A Buxton man was sentenced Thursday to just over a year in prison following his December conviction for posting a death threat against Jewish people on Twitter — now X — in 2021.
Brian Dennison, 27, of Buxton, was found guilty of transmitting a threatening interstate communication by a federal jury on Dec. 7, 2023, after a three-day trial.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Jon Levy sentenced Dennison to 12 months and one day in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
When delivering the sentence, Judge Levy “noted that threats like the one Dennison communicated are corrosive and strain the fiber of our country, and that “the core liberties enshrined in the Constitution are undermined by threats based on someone’s faith,” according to Maine U.S. Attorney’s Office.
According to evidence presented at trial, on Sept. 8, 2021, Dennison posted to Twitter: “I’m going to kill jews with my ar15 tomorrow [sic].”
After FBI investigators identified Dennison as the likely author of the threat, they executed a search warrant at his Buxton residence, resulting in the seizure of approximately 1,700 rounds of ammunition that could be fired from an AR-15-style rife.
In October 2021, authorities located an AR-15-style rifle and additional ammunition in a case that had been hidden behind the Buxton residence.
Prosecutors said the investigators also found evidence that Dennison had a “long-standing animus toward Jewish people.”
“Brian Dennison communicated his violent anti-Semitic threat on the second day of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year celebration,” said Darcie McElwee, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maine, in a Thursday press release. “Such repugnant threats have no place in any society. I commend the FBI for its excellent investigative work in this case.”
“Under the First Amendment, you have a right to believe hateful things, and to express those hateful beliefs in lawful ways,” McElwee said. “But when your speech constitutes a true threat to kill or injure others, you will be held accountable.”
Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division said Dennison’s threat was “born out of his long-standing hatred for Jewish people.”
“Hate has no place here in Maine, and the fact that Mr. Dennison had the actual means to carry out his articulated threat is chilling,” Cohen said. “Protecting human life is our absolute priority, and the FBI stands ready to intervene whenever threatening language crosses the line into illegal activity.”
It really is frustrating when the media remarks how many rounds of ammunition someone has. Some people buy in bulk. Blame the leftists and democrats for this. They are continuously threatening to ban weapons, restrict purchases of ammunition, etc. What do they think people are going to do? Keep a few hundred rounds and hope for the best?
That being said, what this guy posted was repulsive. I guess there is still plenty of ignorance still left in this world.