F-Bombs, Mute Wars, and ‘Foxitis’: Capitol Riot Cases Go Way Off Rails in Zoom Court Hearing

Caleb HoweMay 6th, 2021, 8:53 pm
 
Anthony Antonio speaking with WYFF in Greenville, SC, the day after the Capitol insurrection.

Multiple defendants facing charges relating to the January 6 attack on the Capitol had virtual appearances in court today, via Zoom conference call, and the scene, as described by those who monitored the multi-defendant hearing, was an absolute train wreck.

The court went through a slew of virtual hearings relating to the “Capitol breach,” as the U.S. Attorney refers to it, and as in previous cases, defendants brought up news media or former President Donald Trump as having personally clouded their judgment or incited them in some way.

An attorney for defendant Anthony Antonio of Delaware gave it a name. Two, actually. He said his client was suffering from “Foxitis” (also “Fox-itis” or “Foxitus”) after having become “hooked on Foxmania.” The condition, his lawyer argued, a result of what listening to what Fox News Channel “fed to him” over the course of several months leading up to January 6th.

Several different court watchers, including Huffington Post senior justice reporter Ryan J. Reilly, noticed it immediately and their live tweets led to a trending topic on Twitter.

Antonio’s lawyer made every effort to separate him out from the other defendants.

But try as he might, at least one other defendant wasn’t about to let Antonio sever ties.

The name “Copeland” kept popping up in tweets relating to other defendants because one Landon Kenneth Copeland repeatedly interrupted the proceedings, regardless of who was before the judge.

“You people fucked this up,” Copeland said at one point, one of many times he dropped the f-bomb and other expletives throughout the multi-defendant proceeding. “You’re going to give me a psych eval. I don’t like 70 percent of my income going to the government. Fuck all of you!”

Copeland did, in fact, end up with a referral for a competency screening, by the end of the day. “I don’t think he’s being belligerent intentionally, I think he’s having a crisis,” his lawyer argued.

Copeland interrupted that discussion, too. In fact he was so disruptive he ended up in a mute war. And more…

And still more. The antics included those calling in on Copeland’s behalf, as Daily Beast notes.

During his Thursday hearing, Copeland was joined by some of his Trump-supporting friends and, at one point, his mother. Magistrate Judge Robin Meriweather ended up kicking out one of his friends after they chose an “expletive” as their Zoom username.

“I’m going to tell the truth,” he screamed at one point just as the mute button was turned off. When he was placed in a separate Zoom “room” to prevent interruptions, he interrupted that, too, shouting “I wanna talk in open court you motherfuckers!”

Copeland’s attorney may be arguing PTSD. His current attorney will remain on the case until after the competency hearing, according to various reports shared on Twitter.

Adjourned but not forgotten. The order of the day was disorder. But the tweet of the day had to be this one, in response to a George Conway tweet about the Foxitis defense.

It’ll be hard to beat that one, it’s almost era-defining.

Speaking of defining, we’ll get back to you once the OED settles on spelling for Fox[itis,itus,-itis].

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Caleb Howe - Contributing Editor

Caleb Howe is an editor and writer focusing on politics and media. Former managing editor at RedState. Published at USA Today, Blaze, National Review, Daily Wire, American Spectator, AOL News, Asylum, fortune cookies, manifestos, napkins, fridge drawings...