SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) 鈥 A former Cornell University student arrested for posting statements threatening violence against Jewish people on campus last fall after the start of the war in Gaza was sentenced Monday to 21 months in prison.
Patrick Dai, of suburban Rochester, New York was accused by federal officials in October of posting anonymous threats to shoot and stab Jewish people on a Greek life forum. The threats came during a spike in antisemitic and anti-Muslim rhetoric related to the war and rattled on the upstate New York campus.
Dai to posting threats to kill or injure another person using interstate communications.
He was sentenced in federal court to 21 months in prison and three years of supervised release by Judge Brenda Sannes, according to federal prosecutors. The judge said Dai 鈥渟ubstantially disrupted campus activity鈥 and committed a hate crime, but noted his diagnosis of autism, his mental health struggles and his non-violent history, .
Dai, 22, had faced a possible maximum sentence of five years in prison.
鈥淓very student has the right to pursue their education without fear of violence based on who they are, how they look, where they are from or how they worship,鈥 Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department鈥檚 Civil Rights Division said in a news release. 鈥淎ntisemitic threats of violence, like the defendant鈥檚 vicious and graphic threats here, violate that right."
Dai鈥檚 mother the threats were partly triggered by medication he was taking to treat depression and anxiety.
Public defender Lisa Peebles has argued that Dai is pro-Israel and that the posts were a misguided attempt to garner support for the country.
鈥淗e believed, wrongly, that the posts would prompt a 鈥榖lowback鈥 against what he perceived as anti-Israel media coverage and pro-Hamas sentiment on campus,鈥 Peebles wrote in a court filing.
Dai, who was a junior at the time, was suspended from the Ivy League school in Ithaca, New York.
