WASHINGTON — A Michigan courtroom scene went viral last week after a judge noticed the defendant, on trial for driving with a suspended license, was attending the virtual hearing from the driver's seat of a car — while on the road.
But a look at county records reveals an issue: The man's license should have been reinstated years ago.
Here's what happened in court
The judge immediately interjected when Corey Harris joined his May 15 court hearing via Zoom with a visible seatbelt, clearly driving a car.
"Are you driving?" Hon. Judge Cedric Simpson asked the defendant.
"Actually, I'm pulling into my doctor's office," Harris replied. "Just give me one second, I'm parking right now."
The judge was visibly amused by the situation and chuckled before his tone became more serious as he read through the case.
"Maybe I don't understand something. This is a driving with license suspended?" Simpson asked Harris' attorney, who confirmed those were the charges Harris faced. "And he was just driving? And he didn't have a license."
The judge sat in a stunned silence before ordering Harris' bond revoked, requiring him to turn himself into jail or face a bench warrant for his arrest.
"I don’t even know why he would do that,” Simpson said as he shook his head.
Was Harris' license suspended?
Records from the Saginaw County Court indicate that Harris' license was originally suspended as part of a now-settled custody case. But the records indicate that in January 2022, the judge in that original case issued an order rescinding the license suspension, allowing Harris to drive again.
A Michigan TV station, WXYZ-TV, was the first to track down the records and described a clerical error that caused the problem.
The Michigan Secretary of State's office told the outlet they never received the paperwork from the court in 2022, so Harris' suspension was never officially revoked.
So when he was pulled over in 2023, the state system incorrectly flagged him as driving with a suspended license, leading to the misdemeanor charge against him.
WXYZ-TV reported that Harris was driving his wife to the doctor on the day of the court hearing because her medical condition was worsening.
In a separate interview with the station, Harris said he was simply trying to help his wife.
"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."
What happened after the hearing?
The judge ordered Harris to turn himself in by 6 p.m. that day, and he complied.
USA Today reports that Harris spent two days in jail after the hearing.
It's unclear where the case against him stands now, especially with the new information coming to light that the suspension should have been lifted in 2022.
It's also unclear how the mistake wasn't found and corrected by Harris' public defender or the prosecutor's office before the case was seen by a judge. As WXYZ-TV pointed out, the records showing his suspension had been lifted were publicly available with a quick search through the court website.
