DALLAS (AP) — A Maryland man has been indicted in Texas on a hate-crime charge after a Twitter message induced a seizure in a Newsweek reporter.
A Dallas County grand jury on Tuesday indicted John Rayne Rivello of Salisbury, Maryland, on an aggravated assault charge enhanced as a hate crime. The 29-year-old already faces a federal interstate domestic violence charge.
Rivello is accused of sending a strobing image to reporter Kurt Eichenwald’s Twitter account with the intention of causing a seizure. Eichenwald, who lives in the Dallas area, has epilepsy.
Included with the image was the message: “You deserve a seizure for your posts.”
The image was apparently sent in response to Eichenwald’s outspoken criticism of then-President-elect Donald Trump.
In a statement Tuesday, Rivello’s attorneys said he is a military veteran with post-traumatic stress who apologized to Eichenwald and is seeking counseling.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The article doesn’t state why this was classified as a hate crime as opposed to just a crime, but if I recall, (haven’t had my second cup of coffee yet) the man believed Kurt Eichenwald was a Jewish man. He’s not, but that was where the hate part of the charge comes in I believe…
ETA: On second thought it could be as a result of having a disability from epilepsy. Not sure which actually. I remember an earlier interview where he said some twitter trolls were calling him out as being Jewish, and he said he laughed at that knowing they were targeting him over something that wasn’t true, but either way its repugnant that people do this kind of thing.
I think a hate crime targets a member of a particular group, such as a religious, ethnic, or sexual minority. In Eichenwald’s case, he was targeted as a member of the media critical of Trump.
And yes, last year he stated that he was a Christian.
There is more information here - I think it has to do with what they found on the icloud account associated with the account that sent the strobe. Dallas News: Man faces hate-crime charges
Yeah. I believe I was correct after reading the link you provided…
That was from the article. Though Eichenwald is not Jewish, the fact is, the cyberstalker believed he was.