Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
15-year term may follow gun display on Facebook
The few minutes that Christopher Brinson spent singing, dancing and waving a gun around in a Facebook Live video could cost him 15 years or more in federal prison, prosecutors say.
Brinson, 31, has been convicted of several felonies so he’s barred from owning, handling or touching a gun, let alone brandishing and pointing a firearm in a live “selfie” video posted on his friend’s Facebook page, investigators said Monday.
The Fort Lauderdale man says the “gun” — which has not been found — was a realistic-looking fake and he has done nothing wrong.
“This was nothing but a theatrical performance,” Brinson’s attorney
Lawrence Hashish told the Sun Sentinel. “He was singing and dancing outside a convenience store, not being threatening in any way. Nobody even called the police.”
A judge ruled Monday that federal authorities have “substantial” evidence that the gun was real but said that the prosecution and defense can argue that issue as the case moves through the justice system. U.S. Magistrate Judge Alicia Valle ordered that Brinson will remain jailed while the case is pending, because he is a potential danger to the community and might try to flee.
The gun investigation began when FBI agents saw the Facebook Live video, which features Brinson and a friend singing and dancing on the evening of March 20 outside a convenience store in the 700 block of Northwest 22nd Road in the Fort Lauderdale’s Franklin Park neighborhood.
On April 5, the FBI notified agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives about the video, which was still posted publicly on Brinson’s friend’s Facebook page, according to court records.
A Broward Sheriff’s detective identified Brinson as the man on the video who walked over to a silver Audi and looked around “surreptitiously” before pulling a handgun from the trunk, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jodi Anton told the judge.
The video shows Brinson pointing the gun so close to the cell phone camera at times that a firearms expert was able to determine that it was a “genuine Glock pistol,” according to court records. Several of the gun’s features, including the color, shape and the locations of the serial number plate and the trigger guard all indicate the gun is real, investigators said.
The expert also told investigators that he was confident the gun in the video was not an airsoft, gas or BB gun replica, partly because the weapon had no inner barrel, Anton said.
Brinson has an extensive criminal history that started when he was about 12, Anton told the judge. Brinson has been convicted of at least eight felonies, including several cocaine-dealing offenses, grand theft auto and battery on a law enforcement officer. At the time of his arrest, he was free on bond while facing a state residential burglary charge in Miami-Dade County, she said.
Brinson’s lengthy criminal history means he is facing a minimum punishment of 15 years, and as much as life in federal prison if he’s convicted, Anton said. She urged the judge to keep him jailed because of his record and because he told prison officials he’s a gang member.
Brinson, who was arrested April 20, has not yet indicated if he will fight the charges.
Under cross-examination by Brinson’s attorney, Hashish, agents acknowledged they have not been able to find the gun, despite searching Brinson, his car and his home.
Hashish said there is no way his client would have taken such a risk, if it was a real gun.
“He was doing this out in the open,” Hashish told the judge. “Mr. Brinson was just doing a performance, singing and dancing on Facebook Live … He had no fear because it’s not a real gun.”