Clerical error was behind Michigan man’s viral suspended license hearing

jeffw@lemmy.worldmod to News@lemmy.world – 168 points –
Clerical error was behind Michigan man’s viral suspended license hearing
theguardian.com
15

At no point did the article dispute that the man knew his license was suspended and that he therefore knew he was driving on a suspended license. Hell, his case was about him having done this before.

Don’t video call into your driving on a suspended license court case while driving on a suspended license.

Don’t video call into your driving on a suspended license court case while driving on a suspended license.

Are you defending the botched legal process and suggesting that it deserves more respect than the man who is in fact in the right? That we should continue to obey even when it's wrong?

The man also knew that his license was not in fact suspended in any legitimate way. If I was the victim of failed bureaucracy for months I would ignore it too.

Ignore it sure, but maybe not as you zoom into a court appearance

It is the easiest thing in the world to not actively be driving while video calling in to a court hearing, regardless of what the hearing is for. He could even physically be in the car sitting in the passenger seat with it parked and be fine, but why take the risk? Especially when the consequence is jail.

He was videocalling while driving. It's a shit and dangerous behaviour on its own.

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I don’t think the article tried to exonerate him by any means.

Are you serious?

Corey Harris, 44, ended up in jail through no fault of his own

I think they mean the original articles that led to the viral story.

It seems complicated.

  • He had a suspended license

  • He paid off his license back in 2022

  • Friend of The Court was supposed to send the state the info so his license could be reinstated but it hadn't

I don't recall why he was in court in the first place but during that time he was driving on a suspended license while video calling into court.

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Update from today. He never had a valid driver's license. My wife just played me the whole session from today. Some interesting items:

  • His suspension wasn't lifted, not because of a clerical error, but because he didn't pay it.
  • The suspension was irrelevant anyway because he never had a driver's license. With the suspension, if he had gone in and taken the test to get a license, it would have immediately been suspended and he couldn't drive, but that's moot because he didn't have a license.
  • When the cops pulled him over, they asked if he had a license and he said no.
  • It turns out that he has a warrant out for his arrest for a driving violation in another county, so they took him to jail.

All the crap he said about being innocent was just lies.

It's an interesting story, but the writing quality is terrible. A "clerical error" caused the issue ... No. Actually, a person or some people didn't do their jobs. Human beings acted improperly, presumably accidentally, but their specific actions caused this problem.

This is important because he got in trouble for his actions. Someone else made a mistake, but they aren't named, blamed, or even held responsible, whereas he got locked up when he didn't make any mistakes.

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