Date: 04-13-2018

Case Style:

Case Number: 3:18-cr-00040-SA-RP

Judge: Roy Percy

Court: United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi (Lafayette County)

Plaintiff's Attorney: Clayton A. Dabbs

Defendant's Attorney: Joseph W. Cooper and Steven E. Farese

Description: Oxford, MS - Desoto County Student Arrested and Denied Bail for Internet Threats

Nathan Caleb Brown, age 19, of Desoto County, Mississippi, appeared on April 13, 2018 before United States Magistrate Judge Roy Percy at the Federal Courthouse in Oxford, Mississippi pursuant to a Criminal Complaint and Arrest Warrant charging him with transmitting threats in interstate commerce using social media platforms, such as Twitter, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 875(c).

At the conclusion of a preliminary hearing and detention hearing, Magistrate Judge Percy determined that there was probable cause to believe that Nathan Caleb Brown had communicated threats via the internet regarding Snapchat headquarters as well as threats referencing a school shooting similar to the 1999 Columbine mass shooting and ordered Brown detained pending presentation of the case to the Grand Jury.

The public is reminded that a Criminal Complaint contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the United States has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Title 18 U.S.C. § 875. Interstate communications

(a) Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign
commerce any communication containing any
demand or request for a ransom or reward for
the release of any kidnapped person, shall be
fined under this title or imprisoned not more
than twenty years, or both.
(b) Whoever, with intent to extort from any
person, firm, association, or corporation, any
money or other thing of value, transmits in
interstate or foreign commerce any communication
containing any threat to kidnap any person
or any threat to injure the person of another,
shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not
more than twenty years, or both.
(c) Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign
commerce any communication containing any
threat to kidnap any person or any threat to injure
the person of another, shall be fined under
this title or imprisoned not more than five
years, or both.
(d) Whoever, with intent to extort from any
person, firm, association, or corporation, any
money or other thing of value, transmits in
interstate or foreign commerce any communication
containing any threat to injure the property
or reputation of the addressee or of another
or the reputation of a deceased person or any
threat to accuse the addressee or any other person
of a crime, shall be fined under this title or
imprisoned not more than two years, or both.

Outcome: See Above

Plaintiff's Experts:

Defendant's Experts:

Comments: Editor's comment: The denial of bail in a case not actually involving violence or the threat that the defendant will not appear is unusual.