Patrick Dai ’24, formerly a junior at Cornell, has been sentenced on Monday to 21 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release after accepting a plea deal for the felony charge of posting threats to kill or injure another using interstate communications.
Dai’s sentence was reduced from the calculated guideline of 27-33 months, which had been increased because the court found a hate crime motivation due to the specific targeting of Jewish students and “substantial disruption” that resulted from Dai’s threats. However, this sentence was lowered because of a January autism diagnosis, which his lawyer found significant to the case.
Dai’s attorney, Lisa Peebles, plans to file an appeal regarding his sentencing, challenging both the hate crime and disruption findings.
Chief United States District Judge Brenda Sannes, who presided over the case, recommended Dai’s placement in a prison that was suitable for his mental health conditions and near his family in Pittsford, New York, whom Sannes described as Dai’s “support network.”
When Dai spoke at the sentencing at the Northern District of New York courthouse, his voice was shaky and unclear as he cried, and the court asked him to repeat himself and speak slower as he expressed his regret.
“It’s all my fault,” Dai said.
Peebles, interpreting Dai’s remarks for the court, explained that Dai did not feel like he deserved leniency from the court and was apologetic. She noted that Dai was “the most contrite person” she had ever represented.
Last October, Dai posted several threats to Jewish students on Greekrank, an anonymous discussion forum. One post threatened a mass shooting at 104West!, which houses Cornell’s Center for Jewish Living and kosher dining hall. Not long after his threatening posts, Dai apologized on the forum.
Peebles maintained Dai intended to demonstrate that Hamas is evil rather than to genuinely threaten Cornell’s Jewish community.
In April, Dai accepted a plea deal from the prosecution, which waived the right to an indictment trial. Dai has been in jail for nearly 10 months.
Dai, who was 21 when he posted the threats, was a computer science major in the College of Engineering. He is from Pittsford, a suburb of Rochester. The court noted that Dai had struggled with mental health issues, including anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation in addition to his autism diagnosis.
In the hours after Dai’s threats in October, Molly Goldstein ’24, president of the Center for Jewish Living at the time, said residents of CJL felt “genuine fear” for their safety. Goldstein said many parents of residents, worried about violent threats, traveled to Ithaca to pick up their children.
In a statement released in October, former Cornell president Martha Pollack called Dai’s threats “horrendous” and “absolutely intolerable.”
“The virulence and destructiveness of antisemitism is real and deeply impacting our Jewish students, faculty and staff, as well as the entire Cornell community,” Pollack wrote.
Update, Aug. 12, 2:45 p.m.: This article has been updated to include further details of the sentencing hearing.