Lawyer of man who threatened Muslims: Fox News made him do it

[CopyBoy]

As legal defenses go, this one leaves a bit to be desired.
California defense attorney Michael Malowney asked a San Diego judge to be lenient in sentencing his client, John David Weissinger, for a series of violent threats against the Council on American-Islamic Relations, because Weissinger was under the influence of alcohol — and Fox News.
Weissinger, to his credit, appeared to stare with open skepticism as his attorney argued that the San Diego man had made the threats following the terrorist attacks on the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris “after a week of watching Fox News, over and over.” The outrage on the news channel, combined with alcohol and anxiety, Malowney insisted, provoked Weissinger’s threats: “He barks when he’s drunk.”

vox.com/2016/1/20/10801948/fox-news-muslims-threat

 

[Son_of_Niall]

No great surprise here.

 

[Used2beSherryG]

Just wondering…do lawyers like this one even have a slim chance of getting into heaven? When did affording everyone a FAIR trial devolve into the outrageous antics and claims used today?

 

[Murmurs]

Just wondering…do lawyers like this one even have a slim chance of getting into heaven? When did affording everyone a FAIR trial devolve into the outrageous antics and claims used today?

Not that excuses him, but to be fair to this man’s lawyer it is his job to see that his client is acquitted. It just appears he’s making a mockery of his profession in the process.

Lawyers don’t have to believe in fair trials, of course - it’s their job to work within the system (and they probably have a vested interest, overall, in a fair process but that’s beside the point). Judges, jurors, and the general public, have the interest in fairness.

In any case, I can easily see Cicero making this sort of argument (“O tempora! O mores!”) so I think outrageous claims (especially which deep down have a tiny tiny mote of truth in them) are just part of the profession sometimes. It’s nothing new.

It’s still absurd though…

 

[Son_of_Niall]

Just wondering…do lawyers like this one even have a slim chance of getting into heaven? When did affording everyone a FAIR trial devolve into the outrageous antics and claims used today?

What a question.
Who makes it into Heaven is not your call nor mine.

But It’s not outrageous. A drunk conservative worked up over Fox ‘news’ decides to threaten Muslims. VERY plausible to me. Provable in court is a different story. But Fox is responsible for the upsurge in anti-Muslim rhetoric in this country.
I always thought is was a war on terror, not a war on a world religion.

 

[Used2beSherryG]

What a question.
Who makes it into Heaven is not your call nor mine.

But It’s not outrageous. A drunk conservative worked up over Fox ‘news’ decides to threaten Muslims. VERY plausible to me. Provable in court is a different story. But Fox is responsible for the upsurge in anti-Muslim rhetoric in this country.
I always thought is was a war on terror, not a war on a world religion.

Your logic and reasoning here is akin to Flip Wilson’s “The devil made me do it”

 

[Son_of_Niall]

Your logic and reasoning here is akin to Flip Wilson’s “The devil made me do it”

Fox “news” has been the war cheerleader for 15 years. They have taken the lead in anti-Muslim rhetoric, do you deny that? If my reasoning is akin to Flip Wilson, why is there a law on the books called ‘inciting a riot’?
Bottom line, Fox “news” bares some responsibility in the rising racial and religious bigotry in this country.

 

[CarolNoel]

Fox “news” has been the war cheerleader for 15 years. They have taken the lead in anti-Muslim rhetoric, do you deny that? If my reasoning is akin to Flip Wilson, why is there a law on the books called ‘inciting a riot’?
Bottom line, Fox “news” bares some responsibility in the rising racial and religious bigotry in this country.

NOPE!