A Michigan man with a suspended driver’s license participated in a digital hearing about his case from behind the wheel of a vehicle he was driving.
Corey Harris did not physically appear in court for his May 15 hearing; Instead, he dialed into the Zoom call — while driving, according to audience video posted on Washtenaw County Judge Cedric Simpson’s YouTube page.
Simpson asked Harris if he was driving when he attended the hearing. He told the judge he was pulling up to his doctor’s office and would be ready for the hearing in “a second.”
After a brief pause, and Simpson confirming that Harris was “standing still,” the attorney representing Harris, Natalie Pate, who was in court that day, asked the judge for a two to four week delay in Harris’ case.
“OK, maybe I didn’t understand something,” Simpson said, after appearing to review the case in front of him. “Is that driving with a suspended license?”
Pate confirmed he was looking at a case of driving without a license.
“And he was just driving? And he doesn’t have a driver’s license?” Simpson asked.
“Those are the charges, yes,” Pate said, but Simpson quickly responded, “No, I’m looking at his record. He doesn’t have a driver’s license. He’s suspended and he’s just driving.”
Pate, once again, confirmed that the judge was right.
Simpson then looked around the courtroom, pausing for a long time, with an incredulous smile on his face.
He then looked up and said, “I don’t even know why he would do that,” referring to Harris, who was still on the Zoom call from his car.
The judge then revoked Harris’ bond and instructed him to turn himself in to the Washtenaw County Jail that evening.
Harris then dropped his head back and said, “Oh my God.”
It was not immediately clear whether Harris turned himself in as requested by the judge.
Simpson did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment, and Pate could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.
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