Murder suspect released from custody in Ohio because of 'clerical error'



A man accused of gunning down a husband and father in cold blood last year was accidentally released from custody after a "clerical error" at an Ohio court incorrectly indicated that his case had been dismissed.

Last fall, Derek Driskill, a 39-year-old husband and father of three, was driving his new Mercedes-Benz in a parking lot on the eastside of Cleveland when he was rear-ended by another vehicle. Driskill and the driver of the other vehicle were reportedly handling the situation peacefully when Amarion Sanders, who was apparently sitting in the passenger seat of the other vehicle, allegedly hopped out and shot Driskill in the head before fleeing the scene.

'You would think there’s more than one person that something like that goes through.'

Driskill passed away from his injuries two days later, his wife, Andrea Johnson, claimed. "Obviously I was heartbroken. I didn’t want to believe it," she said. "... I thought he would be OK, but he died."

Sanders later turned himself in. He was charged with aggravated murder, two counts of murder, and two counts of felonious assault and assessed a bail of $1 million, which he did not pay. Thus, he remained in custody at the Cuyahoga County Jail while his case processed through the system.

Until this week.

On Monday, the cases of Sanders, now 22, and Antonio Seymore, a 35-year-old defendant charged with assault and theft, were both assigned to the same Cuyahoga County judge. Their case numbers were also remarkably similar, just one digit apart. Sanders' case was 685908, while Seymore's was 685909.

According to reports, someone at the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas accidentally mixed up their case numbers on the docket. Thus, when prosecutors motioned to dismiss the case against Seymore after witnesses against him failed to appear, Sanders was actually the one released from custody.

Law enforcement agencies were then instructed to find and rearrest Sanders and bring him back to jail. A team of U.S. Marshals made contact with Sanders' family on Tuesday night and attempted to negotiate a peaceful surrender, but Sanders allegedly did not cooperate.

The Marshals then arrested him around 9:30 on Wednesday morning and returned him to custody. He has a hearing in connection with Driskill's murder scheduled for August 19.

In the meantime, Driskill's family is still reeling from the emotional rollercoaster of the past few days. "I don’t think it’s fair. I mean, that’s not justice, it’s not our family feeling safe. I mean, he’s out on the street and can do it to somebody else," said Johnson, Driskill's widow.

"I honestly do not understand how that happens. I understand humans make mistakes, but you would think there’s more than one person that something like that goes through."

The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement that the case against Sanders was "accidentally dismissed" because of "a clerical error made by the court." "There was no motion to dismiss filed by our office," the statement reiterated.

The Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas likewise issued a statement, expressing "regret" for "the error." "The Court will review our procedures and work with the Sheriff’s Department to determine how best to ensure that a similar incident does not happen in the future," the court statement added. "We are grateful for the assistance of law enforcement in providing the safe return of Mr. Sanders."

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Man who went viral for driving during Zoom hearing over his suspended license shouldn't have been on trial at all



Corey Harris, 44, went viral last week over a Zoom courtroom video in Ann Arbor, Michigan, that showed him driving a car during the hearing regarding his suspended driver's license.

Judge Cedric Simpson noticed Harris joined the May 15 video hearing from behind the wheel of an automobile and called him out: "Ok, so maybe I don’t understand something. This is a driving while license suspended [hearing], and he was just driving, and he didn’t have a license."

'Always double-check behind these workers because they will say that they will do something, and they don't do it.'

Simpson announced that Harris' bond was revoked and ordered him to turn himself in at the Washtenaw County jail by 6 p.m. that same day or else he'd be held without bond, WJBK-TV reported.

But it turns out Harris never should have been on trial at all.

Michigan Secretary of State records show his license was suspended in 2010 for unpaid child support in Saginaw County, WXYZ-TV reported. However, court records show that a judge in 2022 rescinded the license suspension, WXYZ said.

But WXYZ said information about the rescinded suspension never got to the Michigan Secretary of State, so the record was never changed.

With that, Harris was cited in Pittsfield Township last October for driving with a suspended license, according to WXYZ's video report.

WXYZ said Harris spent two days in jail after the Zoom video hearing last month, and he told the station he went back to the Secretary of State to try to resolve the matter.

"It's very embarrassing," Harris told WXYZ. "With the type of ties that I have with the church and the community, it's very embarrassing."

In a separate story, WXYZ said it's unclear why neither Harris' public defender or the Pittsfield Township's prosecutor's office resolved his case months ago. Especially given that WXYZ said it took less that five minutes to find the Saginaw County court record showing that a judge rescinded Harris' license suspension in January 2022.

