Nervous attorney accidentally called a judge 'honey' — the courtroom fell silent, and he completely forgot his argument

Attorney William Kozeliski, a Colorado attorney, already had all eyes on him while he was arguing the case about sexual assault when he misspoke, making the moment extremely awkward for everyone in the courtroom. TODAY (@TODAY) shared a clip of the lawyer addressing Judge Elizabeth Harris when he accidentally called her "Honey," instead of 'Your Honor.' 

Kozeliski was shocked and struggled to put forth his argument, and Judge Harris had to admit she was "thrown" by the slip, but maintained decorum and encouraged him to continue. Judge Harris asked Kozeliski to "go back with what happened in the case," and he tried to interject, but ended up calling her "honey." He immediately followed up with an apology, saying, "I'm sorry, Your Honor. I don't know what to say to that. I apologize." 

She maintained her composure while another judge next to her smiled. However, she immediately dropped her smile after seeing Judge Harris' serious face. She told him to continue, but he struggled to form the next sentence, so he apologized again. "I’m sorry, I’ve just been totally thrown by my mistake," he said. Judge Harris understood the situation, but was also thrown off by what had just happened. She remained professional and encouraged him to proceed, letting him know how much time he had.

The case, 'People v/s Delgato,' according to the Irish Legal News, was about whether the man's criminal convictions should be imposed one after another, or at the same time. Later on, Kozeliski apologized in the livestream from the Colorado Judicial Branch, which was included in the viral video. Judge Harris accepted his apology. He added, "My brain didn’t turn on, and I apologize profusely."

There are certain rules and etiquette on how someone should behave in court. A study analyzing 12,663 speech segments from U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments found that interruptions are common in courtroom exchanges, and interruptions directed at female advocates carried significantly higher negative sentiment. Another study found that although women constituted about 24% of the bench, they accounted for only 32% of interruptions, meaning they were interrupted at disproportionately higher rates. 

The comments on the video are a mix of people saying he was being disrespectful to the female judge, while others are defending the attorney, saying it was a mistake. @redpandaprincess06 wrote, "Everyone is making this too big of a deal, he wasn't trying to be disrespectful, he misspoke, he apologized. Move on." @KAFFEY0120 asked, "Anyone ever thought maybe the judge is his wife, and he's used to calling her honey?"

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