We love Twitter. We love the memes and celebrity clapbacks and the insane “Twitter wars” between politicians and everyday people. It’s like watching a soap opera distilled into 140 characters. But just when we thought it couldn’t get any more nuts on that platform, a Maryland native had a “hold my beer” moment that led to his being charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
John Rayne Rivello of Salisbury has been indicted after sending Kurt Eichenwald, a writer for Newsweek and Vanity Fair, a GIF of a flashing, animated image. Eichenwald has epilepsy – he has written about it and talked publicly about it, so it’s not as though nobody knew. The Dallas News reports that “Dallas police served Twitter with a search warrant for the user’s account… and recovered a number of direct messages that referred to Eichenwald.
Rivello, whose charge carries a hate-crime enhancement because of his well-documented anti-Semitism, has apologized. Eichenwald claims that he has been the victim of more than 40 attempted attacks by Twitter users sending strobing images.
This new charge out of Dallas is serious. So is the federal charge against him for criminal cyberstalking with the intent to kill or cause bodily harm. Rivello could face 10 years in a federal prison on the cyberstalking charge, and – because Texas don’t mess around – between five and ninety-nine years in prison for the assault charge (and up to 10 grand in restitution, plus kiss the possibility of parole goodbye) if he’s convicted.
I bet Rivello wished he’d be charged with first-degree assault here in Maryland, as opposed to Texas; here, the penalty is only (only!) 25 years in prison if convicted.
Hate speech and Twitter go together like peas and carrots
So, what makes this story about an anti-Semite sending terrible things to a Jewish person any different from, say, literally every other horrible thing people post online? The intent. See, you can say terrible stuff: hate speech is protected speech, whether people like it or not. But in Rivello’s case, both the FBI and the Dallas police claim to have evidence (such as the messages listed above) that prove “intent.” Telling people you despise them because of their religion and hope they die is hate speech; sending an epileptic a strobing GIF with the intention of inducing a fatal seizure is a hate crime.
At the end of the day, you should take two things away from this. First, never do anything wrong in Texas – ever. Second, Thumper was right: if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.
Facing serious criminal charges can be terrifying. When you work with the law firm of Drew Cochran, Attorney at Law, you won’t have to face them alone. I know how to build a successful case against state and federal charges. If you need an experienced Annapolis criminal defense lawyer on your side, call 410-271-1892, or fill out this contact form. You can trust me to fight for your freedom.
And remember that when times are tough, don’t panic: just Keep Calm – and Call Drew.
