Courts

This Judge Is Having A Particularly Stupid Run Of Defendants In His Virtual Courtroom

Pro tip: don't appear in Zoom court from the driver's seat of a car when you have a suspended license.

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Oh, Zoom court! I just can’t quit you! Lawyers have had a… hard time adjusting to the new virtual world. Let’s review: there was the lawyer caught shoveling food in his face while on camera, another responding to a judge with “sneaky bitch,” the classic having sex on camera during a hearing, or the disturbing sharing your racist views with the world when you thought you were no longer recording, and it’s been a lot. Even with vaccine rollout rapidly picking up pace, the benefits of online court proceedings are real, so we don’t expect them to stop any time soon.

Perhaps you’ve heard of the latest Zoom court debacle. A Michigan man was set to be sentenced after entering a plea for having no insurance and driving with a suspended license. He appeared in court, from the inside of car… in the driver’s seat… and yes, he still had a suspended license.

Judge Jeffrey Middleton called out the defendant for his unpaid fines, and yeah, he noted the whole appearing-in-court-from-the-driver’s-seat-while-having-a-suspended-license thing:

The one I’m struggling with is the driving suspended. I believe you drove wherever you are in the vehicle you’re in and you’re dumb enough to go on video with you sitting in the driver’s seat of a vehicle. […] Makes me think you haven’t gotten the message.

The defendant had a story about why it wasn’t a blatant violation:

The man told the judge he was sitting in his boss’ vehicle and that he didn’t drive there. He said he didn’t want to appear in court while at someone’s house. He said his boss picks him up and takes him to work.

The assistant prosecutor, Deborah Davis, also had more details about the incident involving the defendant:

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[Davis] revealed that in addition to driving while suspended, the car he was driving, a 2000 Ford Taurus, was hauling four adults, three children and one child, an infant, wasn’t secured. In addition to the definitely overloaded car, he was speeding 75 mph down a country road. The attorney finished by asking for some sort of jail time for the individual.

Ultimately, the defendant was put on a payment plan to pay off his fines, and sentenced to a weekend in jail.

This isn’t the first time Judge Middleton and APA Davis have gone viral for their legal work. As a writer on the internet, I admire the clicks the pair has generated. In their last brush with acclaim, Davis was the prosecutor who noticed something was amiss during a hearing in an assault case, and it turned out that defendant was appearing at the hearing FROM THE VICTIM’S HOUSE, despite having a no-contact order. In that case, Judge Middleton immediately revoked bail, and had the defendant taken into custody.

You can watch the full hearing below.

https://youtu.be/2u4xpMEsoOc

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headshotKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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