Judge stunned when man with revoked license takes part in telephone conversation while driving

His defense was a total car crash.

A judge in the US state of Michigan was astonished when a man appeared before him in a Zoom call court hearing who had been caught driving without a license – while he was driving a car.

Corey Harris, 44, appeared on screen behind the wheel on May 15, while Washtenaw County Judge J. Cedric Simpson wore a stunned expression.

“Mr. Harris, are you driving?” Simpson asks, according to footage released by mlive.com.

Simpson casually admits that this is so.

“Actually, I’m going to my doctor’s office,” he says.

After he parks, Simpson confronts him about blatant violation of the law.

“Maybe I’m not understanding something. This is a case of driving without a license,” Simpson tells Harris’s lawyer. “And he was just driving. And he didn’t have a license.”

Harris’s lawyer then tries to explain that this is just “the charges” – to which Simpson replies: “No, I’m looking at his record. He doesn’t have a driver’s license.”

“I don’t even know why he would do that,” Simpson says in a video posted by CBS News before revoking Harris’ bail and sentencing him to prison.

“The defendant will report to the Washington County Jail by 6 p.m. today,” Simpson explains, while Harris looks serious.

“Oh my God,” says Harris.