There have been crazier defenses.  Not many, but there surely was one or two, somewhere. There is the “Chewbacca defense” from South Park (Below, if needed) but other than that, this one is awfully close. Actually, we will not be talking about a defense to the actual charge, but we’ll get to that.

A man is about to claim that he has so little control of his mind that simply watching Fox News over and over left him without the ability to control himself and thus he had to go to Washington and attempt a coup for Trump and against his country:

According to the Guardian:

The lawyer for a Delaware man charged over the Capitol attack in January is floating a unique defense: Fox News made him do it. Anthony Antonio, who is facing five charges, including disorderly conduct and impeding law enforcement during civil disorder, fell prey to the persistent lies about the so-called “stolen election” being spread daily by Donald Trump and the right-wing network that served him, his attorney Joseph Hurley said during a video hearing on Thursday.

Antonio spent the six months before the riots mainlining Fox News while unemployed, Hurley said, likening the side effects of such a steady diet of misinformation to a mental health syndrome. “Fox television played constantly,” he said. “He became hooked with what I call ‘Foxitis’ or ‘Foxmania’, and became interested in the political aspect and started believing what was being fed to him.”

So, “during a video hearing on Thursday.” This was not a trial.

The Guardian is a bit lazy in its reporting because they don’t describe the type of hearing. It would be one of two types. Either this man is still trying to get out on bond and the attorney is saying he is not that dangerous, having been separated from Fox News. Or this is a hearing to establishing whether Antonio will be allowed to present such a defense at trial. It is actually just an “insanity” defense that is more situationally specific (we’re guessing because the article doesn’t say). One wouldn’t be allowed to say “Fox made me do it” without running it by the judge first, especially since no doctor would sign off on this.

If you are saying “this makes no sense” you are correct. And we’re near certain the judge will not allow it. However, it wouldn’t be the first time a defense attorney argued something that made no sense. We present “The Chewbaca Defense” from South Park:

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Peace, y’all
Jason
[email protected] and on Twitter @JasonMiciak