“Embarrassed” Lawyer “Accidentally” Uses Cat Filter During Virtual Court Hearing

AUSTIN, TX — In a moment that perfectly illustrated the difficulties of carrying out legal proceedings during the COVID-19 pandemic, Rodger Donaldson, 50, a public defendant in Texas, was unable to turn off a cat filter that was obscuring his face during a court hearing over Zoom. “He said he didn’t know how to turn it off,” Judge Rick Moore, 60, told us in a phone interview, “but I’ve been a judge a long time, and I could tell it was a filter that you have to download special. I would be surprised if he knew how to download special filters but then didn’t know how to turn them off.” Donaldson apologized during the period of confusion stating that he and his assistant were trying to fix the issue. “It’s not hard to turn off a filter,” Johnathan Davis, 53, lawyer for the prosecution, told us in a phone interview, “I told him to just click the button that made the filter happen in the first place but he kept saying he couldn’t figure it out, which is bull shit. I don’t know if he wanted to delay the court hearing or if he just wanted us to see his cat filter, but it’s like, come on man, you’re defending a guy who’s on trial for involuntary manslaughter. Be more professional.” After a few minutes of trying to conduct a court hearing with the cat filter, Judge Moore decided to delay the case until Donaldson could figure out his issue. Donaldson and his team were unavailable for comment. Sources close to the defense team maintain that it was a very cute filter, and that its cuteness should be reflected in the final verdict.