A man named David Brian Howard is poised to appear in court tomorrow, where he’ll likely become the latest Jan. 6 defendant to receive a criminal sentence. As part of his legal defense, however, Howard is blaming Fox News for having an unhealthy influence on his perspective. As The New Republic reported:
The defendant “is/was simply a small-town man who between the years of 2014 and 2020 followed the media and news which much of his small community seemed to follow — Fox News,” [the defendant’s latest court filing] read. While Howard “bought the lies sold to him and millions of others for many years and especially in the wake of the 2020 election,” the defense noted he has since had a change of heart, and is now “horrified by their ongoing misinformation, influence and affect and veers away from any of that.”
If this sounds at all familiar, it’s probably because Howard isn’t the first Jan. 6 defendant to reference the controversial cable network as part of a legal defense. NBC News also reported on a different Jan. 6 defendant (who pleaded guilty) whose lawyer said ahead of sentencing that his client was infected with “Foxmania” from watching too much Fox News.
Anthony Alexander Antonio, a 29-year-old who lives in Delaware, pleaded guilty to a felony count of obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding and abetting. The guilty plea came the same day the Supreme Court agreed to take up a challenge to the use of obstruction of an official proceeding charges in Jan. 6-related cases. At an early hearing in his case, Antonio’s attorney Joseph Hurley said that Fox News “played constantly” in his home for six months.
“He became hooked with what I call ‘Foxitus’ or ‘Foxmania’ and became interested in the political aspect and started believing what was being fed to him,” the defense attorney said.
We don’t yet know the extent to which this argument will matter — Antonio’s sentencing is still a few weeks away — and Howard will also soon learn whether the “Foxmania” defense works in his favor.
Either way, Fox News executives probably aren’t pleased to see suspected Jan. 6 criminals blaming their network’s coverage for their misguided actions.