WXYZ said it reached out to the prosecutor's office and the office of Harris' defense attorney. A county spokesperson in regard to the public defender's office said they do not comment on ongoing court cases, WXYZ added.

The station also reported that the Saginaw County Friend of the Court, which was involved in the original child support case, didn't respond to calls from WXYZ. But the Secretary of State's office on Friday told the station it never received clearance from the friend of the court that would have allowed the reinstatement of Harris' driving privileges after he paid fees.

"Always double-check behind these workers because they will say that they will do something, and they don't do it," Harris told WXYZ.

Here's the Zoom courtroom video that went viral:

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Occupy Democrats founders blame 'clerical error' for directing all their donations to 'fundraising consultants' and an LLC they own, but nothing to federal candidates



The founders of the leftist group Occupy Democrats are having to defend some recent financial decisions after a curious Twitter and YouTube user publicly disclosed details about alleged allocations of the organization's funding.

On Sunday, Hamish Mitchell of African Wildlife Adventures suggested that brothers Omar and Rafael Rivero, who founded the well-known activist group around 2016, had mismanaged the donations they'd collected, likely from some of their 10 million Facebook followers.

"The ‘Occupy Democrats Election Fund’ PAC’, run by Omar Rivero, raised $797K from 2021-2022," Mitchell tweeted. "They contributed $0 to federal candidates. And they spent $577k on ‘Fundraising Consultants’."


\u201cThe \u2018Occupy Democrats Election Fund\u2019 PAC\u2019, run by Omar Rivero, raised $797K from 2021-2022. \n\nThey contributed $0 to federal candidates. \n\nAnd they spent $577k on \u2018Fundraising Consultants\u2019. \n\nWould @OccupyDemocrats & @OmarRiverosays care to explain?\u201d
— Hamish Mitchell (@Hamish Mitchell) 1664116192

Mitchell also included images supposedly of Occupy Democrats' 2021-2022 FEC filings in the tweet.

The $220,000 not directed towards financial consultants was given to Blue Deal LLC, Mitchell further alleged. Omar Rivero himself established Blue Deal, which claims to sell "campaign materials and promotional products to Democratic campaigns and Progressive organizations," and he and his brother now run it together. In other words, Mitchell has accused the Rivero brothers of funneling that $220,000 back into their own pockets.

"Would @OccupyDemocrats & @OmarRiverosays care to explain?" Mitchell asked in his tweet.

It initially appeared that Omar Rivero did, in fact, "care to explain." He responded to Mitchell by commenting, "If you understood the time and effort that goes into making viral memes—and the impact that they have—you might respect our work more." That tweet comment was largely ridiculed on social media, though, and has since been deleted.

In a second attempt to explain the financial dealings, Omar Rivero claimed on Tuesday that Occupy Democrats is a super PAC and therefore prevented by law from contributing to candidates directly. However, critics quickly noted that the group is actually a hybrid PAC, a classification that allows it to make direct contributions to candidates under certain conditions.

Finally, a spokesperson for the organization issued a statement to provide further clarification.

"The Occupy Democrats Election Fund has amended its FEC disclosures to more accurately describe payments made to content creators and digital amplifiers after its previous compliance officer erroneously reported the disbursements as 'fundraising consulting,'" the statement read, according to the Daily Caller. “The payments in question funded the Rebel Alliance, a consortium of high-powered liberal Facebook pages that spun out of the Biden campaign collaboration and funded key meme projects for the Georgia Senate runoffs, the Gavin Newsom recall election, and the Virginia gubernatorial race."

"We regret that a clerical error led to unfounded speculation, as we are proud of our work in these races and supremely confident that our donors’ money was used judiciously and effectively," the statement added.

In an interview with Newsweek on Tuesday, Rafael Rivero also blamed a "clerical error" for all the recent confusion regarding Occupy Democrats' finances.

"I invite the scrutiny," he said. "I'm very proud of our work. We have nothing to hide. Our donors' money has been used judiciously to great impact. And I regret deeply that because of some clerical error, people are jumping to conclusions, but we have all the evidence to prove that what we did was above board and had a great impact on the election in a positive way."

On Wednesday, Mitchell also accused the Occupy Democrats Election Fund PAC of donating to Mitch McConnell shortly before the 2020 election. Occupy Democrats has not responded to this latest allegation.

\u201cWhy is there a $40,000 disbursement from the Occupy Democrats Election Fund PAC to Mitch McConnell for \u2018fundraising/digital\u2019 in their FEC filing on 10/30/20? If this is a \u2018clerical error\u2019, it\u2019s the mother of all clerical errors.\u201d
— Hamish Mitchell (@Hamish Mitchell) 1664387986