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New thread for updates on John Rivello, man indicted for assault on Kurt Eichenwald with "a deadly weapon, to wit: a Tweet".
#DeadlyTweet
#DeadlyTweet
@jew_goldstein @kurteichenwald @associatesmind Court allows John Rivello to remove his ankle monitor. Still grounded at father's house, with no booze, guns, or internet.
@jew_goldstein @kurteichenwald @associatesmind Texas v. Rivello continued to 11/10 (which is still sooner than anything scheduled in U.S. v. Rivello or Eichenwald v. Rivello)
#DeadlyTweet
#DeadlyTweet
@jew_goldstein @kurteichenwald @associatesmind John Rivello assault w/ deadly tweet: possible big announcement in state court Friday at 9:00 in Dallas.
The Feds moved to drop their cyberstalking charge yesterday, which may mean a plea deal has been reached in the state assault case. 1/3
@popehat @MarkWBennett #DeadlyTweet
The Feds moved to drop their cyberstalking charge yesterday, which may mean a plea deal has been reached in the state assault case. 1/3
@popehat @MarkWBennett #DeadlyTweet
@jew_goldstein @kurteichenwald @associatesmind @Popehat @MarkWBennett Feds said in July they'd drop case if no "federal interests are left unvindicated by the state case". My wild guess is JR and Dallas agreed on a lesser charge and maybe 1-2 years of prison. Some other possibilities: (a) case fell apart in discovery, 2/3
@jew_goldstein @kurteichenwald @associatesmind @Popehat @MarkWBennett (b) state case not at all resolved, but feds decided to drop their case unilaterally. 3/3
@jew_goldstein @kurteichenwald @associatesmind @Popehat @MarkWBennett It looks like feds are dropping the cyberstalking case, but the state assault case is continuing, with next court date Feb 8. Rivello may soon be allowed to travel at will and to use the internet again, if his state bond conditions aren't changed.
@jew_goldstein @kurteichenwald @associatesmind @Popehat John Rivello beat the federal cyberstalking rap, and he's now free to tweet while on bail. The pre-trial hearing in the state assault case has been set for Feb. 8.
(With today's posting of 11/17 minutes it seems clear there was no change to state bond conditions.)@NoLongerBennett
(With today's posting of 11/17 minutes it seems clear there was no change to state bond conditions.)@NoLongerBennett
In John Rivello's GIF-assault case, I had figured the designation of this month's court date as "Pre-trial" meant there would be a scheduling order and a trial date set, but the case is back to yet another plain "Announcement" setting for March 29.
Stay lifted (partly) in Eichenwald v. Rivello. Response to the complaint due 3/21. Eich could soon thereafter be permitted to subpoena Twitter for, e.g., copies of DMs and deleted tweets, and info about other accounts that tweeted strobe GIFs at him.
courtlistener.com/docket/5622794…
courtlistener.com/docket/5622794…
Today Rivello moved to dismiss Eichenwald's battery and "purposeful infliction of bodily harm" counts, on basis that those aren't proper torts in Texas, but he answered the assault and IIED counts. Eichenwald can now subpoena Twitter and other third parties.
@associatesmind
@associatesmind
John Rivello's GIF-assault criminal case put over to April 19, while "waiting on discovery".
Texas v. Rivello (the criminal GIF-assault case) still waiting on discovery. Next court date is 5/16.
courtecom.dallascounty.org/publicaccess/
courtecom.dallascounty.org/publicaccess/
Does a person tweeting a GIF "cause[] physical contact" with the person atted? Is "Don't @ me" a plea not to be battered? Briefing in Eichenwald v. Rivello is starting to get interesting. Status conference set for 5/30.
@associatesmind
courtlistener.com/docket/5622794…
@associatesmind
courtlistener.com/docket/5622794…
As I tweeted upthread, Eichenwald's been free since 3/21 to subpoena Twitter for info about anyone who collaborated with Rivello in December 2016. His tweets indicate he may also be abusively subpoenaing for info about people w/ no connection to the 2016 incident.
It's possible Eichenwald has some good info on which to make a prediction of a July trial in the criminal case, but there's not yet any official trial setting (next routine appearance date is 6/1).
John Rivello says Kurt Eichenwald is abusively subpoenaing for info about contributors to his legal defense fund, and harassing his Dad, Becky Barnes, Chuck Johnson, Richard Spencer, St. Obama's Mom Jeans, and others.
courtlistener.com/docket/5622794…
courtlistener.com/docket/5622794…
First judicial opinion to address "Battery by GIF" is out!
Says this shit's gotta be SOME kind of tort.
@associatesmind @popehat @NoLongerBennett
Eichenwald v. Rivello
courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
Says this shit's gotta be SOME kind of tort.
@associatesmind @popehat @NoLongerBennett
Eichenwald v. Rivello
courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
Court accepts, for now, that alleging "light waves emitted from the GIF touched plaintiff's retina" counts as alleging "physical contact".
The phrase "transmitting computer" is odd here. I first read it as meaning Rivello's phone, but the physical capabilities of that phone are irrelevant. It must mean Eichenwald's computer, which transmitted the light that struck Eich's eye.
That gets to what's always struck me as weird about this case. The physical weapon was entirely under Eich's control, and it wasn't malware that caused his hardware to do something that hurt him: it was his own properly-functioning software.
I think that, generally, fools who use AV hardware and software configured to kill them when playing back certain media files should be told to NOT DO THAT, ...
... even though it may make sense to hold Rivello accountable in this very unusual case where there is compelling evidence that Rivello knew exactly what he was doing.
Rivello's motion to quash denied, court says any victims of Eichenwald's allegedly abusive subpoenas will have to fight for themselves.
courtlistener.com/docket/5622794…
courtlistener.com/docket/5622794…
Looks possible there could be a trial as soon as September in the criminal assault-with-a-deadly-tweet case against John Rivello. At least, the umpteenth pre-trial court date on August 17 has been designated the "final" one.
courtecom.dallascounty.org/publicaccess
courtecom.dallascounty.org/publicaccess
The promised "final"-ity of the August court date was a bust, and Texas v. Rivello is back in interminable-monthly-continuances mode. Next court date is 10/26.
Still no visible movement in John Rivello's criminal seizure-gif-assault case. Next court date 12/14.
Meanwhile, in Eichenwald's civil suit, he wants to depose Rivello's father on 1/7. He also wants to see some of the criminal discovery, from which he would likely learn with whom Rivello was exchanging DMs like "Spammed this at [Eich] let's see if he dies".
Next court date 12/10.
Next court date 12/10.
See here for July-November 2018 updates that got misthreaded (spoiler: not much happened):
Mark Bennett (@NoLongerBennett) has now joined John Rivello's criminal defense team in the Tweeted-epileptogenic-GIF-assault case, and moved to set aside the indictment for failure to adequately plead recklessness. (no briefing available yet)
Meanwhile, in the civil case in Maryland, Rivello revealed an unusual arrangement: his father, a former city cop and DEA agent, has been working as an investigator for his legal team (and on that basis asserts privilege over some matters on which Eichenwald seeks to depose him).
