Convicted Felon's Facebook Live Could Land Him In Prison For 15 Years
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BROWARD (CBSMiami) – A Facebook Live video showing a Broward County man holding and dancing with a gun outside a convenience store has landed that man in jail and facing more than a decade in prison.
The FBI says the Facebook Live video shows Christopher Brinson holding a gun. And for Brinson, a convicted felon, that's a major problem. He's being charged with a federal crime of being a convicted felon in possession of a gun.
His attorney, Lawrence Hashish, argues that the gun Brinson was holding wasn't real.
"There's no evidence and the government cannot prove it's a real gun," Hashish said. "He would know better than to put himself in that position with a real gun, but he felt that since this was fake it would mean nothing. He had nothing to worry about. It's like having a water pistol."
But the feds say the gun was real.
A firearms expert said that "the firearm has all the correct features of a genuine Glock pistol," including "the color, shape of grip, frame, slide, serial number plate location, trigger guard, and sights."
Brinson's attorney says the FBI never recovered the gun and is relying solely on this video to bolster their case.
The defense plans to have their own expert testify the gun was a fake – like a gun used in a Hollywood movie, for instance.
At the time of the Facebook Live video, the feds say Brinson was on bond for a burglary charge out of Miami and they say he's been convicted of numerous drug related charges going back several years.
But Brinson's lawyer says in the video his client was doing nothing wrong.
"He was not threatening anybody," Hashish said. "He and his friend they were just singing, smiling, dancing."
The judge in the case decided Tuesday that Brinson is a threat to the community and ordered him to remain in jail.
If he's convicted of this charge, Brinson could face a minimum of 15 years in prison.
