--- title: Convicted Felon Sings Adele-Inspired Apology to Courtroom description: A 21-year-old felon apologized for his crimes in a unique way at his hearing at Washtenaw County Trial Court on March 10. canonical: https://time.com/4262866/felon-sings-adele-inspired-apology-judge/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-17T16:31:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:30:58.755Z og:title: Watch a Convicted Felon Sing an Adele-Inspired Apology to a Courtroom og:description: "Hello there, your honor" og:url: https://time.com/4262866/felon-sings-adele-inspired-apology-judge/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch a Convicted Felon Sing an Adele-Inspired Apology to a Courtroom twitter:description: "Hello there, your honor" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Watch a Convicted Felon Sing an Adele-Inspired Apology to a Courtroom Full of People  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Mar 17, 2016 4:31 PM UTC  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Mar 17, 2016 4:31 PM UTC A 21-year-old convicted felon apologized for his crimes in a unique way at his sentencing at Washtenaw County Trial Court on March 10. Near the end of his hearing, Brian Earl Taylor stood up in the Michigan courtroom and directed his voice toward Judge Darlene O’Brien as he belted out a song similar to [Adele’s “Hello,”](http://time.com/4247836/irish-singers-adele-medley-covers/) the [Ann Arbor News reports](http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2016/03/convicted%5Ffelon%5Fsings%5Fadele-in.html). **Read More:** [Adele Fulfills Dream of 12-Year-Old Girl with Autism by Inviting Her Onstage](http://time.com/4257507/adele-invites-girl-with-autism-onstage-someone-like-you/) “Hello there, your honor,” Taylor sang. “I want to say I’m sorry for the things I’ve done and I’ll try and be stronger in this life I chose, but I want you to know — that door, I closed. And your honor I’m sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.” Taylor was sentenced to up to 17 years in prison for [unlawful imprisonment](http://time.com/4254336/what-we-dont-understand-about-violent-offenders/) and carrying a concealed weapon. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4262866/felon-sings-adele-inspired-apology-judge/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4262866/felon-sings-adele-inspired-apology-judge/"},"headline":"Watch a Convicted Felon Sing an Adele-Inspired Apology to a Courtroom Full of People","datePublished":"2016-03-17T16:31:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:30:58.755Z","description":"\"Hello there, your honor\"","url":"https://time.com/4262866/felon-sings-adele-inspired-apology-judge/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Crime","Music","viral","singers","Adele"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4262866/felon-sings-adele-inspired-apology-judge/","name":"Watch a Convicted Felon Sing an Adele-Inspired Apology to a Courtroom Full of People"}}]}] ```