A man who went viral after driving during a virtual trial over his suspended driver’s license never had one to begin with — from any state, a judge said during a hearing Wednesday.
Corey Harris appeared back in Washtenaw County Court on Wednesday, wearing a yellow shirt with “trust me” written on the front, following a video of his May 15 hearing — which showed Harris participating in a Zoom hearing due to driving without a license from behind the wheel of a car – went viral on social media.
Wednesday’s appearance came after local outlet WXYZ Detroit reported on whether Harris should have been charged with a crime stemming from an October 2023 traffic stop because, as the outlet reported, the suspension of Harris’ privilege to drive in the state to drive was abolished. 2022.
But that’s not exactly what happened, as Judge Cedric Simpson noted in court and as Angela Benander, director of communications and media relations for the Michigan Department of State, explained in a telephone interview.
Dionne Webster-Cox, the attorney representing Harris, did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
At the start of Harris’ hearing on Wednesday, Simpson delivered comments — some of which he said were from Harris — in which he argued that the court acted “on the basis of some form of defective or deficient information,” leading the court prompted to investigate Simpson’s earlier statement.
Harris first had his driving privileges suspended in Michigan in 2021 after failing to pay child support, Benander said. Simpson said that if Harris had a driver’s license in another U.S. state, he would have been allowed to drive in the rest of the country, but not in Michigan.
But Harris was never licensed, Simpson said. Not in Michigan, nor in any other US state.
Later in 2021, new “clean slate” laws in Michigan lifted license suspensions for categories including child support cases, Benander said. Because of the new laws, Harris was eligible to have his driving privileges reinstated.
In Michigan, someone without a driver’s license can still have a driver’s license to indicate suspensions, as in Harris’ case. Benander explained that if Harris had attempted to obtain a driver’s license while the suspension was on his license, he would not have been able to do so.
However, reinstating driving privileges in Michigan is not automatic, Benander explained, noting that Harris had not completed the necessary steps with the Friend of the Court in Saginaw County in 2022 to have that suspension removed from his driving record.
It “required Mr. Harris to do something,” Simpson said. “He didn’t do it.”
Benander said the defendant would normally have been informed that his suspension was eligible for lifting and that he should report to the Friend of the Court. In most cases, they would have to pay a fine to receive a release form, which they would then have to take to the Secretary of State’s office within ten days to have the suspension removed from their record.
The state of Michigan has no record of Harris doing this, Benander said, adding that it is not and never has been the Friend of the Court’s responsibility to provide that record to the secretary of state.
Simpson said the Friend of the Court “did nothing wrong” in Harris’ case. Simpson also said that because Harris did not do what he was supposed to do, the Friend of the Court was not obliged to send anything to the Secretary of State on his behalf.
Simpson added that it is also inappropriate to point the finger at the Secretary of State in this case because they “did what they had to do.“
“It all made sense. There was no mistake. By anyone. It was a failure on the part of Mr. Harris to do certain things,” Simpson said.
Simpson said Harris paid the recovery costs last week and the offices did what they were supposed to do: send out the forms “immediately.” He added that the secretary of state removed the suspension from Harris’ driving record.
Benander confirmed Wednesday that Harris’ reinstatement was issued Monday and his suspension has been lifted.
The judge acknowledged that the process can be complicated and claimed that it was “no one’s fault”, apart from Harris’ failure to pay the fee and take the steps required of him.
Simpson also said Harris lied when asked how he tried to resolve the situation between the October traffic stop and the May 15 court hearing.
The judge said that in response to a question outside court, Harris indicated that he was bedridden due to an accident and could not reach the Secretary of State’s office during that time.
“That’s not true,” Simpson said, before asking Harris on Wednesday where he was on December 28.
Harris told the judge he had been “imposed.”
“You were at the Secretary of State’s office,” Simpson shot back. Harris was renewing his identification in Michigan, Simpson said.
The judge said he knew Harris never had a driver’s license because records show he “religiously, every year” renewed his ID at the secretary of state’s office, and in Michigan a resident cannot have both a driver’s license as proof of identity. .
Simpson said he wished Harris had been honest from the start and that in that case the court would have helped him right the wrong and given him a license.
Even if Harris had his driving privileges reinstated before the October traffic stop that led to the crime that landed him in court last month, and on Wednesday, because he never had a driver’s license, he still would have been charged with driving without a license. a permit.
Prosecutors noted in court Wednesday that Harris, according to body camera footage, said twice during that traffic stop that he did not have a valid driver’s license.
Webster-Cox said in court Wednesday that Harris is now in the process of obtaining a proper driver’s license and that his licensing test is coming up.
“He is working hard to take the steps necessary to obtain his driver’s license,” she said.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
