Former Cornell student sentenced to nearly 2 years for threatening to kill members of the university’s Jewish community

By Nicki Brown, CNN

(CNN) — A former Cornell University student was sentenced to nearly two years in prison for threatening to kill members of the university’s Jewish community last fall, according to the prosecutor’s office.

The former student, Patrick Dai, was sentenced Monday to 21 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, according to Richard Southwick of the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York.

Dai was arrested in October, days after a series of antisemitic threats were posted in an online discussion forum. At the time, he was a junior at the Ivy League school.

In April, Dai pleaded guilty to one count of making a threat using interstate communication after reaching a plea deal with federal prosecutors, according to online court records. As part of the agreement, Dai admitted he published posts threatening to kill and injure Jewish people and “shoot up” Cornell’s kosher dining hall, which is next to the school’s Center for Jewish Living.

Dai’s defense attorney, Lisa Peebles, said she plans to appeal the sentence because she believes the judge inappropriately applied some sentencing enhancements.

“We were obviously disappointed because we were seeking a sentence of time served, since he’s got close to 10 months in already,” Peebles told CNN by phone Monday.

After the threats were posted, Cornell University police ramped up patrols and increased security for Jewish students and organizations, the agency said. New York State Police also increased its security presence on campus, Gov. Kathy Hochul said.

The threats emerged amid a reported spike in antisemitic incidents as the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas raged in the Middle East. The Anti-Defamation League said antisemitic incidents in the United States increased nearly 400% in the days after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, and FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a Senate hearing that antisemitism was reaching “historic levels” in the United States.

Dai’s legal team claimed in court filings that he is “pro-Israel” and the posts were a “misguided attempt” to cultivate support for the country.

“He believed, wrongly, that the posts would prompt a ‘blowback’ against what he perceived as anti-Israel media coverage and pro-Hamas sentiment on campus,” Peebles wrote in a sentencing memorandum.

Dai had begun taking medication for a depressive disorder during the summer of 2023 and had complained that it made him feel worse, Peebles wrote in the filing. He was also recently diagnosed with autism, a condition which his attorney claimed contributed to his “flawed logic.”

In their own sentencing memorandum, prosecutors cast doubt on Dai’s “self-serving post hoc claims,” but said they were “not unsympathetic” to Dai’s mental health struggles.

“That said, many people go through periods where they feel isolated and/or depressed and lots of people face mental health challenges,” prosecutors wrote in the filing. “Those tests and challenges do not give anyone the right to terrorize their neighbors and classmates.”

CNN has reached out to Cornell University and Cornell Hillel for comment.

“Before imposing sentence, the court found that this was a hate crime under the federal Sentencing Guidelines because Dai targeted Jewish students and substantially disrupted the university’s core function of educating its students,” US Attorney Carla B. Freedman said in a statement following the sentencing. “The defendant’s threats terrorized the Cornell campus community for days and shattered the community’s sense of safety. My office will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute threats and acts of violence motivated by antisemitism and by hatred of any kind.”

In the statement, Cornell University Police Chief Anthony Bellamy said the sentencing shows that “threats against our community will not be tolerated.”

CNN’s Sarah Boxer contributed to this report.

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