PORTLAND, Maine — A Buxton man was found guilty Wednesday to a charge related to an online post shared in 2021 that contained a threat about killing Jewish people.
Brian Dennison, 27, was charged with one count of transmitting threatening interstate communication after posting "I'm going to kill jews with my ar15 tomorrow" on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Sept. 8, 2021, using account name @Ma1lus.
The federal jury deliberated for about two-and-a-half hours Thursday before finding Dennison guilty.
The trial began Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Portland after a judge declared a mistrial when the case was previously taken to court in May 2022. Judge Jon Levy at the time decided after the first day of oral arguments after an FBI agent witness tested positive for COVID-19 and was unable to finish his testimony.
The jury for the trial that began this week needed to determine Dennison's intent and whether or not he issued a "true threat." Defense Attorney Tom Hallett said a "true threat" is when a speaker directs a threat with the intent of causing fear of bodily harm or death.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Craig Wolff and Johnathan Nathans said they believed Dennison issued a true threat because it included a weapon, a specific date, and a particular group of people targeted. The prosecution argued the language and context of the post would make a reasonable person fearful for Jewish people who are close in proximity to the author.
Meanwhile, Hallett argued his client's threat is meaningless because there was no specific target within the Jewish population nor was there an indicator of the author's location.
On the first day of the trial, six witnesses gave their testimonies, including experts from the FBI, National Threat Operations Center, and the company X.
An FBI Counterterrorism Watch Officer said he was alerted to a tweet on Sept. 8, 2021, allegedly posted by Dennison using the Twitter handle @Ma1lus which said, "I'm building a pipe bomb." After that tweet was flagged, the officer said he assessed the profile page to find another tweet Dennison allegedly posted saying "I'm going to kill jews with my ar15 tomorrow."
An FBI task force officer who testified on Tuesday said he searched the residence and property on Fogg Road in Buxton where Dennison lived in an apartment attached to his parent's house. The FBI search team seized items from the property on Sep. 9 and in October, recovering an AR-15, other pistols, and about 1,700 rounds of ammunition that could be fired from an AR-15.
The FBI agent said on Sep. 9, there was no evidence Dennison had intent on committing a shooting the following day nor were there any pipe bombs located.
Dennison was then charged with transmitting threatening interstate communication, a felony that carries up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Three witnesses took the stand Wednesday, including a digital forensic investigator, Dennison's childhood friend, and a social media strategist.
The social media strategist claims he believes the threat was posted online for about 40 minutes before Dennison allegedly deleted it, and he estimates no more than 10 people would have seen it in that time frame.
In the closing arguments Thursday, the prosecution said again that the post was a "true threat" and would cause any reasonable person, such as the expert from the national threat operations center who testified during the trial, to be in fear for another person's life.
Prosecutors also said that because Dennison owned an AR-15 rifle that he had every aspect to carry out the threat.
The defense, however, argued the social media post was meaningless and nothing more than an unintelligent 24-year-old man making an unintelligent decision. The defense argued the post didn't specifically target certain people within the Jewish population nor was there an indicator of the user's location.
Dennison is on release as long as he follows bail conditions, and the court will set sentencing at a later date.