Lawyer Blames A Week Of Fox News For Man’s Threats To Muslims

A California man’s threats to Muslims inspired a novel legal defense. According to John David Weissinger’s lawyer, Weissinger should receive a light sentence for his guilt in “making a criminal threat with hate crime allegations and the possession of an illegal assault rifle.” Why? Because he had been under the influence of Fox News for a week when he made those threats.

The perpetrator made threats to muslims while binging on two things

Not only was Weissinger “binge-watching” the Fox network’s coverage of the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris last year, but he spent much of the week also under the influence of alcohol. The judge didn’t accept either type of binge as an excuse for the man to not feel the full weight of responsibility for what he had done. 

Specifically, what Weissinger did was to react to the Charlie Hebdo coverage by calling both the national office and San Diego office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and threatening their staffs. His words were chilling. In one call, played at the sentencing hearing, he said:

“We’re waiting for you. And you know what’s going to happen? One day you’re going to wake up and there’s going to be a big, big incident. You’re going to be in the news. It’s going to be like Charlie Hebdo. Guess what? It’s coming your way motherf—-ers.”

One employee of the center, who has fielded many other threats, said that this was “heads and shoulders above everything else” the office had received. She saw that the number was a local one and testified:

“I believed he was going to shoot me. Everybody in my office. I believe that was going to happen to me at any moment and I believe that to this day.”

judge called the threats to muslims hateful, caustic

Judge Timothy Walsh, in sentencing Weissinger to a year in jail and five years of probation on Tuesday, called the perpetrator’s actions:

“Hateful.  It’s caustic, it’s inflammatory, it’s dangerous, it’s illegal, it’s inexcusable and it cannot be tolerated.  One needs to understand that this type of conduct will not be tolerated.  This is not going to be treated lightly.”

The judge had to be aware of what floodgates he would open if he showed any leniency because of the ridiculous ‘I watched Fox News’ defense. The streets would fill with domestic terrorists who figured that the Fox News tactic would get them off the hook for any hate crimes they chose to commit.

Not that the Fox, so-called News, network is innocent of inflammatory hate speech designed to instigate trouble. Just a year ago, the White House demoted Fox from being considered a “news” organization.  However, every individual is responsible for his own actions — including his own poor judgement in watching Fox.

On the other hand, perhaps convicted felon John David Weissinger would like to spend his year in jail contemplating a civil lawsuit against Fox for the role the network played in fomenting hate. It certainly sounds like his lawyer would be up for it.

You can listen to Weissinger’s horrifying call as it is played in this video:

Feature photo, screenshot from NBC video.

 

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