OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
5:18 PM – Monday, August 12, 2024
A 22-year-old former Cornell University student who was detained for making frightening threats of violence against Jews on campus last fall, following Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7th, was given a 21-month prison sentence on Monday.
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Federal authorities accused suburban Rochester, New York, resident Patrick Dai, 22, in October of making threats to shoot and stab Jewish people anonymously on a Greek life forum. The threats alarmed Jewish students during a peak of anti-Semitic vitriol linked to the war.
In April, Dai entered a guilty plea for using interstate communications to post threats to kill or harm someone.
Federal prosecutors announced that Judge Brenda Sannes sentenced him to 21 months in prison and three years of supervised release in federal court.
The judge stated that Dai “substantially disrupted campus activity” and committed a worrisome hate crime, but she also took note of Dai’s mental health issues, autism diagnosis, and non-violent past.
He could have faced a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
According to Dai’s mother, she believes that some of the drugs he was taking for anxiety and depression may have contributed to the violent threats. In many cases, pharmaceutical drugs that are prescribed for certain mental health issues can prompt negative symptoms to become even worse in a struggling individual.
Meanwhile, a public defender in the case, Lisa Peebles, boldly claimed that Dai is actually pro-Israel and that the posts were a misguided attempt to “garner support for the country.” However, she did not explain why she believes this, nor did she provide any proof of his alleged support for Israel, according to NBC News.
“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 court filing.
The Ivy League institution in Ithaca, New York, had suspended Dai, a junior at the time, after learning about his concerning threats.
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