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DALLAS None of it looks like deadly weapons, but two hands and one tweet could send a Maryland man to prison for aggravated assault.

"I think that's exactly what the state's alleging in this indictment. It's assault by Twitter," said Paul Saputo, a Dallas attorney.

Monday afternoon, a Dallas County grand jury indicted John Rayne Rivello, 29, on a felony charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Last Friday, the Department of Justice unveiled similar charges.

This case dates back to December 2016 after Kurt Eichenwald, a prominent Dallas-based author and journalist, revealed he has epilepsy.

Rivello got riled up about Eichenwald's online comments regarding President Trump, so the 29-year-old is accused of tweeting an animated GIF to Eichenwald which stated, "You deserve a seizure for your posts."

The actual tweet flashed different colors with a strobe effect and triggered a seizure in Eichenwald.

"Prison is definitely on the table," added Saputo. "Prison is definitely on the table in both the federal charge and the state charge."

Saputo said this case could set a precedent.

"Whether Twitter is a deadly weapon is something that I would probably argue against. Now that doesn't get him out of the assault charge generally, but it might reduce that from a felony to a misdemeanor," said Saputo.

When reached by phone on Monday afternoon, Rivello's father wouldn't say anything.

For prosecutors, proving intent with the words from that tweet might not be that difficult. But weaponizing social media is a frontier the courts have yet to explore.

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Tanya 93 said:

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PrincessButtercup said:

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I agree. That's absolutely insane. There's no way the accused could know his tweet would cause a seizure even if he knew the recipient had epilepsy.

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How could he not know the flashing lights could trigger one?

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PrincessButtercup said:

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Tanya 93 said:

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PrincessButtercup said:

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I agree. That's absolutely insane. There's no way the accused could know his tweet would cause a seizure even if he knew the recipient had epilepsy.

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How could he not know the flashing lights could trigger one?

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I don't know first of all that he knew about the epilepsy. But even if he did, there's no way someone without experience with the disease could really believe a gif could cause a seizure. I've always thought it'd take something much more significant like a strobe light than a gif. You can't prove he actually intended or knew he'd cause a seizure.

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H.E. Pennypacker said:

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You can disagree with the charges, but you are obviously not familiar with the purported facts of the situation. I think you will be decidedly less sympathetic to the D when you read up on them.

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H.E. Pennypacker said:

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You can be walking along a public street doing nothing wrong, have a crazy armed loon with a criminal history stalk you, and when you exercise your right to stand your ground and defend yourself, end up dead with the crazy loon free to continue assaulting people. It's a crazy world.

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H.E. Pennypacker said:

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Well, between the dead, unarmed and underage "thug" and his armed, adult "victim", only one has a criminal history of multiple assaults. So I guess it's all how you see it. If the left is guilty of sanctifying Martin, the right is equally guilty of absolving the transgressions of Zimmerman.

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H.E. Pennypacker said:

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The difference is, you would have to run into Martin. Zimmerman would follow you at night. On the street. Makes you think. (Jackie Chiles voice)

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H.E. Pennypacker said:

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You just Texags assaulted Tanya. Seems pretty thuggish to me.

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Whitetail said:

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Warning, the picture below could give you and me a seizure:

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