Jeff Caplan’s Minute of News: The Court of Public Opinion in session for Corey Harris
Jun 6, 2024, 8:00 PM
(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)
Editor’s note: This is an editorial piece. An editorial, like a news article, is based on fact but also shares opinions. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and are not associated with our newsroom.
SALT LAKE CITY — After the Trump conviction and the Hunter Biden trial, everybody has an opinion about the justice system. Mine comes from Corey Harris. This is the guy arrested near Detroit for driving with a suspended license.
He had the unmitigated gall to show up at a court hearing on Zoom while driving his car.
The judge could not believe this. Busted.
Lock him up, said the world. And the judge agreed.
Hold on a minute
But wait a minute! It turns out 44-year-old Corey Harris had his license suspended three years ago because he didn’t pay child support. But a judge canceled the suspension, and Harris, years later, paid for his license to be reinstated last month.
So he was in the right, when he sat in his car, at a court hearing for driving without a license. And the world said, “Set him free … set him free!”
And home he went in his car, justice served.
Wait there’s more
But hang on. In the latest wrinkle to this judicial debacle, combing through motor vehicle records the court figured out Corey Harris never had a valid driver’s license.
Like ever. In any state. In his entire life.
When his license was reinstated, nobody realized that he never had one to begin with.
So the world again screamed, “lock him up!” And this time the judge looked at Corey Harris in his courtroom, wearing his t-shirt that said “trust me” and decided, “nope!” He sent Harris to jail instead.
This is why cases are not supposed to be tried in the court of ever-changing public opinion.
Jeff Caplan is the host of Jeff Caplan’s Afternoon News on KSL NewsRadio. Follow him on Facebook and X.
