The video was immediately shared widely and brought joy to many. The lawyer, Rod Ponton, said he was happy people got a much-needed laugh.
It was a civil forfeiture case hearing like any other hearing, except for the lawyer cat. Courts usually don’t let cats argue cases. But here was Rod Ponton, a county attorney in Presidio County, Texas, unable to figure out how to turn off the cat filter on his Zoom call during a hearing on Tuesday in Texas’ 394th Judicial District Court. The result was a video immediately hailed across the internet as an instant classic, in the rarefied company of classics like Knife Kid and BBC Dad. It offered an injection of harmless levity when many people are experiencing a rough time — and Mr. Ponton took it in good spirits. “If I can make the country chuckle for a moment in these difficult times they’re going through, I’m happy to let them do that at my expense,” he said in a phone interview on Tuesday afternoon.
