, showing the singer getting strip-searched following his January (14) arrest, emerged online.
Members of the media have been calling for the tapes to be released
in the name of the right of access to public records, and
prosecutors have not expressed any objections to the requests.
However, Bieber's attorney Howard Srebnick insists it would be a
violation of his privacy and fears the press is only interested in
images of the singer's private parts - as his client was also
filmed urinating into a cup as part of a drug test.
In legal papers, he writes, "There's no reason why the media should
make a spectacle of that event."
Miami-Dade County Judge William Altfield heard the arguments in
court on Thursday (20Feb14) and decided to review roughly 10 hours
of footage privately before deciding how to proceed.
He set the next hearing for 4 March (14), thus delaying the start
of the singer's DUI trial, which was due to begin on 3 March
(14).
Bieber is facing charges of driving under the influence, driving on
a suspended license and resisting arrest without violence. He has
pleaded not guilty to the counts.