An online court hearing had a surprise when the lawyer accidentally uses a cat filter during a zoom court session. He said he cannot remove it but was corrected; court sessions are not always serious.
A court is always a serious place, and rare mishaps do happen. Especially with the reliance on conferencing, that might cause comical situations.
A cat appears in court
A virtual court in Texas did not expect a lawyer speaking as a cartoon cat while in the zoom session. The lawyer did not realize it until brought to attention, reported NBC News.
According to the Texas lawman, one of the worst dangers of the recent pandemic includes technology that can be inconvenient. Zoom calls and remote conferencing is the best options to get the job. But as he learned and noticed, his kid must have used the computer. In doing so, he activated the cat filter and left it on.
For this virtual session, it came to abrupt paws with no pun intended. For a few moments, the novelty of seeing a computer-filter-generated cat arguing was a rare sight. In a real court, it might have caused contempt for the offending lawyer. Given the circumstances, it was brushed off one of those days.
Cat speaks
Based on accounts of the report, the lawyer identified as Presidio County Attorney Rod Ponton took everyone by surprise. What Ponton took as one of his normal zoom calls was a "cat-astrophe" of comedic epicness.
Little did he know, he uses a cat filter during a zoom court session. Hardly the image any lawyer would want to project.
It lasted for 30 seconds was awkward to say the least, for Presidio County Attorney Rod Ponton. Participants found the incident funny and some stress released, not so for Ponton, who did not know how to change Zoom's settings.
Most of the counsels were amused at their colleague's discomfiture. Still, the 394th Judicial District Court Judge Roy Ferguson took it upon himself to show the fretting lawyer how to fix the problem.
With other lawyers on screen wryly smiling, 394th Judicial District Court Judge Roy Ferguson tried to walk Ponton through keystrokes. Ponton said he was ready to proceed even in his feline form.
Ponton says he is professional; he's not a cat
Judge Ferguson found the incident funny, and the kitten attending court episode with the lawyers' professionalism was praised.
He gave good advice on how to avoid these problems. Adding that a pre-check on the zoom setting would be wise, or an unexpected filter would take a comedic turn or so. Turn off the filters as a precaution. Posting a tweet, the kitten just made a formal announcement in the 394th court.
Ponton further explains that he used his secretary's computer, his office was transferring location.
In an NBC interview, he said that it was okay for others to find it funny, which did not bother him. Mentioning these things happen when computers are involved.
The judge said a laugh in stressful times is good, especially with a pandemic. If any lawyer uses a cat filter during a zoom court, it's no big deal. It just makes things lighter; lawyers aren't always serious.
