Lawyer swears he is not a cat during court hearing

Attorney Rod Ponton swore Tuesday that he is not a cat.

The lawyer believed it necessary to make that clarification during a judicial process in West Texas carried out via Zoom after video images suggested otherwise.

A short video clip of Ponton covered by a white cat filter has been circulating online after Judge Roy B. Ferguson of the 394th Judicial District shared it on his Twitter account.

His court has jurisdiction over Brewster, Culberson, Hudspeth, Jeff Davis and Presidio counties.

In a panic, Ponton explains to the judge that his assistant is with him trying to remove the filter, but offered to make his case behind his feline whiskers.

“I’m ready to continue this if… I’m here live. I’m not a cat, ”says Ponton behind big, bright green cat eyes.

Another lawyer participating in the video conference appears to be holding back laughter.

“These fun times are a by-product of the dedication of legal professionals to ensure that the justice system continues to function in these difficult times,” the judge wrote on Twitter.

“All the participants took it with dignity, and the filter attorney showed incredible grace. A true professionalism from everyone !! ”.

The incident is an example of how courts operate in the virtual medium after the coronavirus pandemic practically forced them to close.

It is a requirement that judicial processes be open to the public, but the virus has made it difficult to allow groups of people in confined spaces.

Judges have almost always decided on their own how to conduct hearings in public view. In Dallas County, various judges use different streaming services.

Ferguson gave some advice to Zoom users.

“If a child used your computer, before participating in a virtual audience check the Zoom video options to make sure there are no active filters. This kitty just made a formal announcement in a 394th trial, ”Ferguson tweeted.

The “lawyer cat” – as Ponton has been called on social media – is actually a recognized and highly respected jurist.

Ponton was featured in a 2019 Netflix documentary series, “The Confession Killer,” about one of his clients, the murderer Henry Lee Lucas.

Ponton represented Lucas in his 1986 capital murder trial in El Paso. Lucas confessed to being the author of hundreds of unsolved murders in the early 1980s.

But Ponton and the media questioned Lucas’s veracity and Ponton accused the Texas Rangers of giving Lucas confidential information before being interviewed.

Ponton was a city attorney for Alpine, where he currently practices.

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