CAT COUNSEL

Texas Lawyer Accidentally Appears in Zoom Court as a Kitten

“I’m not a cat!” the counselor told the judge as the kitten mouthed along.

A Texas lawyer bamboozled by Zoom’s settings appeared as a wide-eyed kitten during a Tuesday hearing videoconference. District Court Judge Roy Ferguson told cat counselor Rod Ponton, “Mr. Ponton, I believe you have a filter turned on in the video settings. You might want to...” At which point Ponton’s cat avatar groaned and said, “Can you hear me judge?” The small, sad kitten mouthed along. Ponton said he and his assistant were attempting to fix the feline foible, though they didn’t know how. Nevertheless, he was determined for the legal proceedings to go on, saying, “I’m prepared to go forward with it. I’m here live. I’m not a cat!” The mouser mess delayed the hearing, which concerned a man attempting to leave the United States with illicit goods and contraband cash, but it eventually did proceed. Ponton told Vice he had been using his secretary’s computer. Ferguson tweeted instructions on Zoom’s settings as the video began to spread online.