SYRACUSE, NY — Patrick Dai, a former Cornell University student who was arrested last year for threatening to “gun down” Jews on campus, was sentenced Monday to 21 months in a federal prison.
Dai, 22, originally from Pittsford, a suburb of Rochester, sat with his court-appointed attorney, Lisa Peeples, arms folded over his orange jumpsuit during the hearing. His parents sat behind them, along with at least 10 other family members.
In addition to the 21 months in prison, Chief U.S. District Judge Brenda Sannes sentenced Dai to three years of probation, which includes conditions that severely restrict Dai’s access to the Internet and Internet-enabled devices. Peeples said after the hearing that the defense will appeal.
Federal prosecutors and the judge agreed that the posts were a hate crime, which increased the sentence.
Prosecutors said Dai told FBI agents after his arrest that he had intended to “incite sympathy for Jews” by posting his comments on the online forum Greekrank. But in an apology Dai posted on the same forum before his arrest, he made “no mention of that at all,” prosecutors said.
But “regardless of his motive, Dai deliberately targeted (Jewish people) based on their religion,” prosecutors said. “His underlying motivation is beside the point.”
The judge said Dai had “significantly disrupted campus life,” citing the university’s decision to cancel classes on Nov. 9 because of the “threatening messages,” the hiring of security guards to protect places on campus where Jewish students “lived, gathered and prayed,” and the installation of surveillance cameras in three Jewish student fraternities.
“The cancellation of classes on a Friday occurred after Patrick was already in custody. In our opinion, it had nothing to do with the posts,” Peeples told reporters.
In October 2023, Dai was charged with using interstate means of communication to post threats to kill or injure another person, a federal crime. Dai pleaded guilty in April 2024, months after FBI agents and Cornell University police conducted an interview during which he admitted to making the posts.
“We do not know whether he would have carried out these threats and/or attacks if he had not been arrested so quickly,” federal prosecutors told the judge.
Prosecutors acknowledged that Dai has no history of violence and has never been arrested. But they said he also has no history of posting hate speech online or inciting others to violence. Police searched Dai’s Collegetown apartment on Nov. 2 and found no weapons.
Dai’s “twisted attempt” to denounce the terrorist group Hamas poses a “real threat to that community,” prosecutors said.
All parties pointed to the “numerous” character letters submitted on Dai’s behalf, including one from an unnamed Broome County correctional officer who, with the permission of the prison administration, cited Dai’s helpfulness and “childlike” behavior as reasons for the reduced sentence.
An unnamed Cornell University professor issued a statement on the impact, explaining that the posts forced him to move his class to a less suitable room “without windows” but with a “higher level of security,” reducing his teaching time.
Dai made a statement in court on Monday, saying amid visible tears and incomprehensible muttering that although he was suffering from severe depression, he wanted to tell the court that in his opinion there was “no excuse” for his actions.
“Nobody forced me to do anything,” Dai said, looking back at his mother, who covered her mouth and looked away to hold back her tears.
The judge and court reporter asked Dai to “speak slower” and “speak more clearly and loudly” because they were having difficulty understanding him. Peeples then asked for permission to “decipher” Dai’s words to provide clarity.
“He said his motives shouldn’t matter and he doesn’t deserve any leniency,” Peeples said.
Peeples told the court that Dai was “unlike any other client” she had represented in her 31 years as a lawyer. When they first met, Peeples said, she “knew immediately that he was mentally disabled.”
Peeples told reporters the defense hopes Dai will serve his sentence, stressing that Dai has a history of serious mental illness, including a suicide attempt, his recent autism diagnosis and his developmental disability.
Dai has been under 24-hour supervision at the Broome County Jail since his first arrest nearly 10 months ago.
The defense plans to appeal, arguing that Dai’s posts were not the sole reason the university canceled classes in November and that the posts did not constitute a hate crime.
“We intend to appeal the verdict and challenge the sentence enhancement that we believe should not have been given in his case,” Peeples said. “So we’ll see what happens.”
