By SEABORN LARSON

Daily Inter Lake

A local advocacy group wants David Lenio to face a felony charge — not a reduced charge — in a case where he is accused of using social media to broadcast violence against Kalispell school children and Jewish community leaders.

Love Lives Here held a press conference Monday in front of the Flathead County Justice Center in coordination with Glacier Jewish Community-B’nai Shalom.

Lenio, 28, is charged with felony intimidation, and Ina Albert, one of the founders of Love Lives Here, said the group doesn’t want the felony charged reduced.

The press conference was supposed to be held after Lenio’s trial began at 9 a.m. Monday morning, but on Friday the trial was delayed until January.

Part of the reason for the delay is because of a possible plea bargain in the case.

“Our job is to keep up the conversation, to exert some common sense,” Albert said, “to make sure he doesn’t leave Montana and hurt someone.”

Albert said she hopes the movement will gain traction in the community as the group urges residents to put signs in their windows and yards.

“That’s as far as we’ve gotten so far,” she said.

The group wants Lenio to lose his access to firearms and undergo a state-mandated mental health treatment. Both those demands could be achieved with a felony conviction. If convicted of felony intimidation, Lenio faces up to 10 years in prison for felony intimidation charges.

Rabbi Francine Roston with Glacier Jewish Community-B’nai Shalom said this case deserves felony status because the threat was taken seriously by the community.

“If someone said they wanted to put two bullets in the head of a rabbi, I’m scared,” said Roston, one of two rabbis in the valley. Roston has two children, one attending school in Whitefish and another in Kalispell.

“My family took this threat seriously. It doesn’t make sense to drop the charges because law enforcement took it seriously, the community took it seriously and the school district took it seriously,” she said.

Roston said she understands Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan is doing the best he can. Roston also said she fears for the Grand Rapids, Michigan, community (where Lenio now lives) as much as the Flathead Valley. She said she was nervous to speak with reporters about the issue for fear of raising herself and her family as targets, but said her fear was outweighed by the message she wants the world to know.

“If he leaves this state without felony charges, I want the world to know about his threats,” Roston said.

Jonathon Hutson, the Maryland man who discovered Lenio’s tweets in February, gave a speech about Lenio’s case.

“There is a significant concern that a plea bargain might result in the felony charge of intimidation being lowered to a misdemeanor, or that Lenio could receive a deferred prosecution, which would lead all charges to being dismissed, and the state of Montana putting his arsenal back in his hands,” Hutson said. “Imagine David Lenio reloaded, courtesy of the State of Montana. Seriously. That could happen.”

Hutson, a former spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence in Washington, D.C., spoke about first uncovering Lenio’s tweets, which talked about shooting up a children’s school and racking up a kill count higher than the December 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut.

At one point Lenio tweeted to Hutson, “Where do your kids go to school?”

Hutson praised the local law enforcement that arrested Lenio on Feb. 16.

“Thank God, a tragedy that could have happened didn’t. Not here. Not on our watch,” he said.

Hutson said if Lenio’s case goes to trial, all of the evidence will be in the public light. While Lenio and other U.S. citizens have the right to free speech, Hutson said, this time the legal line had been crossed.

“Even white nationalists in this valley decry Lenio’s behavior that crosses the line between hate speech and hate crime,” Hutson said. “Better for a jury to decide Lenio’s fate than for County Attorney Ed Corrigan to seek anything less than a felony conviction that permanently keeps a dangerous man from legally owning guns.”

Shortly after concluding his speech, Hutson was subpoenaed by Lenio’s attorney, Brent Getty.

In his motion to delay the trial last week, Getty wrote, “Discussions are ongoing and the matter may be able to be resolved, without the need for a trial, as early as next week.”

Hutson has posted a petition to the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence’s website titled “Tell Ed Corrigan: Make Sure Would-Be Mass Shooter Remains Prohibited Purchaser.” The online petition has already received about 1,000 signatures, he said. The petition can be found at www.csgv.org.

Several community members stood with Hutson, Albert and Roston in the rain in front of the justice center Monday morning. Steve Goldberg, a Whitefish resident, said he heard about the Lenio case just last week.

“It’s a pretty terrifying story and we’ve got some great school children here,” Goldberg said. “It’s important to take action to prevent a tragedy. Now is not the time to not talk about something because we’re too emotional.”

Goldberg noted that Monday was the anniversary of Kristallnacht, also known as the Night of Broken Glass, when German forces orchestrated a massive attack against Jews across Europe.

“It’s still a good place to live,” Roston said of the Flathead Valley. “But it’s jarring. There’s still white nationalists out there, but with Lenio’s threat, it was potent.”

Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at slarson@dailyinterlake.com.