The Cornell University student whose antisemitic online threats rippled across the campus last year is scheduled to be sentenced Monday in Syracuse, and his mental health could be a key focus of the hearing.
Both prosecutors and defense lawyers agree that Patrick Dai, of Pittsford, has mental health issues — since his October arrest he was diagnosed with autism — and that he struggled at Cornell. He was 21 when arrested last year.
“The government understands that college can be a difficult time for young people and is not unsympathetic to the defendant’s claims that he felt socially isolated and depressed,” federal prosecutors wrote in court papers.
“That said, many people go through periods where they feel isolated and/or depressed and lots of people face mental health challenges. Those tests and challenges do not give anyone the right to terrorize their neighbors and classmates.”
Dai’s defense attorneys say his online threats, which urged people to kill Jewish students, were a misguided attempt to create campus animus against Hamas. He was angry that some at Cornell had made statements backing Hamas after its Oct. 7 attack on Israel, his attorney, Federal Public Defender Lisa Peebles, said in court papers.