The attorney for a Buxton man accused of threatening on Twitter to kill Jews with his AR-15 wants to ask jurors in his client’s trial if they can still be impartial after last Saturday’s racist shooting in Buffalo, New York, that left 10 supermarket shoppers and employees dead.
Brian Dennison’s trial on one count of transmitting a threatening interstate communication is set to begin Monday in U.S. District Court in Portland. The 25-year-old has pleaded not guilty to the charge and denied making the threat on Sept. 8, the second day of the Jewish New Year. He also said on Twitter that he was building a pipe bomb, according to police.
The FBI received information about the threats almost immediately after they were posted, according to a court affidavit. Agents visited the Fogg Road property Dennison shares with his parents and other family members the day he allegedly made the postings.
It’s highly unusual for a lawyer to ask to question jurors after they’ve been selected.
However, lawyer Thomas Hallett of Portland wants U.S. District Judge Jon Levy to ask jurors whether they question their ability to be fair and impartial at Dennison’s trial after the shooting in Buffalo, in which the shooter targeted Black victims and touted a white supremacist ideology known as replacement theory.
In a motion filed with the court Wednesday, Hallett also asked Levy to pose another question to jurors: “Can you base a verdict solely on the relevant evidence and law in this case, despite the allegations that Mr. Dennison posted on Twitter ‘I am going to kill jews with my ar15 tomorrow’?”
The jury was selected on May 2 and 3. About a third of the people called in for jury duty said they could not be fair and impartial and were dismissed, according to court documents.
Hallett argued in his motion that Dennison’s case bears similarities to the Saturday massacre in Buffalo.
“In light of the similarities between the Buffalo massacre and the facts of the relevant case, there is a significant concern as to whether the empaneled jury is still made up of a fair and impartial group of citizens,” Hallett said.
Investigators in Dennison’s case found a Nazi eagle, Nazi cards and a sketchbook containing Nazi drawings in the apartment where he lives on his parents’ property, according to court documents.
The U.S. attorney’s office, which is prosecuting the case, has until noon Friday to either oppose or agree with Hallett’s motion. Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Wolff did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
If the judge allows the questions and if the number of jurors who can remain impartial is less than 12, the trial most likely would be delayed and a new jury pool would need to be called in.
Dennison was arrested Sept. 11 and held without bail until mid-December. After telling investigators where to find his AR-15, he was released on $10,000 unsecured bail with a location-monitoring ankle bracelet. Other conditions of his bail include no possession of firearms and monitoring of his electronic devices.
If convicted, he faces up to five years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
