Trump supporter found guilty of threatening to kill members of Congress after Jan. 6 insurrection
Source: Washington Post
NEW YORK — Brendan Hunt, an enthusiastic Trump supporter who called for killing members of Congress days after the Jan. 6 insurrection, was found guilty Wednesday of making a death threat against elected officials. It took the jury in his case about three hours to reach a verdict, finding that comments Hunt made in a disturbing video posted online two days after the U.S. Capitol riot amounted to a genuine threat to murder elected officials in Washington. He faces up to 10 years in prison.
The jury also concluded that menacing social media posts Hunt made in 2020 — including one directed at Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), then the Senate minority leader, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) — did not rise to the level of criminality. Hunt, 37, was charged with one count of making a threat to assault and murder a United States official. He was arrested Jan. 19, a day before President Biden’s inauguration, after the FBI received a tip about his video, titled “KILL YOUR SENATORS: Slaughter them all.” The clip had been posted on BitChute, a hosting site popular with far-right conservatives, after the deadly riot in Washington.
The case centered on several disturbing social media posts and uploads that Hunt’s lawyers said were removed from the Internet before his arrest. The defense also argued that the elected officials he targeted were not aware of his comments at the time. Hunt did not participate in the Capitol riot, nor did he contact their offices or tag the lawmakers’ social media accounts in any of his controversial posts, according to testimony and evidence.
“The fact that they didn’t see any of those posts because he aimed it at them, because he sent it to them, that’s reason to doubt,” Hunt’s attorney Leticia Olivera argued in summations. Hunt’s prosecution in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn has been seen as a test of how far violent speech can go before it crosses a line into criminality. His lawyers argued that his comments, made from his Queens home, were constitutionally protected and that, while offensive, they were not legitimate threats.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/trump-supporter-brendan-hunt-convicted-death-threat-democrats/2021/04/28/9a239624-a838-11eb-bca5-048b2759a489_story.html
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Jury Finds Brendan Hunt Of Queens Guilty Of Threatening To Kill Members Of Congress
By Alice Gainer
CBS New York
10 hours ago
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- There was a verdict on Wednesday in the trial of Brendan Hunt , the Queens man accused of threatening to kill members of Congress.
The trial at Brooklyn Federal Court lasted just a week. After just a few hours of deliberation, jurors found him guilty, CBS2's Alice Gainer reported.
. . .
At the time of his arrest, the Ridgewood, Queens man was an analyst for the New York Court System and is also the son of a former judge.
In text messages sent to his father displayed in court, he used profane antisemitic and racist slurs.
He claimed he was just trying to get his father's attention and that "I wrote a lot of things I didn't mean."
More:
https://www.newsbreak.com/news/2219524006406/jury-finds-brendan-hunt-of-queens-guilty-of-threatening-to-kill-members-of-congress
