A Michigan man who gained viral attention when a judge noticed him driving during a virtual Zoom court hearing, despite having a “suspended license,” is now being exonerated due to a clerical mistake.
Corey Harris, 44, attended the virtual hearing on May 15 for charges stemming from an October traffic stop in Pittsfield Township, Michigan.
This guy had a court date for his suspended license
He joined the Zoom call while driving. You can’t make it uppic.twitter.com/1JcMAipNn2
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) May 29, 2024
A video clip from the hearing quickly circulated online, with many expressing shock that Harris would drive with a suspended license in front of Judge Cedric Simpson.
Upon realizing what Harris was doing, Simpson revoked his bond and ordered him to surrender at the Washtenaw County Jail by 6 p.m. that evening.
However, according to Saginaw County court records obtained by USA TODAY on Monday, neither Simpson nor anyone else in the courtroom was aware that another judge had lifted Harris’ license suspension in January 2022.
Why didn’t court know Harris’ license had been reinstated?
Harris’ license had been suspended during a now-settled child support case with Saginaw County Friend of the Court before it was ordered reinstated, court records show.
The reason Simpson and no one in the courtroom knew about the reinstatement is because the Michigan Secretary of State’s office never received a clearance from the Saginaw County Friend of the Court, reported WXYZ-TV, which was the first outlet to track down the clerical error in court records.
Without clearance, the lift on Harris’ license never officially went into effect, according to the Detroit-based TV station.
USA TODAY contacted the Michigan Secretary of State’s office and Simpson’s chambers but did not receive a response.
The Washtenaw County Public Defender’s Office, which represents Harris in the ongoing case, was closed when USA TODAY called.
Simpson’s ruling came as Harris was driving his wife to the doctor due to a worsening medical condition, WXYZ-TV reported.
“I don’t even know why he would do that,” Simpson can be heard saying about Harris in the now-viral video clip.
When Harris heard Simpson order him to jail, his mouth fell open.
WXYZ-TV interviewed Harris, asking him what was going through his mind during the now-viral hearing.
“What was I thinking? I was thinking about getting my wife medical help. That’s what I was thinking,” Harris told the TV station. “I wasn’t thinking about the fact that I got a suspended license. I don’t care about all that.”
Harris spent two days in jail after the hearing, abiding by Simpson’s order and turning himself in. Although Harris did the time, he told WXYZ-TV that the license suspension was “supposed to have been lifted two years ago, but they didn’t.”
“It’s very embarrassing,” Harris said about the whole situation.
Khyla Craine, deputy legal director for the Michigan Secretary of State, told the station that the process to get a driver’s license reinstated “can be complicated.”
“Sometimes it is simple as we at the Secretary of State’s office did not get a clearance from the court that everything was done, but something happened in the wires, and we needed to talk to the court to get the clearance and clean it up for the resident,” Craine said.
Social media reactions
People reacted to these new details about the case some saying, now he will have to jump through hoops to get the jail time wiped from his record.
So he’d have to jump through hoops if he wants these 2 days in jail wipes from his record. Sometimes the justice system is so messed up.
And why should a suspended license happen in a child support case? Someone not making payments is not allowed to drive? What if someone needs to drive to go to work? Not sure if that consequence makes sense
“We got our wires crossed” is a poor excuse after a man was wrongly sent to jail for any amount of time.
He makes a mistake, he goes to jail. They make a mistake, and…?
Just wow. People (me included) jumped down this guy’s throat seeing the original premise that he joined his hearing while driving with a suspended driver’s license
