Who is Landon Copeland? Capitol rioter shouts at court officials during Zoom call hearing: 'F**k all of you!'
WASHINGTON DC: Among the many rioters who stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, there was a Utah man who went so far as to invite his MAGA friends to interrupt his Thursday court appearance. He then wreaked havoc during the hearing, repeatedly screaming at the judge and court officials with expletives.
Identified as Landon Kenneth Copeland, the man was accused of assaulting police officers at the Capitol riots. During his Zoom call hearing on Thursday, he was muted at first, and later, put on a separate call for interrupting the other accused rioters' appearance before the judge.
RELATED ARTICLES:
Who is Ronald Sandlin? Capitol rioter who punched police and smoked weed on camera denied bail
Who is Landon Copeland?
The 33-year-old Landon Copeland was arrested for attacking several law-enforcement officials during the Capitol siege. He faces several charges including assaulting officers and disorderly contact after prosecutors matched his face in a video from the riots.
Prosecutors alleged that during a brawl, Copeland had grabbed a riot shield, before he shoved a fellow rioter into a police line and threw “a metal bike rack fence barricade” at officers.
During his Thursday, May 6 hearing, Copeland claimed he is a war veteran who got 'shot in Iraq' and his lawyers said he suffers from PTSD. His hearing saw his Trump-supporting friends chose an expletive as their group's name on the Zoom call. US Magistrate Judge Robin Meriweather kicked out the group after seeing the expletive.
Copeland's mother also attended the virtual hearing where chaos eruupted even before it was her son's turn. It ended with the magistrate calling for Copeland's psych evaluation due to the unrest he had caused.
Copeland causes chaos
As Copeland appeared for his court hearing over Zoom call in Washington DC, he ranted “You people f*cked this up.” He continued: "You’re going to give me a psych eval. I don’t like 70 percent of my income going to the government. Fuck all of you!” As a result of his rant, court officials put him on mute after he tried to protest against an attorney claiming their client, an accused rioter, had developed a disease called 'Foxitus' from watching FOX News for a prolonged period of six months.
However, the second Copeland was taken off mute, he started yelling: "I’m going to tell the truth. I don’t like you people... you’re a robot to me... you can’t come get me if I don’t want you to... Fuck all of you... Fuck all of you." Following this, the judge put him in a separate Zoom call hearing so he could no longer disrupt the proceedings of the court. “I wanna talk in open court you motherfuckers!” Copeland screamed at one point, having already told a court clerk, "You are evil!”
He then asked "At what point am I a free individual versus a pre-trial confinement individual?” “Is any of this negotiable? I used to be a free man... until you locked me up."
Copeland 'in crisis' says lawyer
Following an hour-long break where court officials discussed how they could proceed amidst his constant interruptions, his lawyer told the judge his client "is in a crisis." This only angered Copeland further who then hung up on the Zoom call. He took some ten minutes before rejoining the conversation. “In my conversations with him, I don’t think he’s being intentionally belligerent. I don’t think he’s competent to proceed right now,” his lawyer added.
After prosecutors acknowledged that Copeland previously said he suffers from PTSD, the judge declared he would be referred to behavioral health authorities for a remote competency screening before another status hearing. This comes after criminal complaints include videos and photos that “depict Copeland’s assaultive and obstructive conduct” which had spurred cops to pepper spray him during the Capitol riots.
“In response, Copeland pushed or threw the fence toward multiple law enforcement officers,” the complaint states.
Copeland's role in Capitol riots
During a February 11 interview with federal authorities, Copeland admitted going to a rally in DC to support the then-president Donald Trump. He also admitted he fought with officers outside the Capitol.
Copeland insisted that he felt "police officers were trying to ‘penetrate the line’ of the protesters and ‘steal’ individual members of the crowd, including one person who Copeland described as having been shot in the face by an officer.” Referring to deceased rioter Ashli Babbit who was fatally shot at the siege, Copeland however insisted he did not enter the Capitol.
More recently, The Daily Beast states that in an April 28 Facebook post that was brought up during his Zoom hearing, Copeland had written "So that everyone knows I go to see the FBI and a judge tomorrow. I guess peacefully protesting at the Capitol is now illegal and they are trying to hunt us all down to try and teach us a lesson."
He continued, threatening, "Unfortunately, only one option remains when we return. We bring guns and take the Capitol building without intention of being peaceful. This ends with the government bombing their own people. I had hopes it wouldn’t. But here we are.”