It was a case for civil forfeiture like any other trial, except for the attorney tax.
Courts usually do not allow cats to sue. But here was Rod Ponton, a provincial attorney in Presidio County, Texas, who was unable to figure out how the cat filter could be turned off during his Zoom call during a trial Tuesday in the 394th Judicial Court in Texas.
The result was a video that was immediately considered an instant classic on the internet, in the rare company of classics such as Knife Kid and BBC Dad. It provides an injection of harmless vitality when many people are having a difficult time – and Mr. Ponton took it up with good spirit.
“If I can make the country laugh for a moment in these difficult times they are going through, I’m glad they can do it at my expense,” he said in a telephone interview Tuesday afternoon.
Although the shared recording was less than a minute long, the comedy unfolded second by second, as if carefully written.
“Mr Ponton, I believe there is a filter turned on in the video settings,” Judge Roy Ferguson began by telling the case to Mr Ponton.
‘Augggh,’ responds an upset Mr. Ponton, as his kitten face looks deserted at the corner of the screen, his eyes looking full of terror, shame and sadness. “Can you hear me, Judge?” he asked, though the sound was never in question.
H. Gibbs Bauer, another lawyer, puts on his glasses and leans forward to better investigate the miracle on his screen. He adjusts his tie, as if subconsciously aware of his supporting role, but keeps a straight face.
So did a man with a stone in another box, identified as Jerry L. Phillips, who was apparently unpleasant by the cat.
Mr. Ponton continues.
“I do not know how to remove it,” he said. “I tried my assistant here and she.”
To get the trial started, he offered, “I’m willing to go ahead with it.”
Then, most importantly, he explains: ‘I’m alive here. I’m not a cat. ‘
This leaves Mr. Phillips looks up and finally the exchange attracts him and smiles as Judge Ferguson responds, “I can see it.”
In the interview, Mr. Ponton, who represented the state of Texas in the case, said he used his secretary’s computer and that she was ‘killed’ by mistake.
He is not on Twitter and did not know he had become an international phenomenon until he started calling reporters barely more than an hour after the trial ended. The video was on the court’s YouTube page, and Judge Ferguson himself tweeted a link.
All in all, the episode took less than a minute before he figured out how to turn off the filter, and they returned as usual.
“My older and less humorous face showed up and we continued with the trial,” he said.