Student 'terror' case dismissed
By Li Xinran |
October 9, 2010, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
AMERICAN authorities have dismissed the case against a 26-year-old Chinese graduate student in the United States who has been imprisoned in a New Jersey jail for making "terroristic threats" last spring in a phone call to a university switchboard.
New Jersey attorney Christina Krauthammer informed Zhai Tiantian's lawyer on Thursday of the dismissal of Zhai's case and a grand jury's decision against bringing charges.
The 23-member grand jury decided that Zhai had not made terroristic threats, a felony that carries a potential three to five years of imprisonment if the defendant is found guilty at trial.
Zhai's counsel Hai Ming received the news of the September 21 hearing in an email from Krauthammer.
The grand jury did recommend a lesser charge of misconduct for Zhai, but the district attorney's office decided to dismiss the case.
Zhai, a former PhD candidate at Stevens Institute of Technology, in Hoboken, NJ, was sent to the Hudson County Correctional Center in Kearny, NJ, after calling the switchboard at the campus' main building to complain about his suspension from the university and saying, "I'm going to burn that building down."
The university's special counsel, Chris Adams, told the New York Times that New Jersey law uses the term "terroristic threats" to describe "statements made with the purpose to cause serious public inconvenience."
Zhai, from Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province in northwest China, enrolled at Stevens in 2000. After receiving an undergraduate degree and two master's degrees, Zhai began pursuing a doctorate in engineering.
His disciplinary case at Stevens began in the spring, according to the New York Times.
According to the Times, his lawyer and friends said it began when a relationship with a woman turned sour.
In early March, the woman, a graduate school instructor at a university in New York City, filed a harassment complaint with the police, Hai said.
On March 11, Zhai received a letter from an assistant vice president at Stevens saying he had been suspended indefinitely.
Zhai then called the main administration building at Stevens on April 15, officials said.
A campus police officer answered, and Zhai told the officer what was on his mind, according to the New York Times.
That evening, the campus police, accompanied by federal immigration agents, appeared at Zhai's door and took him into custody.
According to Hai, the harassment charges were dismissed on July 21, meaning that Zhai has no criminal record in the United States.
New Jersey attorney Christina Krauthammer informed Zhai Tiantian's lawyer on Thursday of the dismissal of Zhai's case and a grand jury's decision against bringing charges.
The 23-member grand jury decided that Zhai had not made terroristic threats, a felony that carries a potential three to five years of imprisonment if the defendant is found guilty at trial.
Zhai's counsel Hai Ming received the news of the September 21 hearing in an email from Krauthammer.
The grand jury did recommend a lesser charge of misconduct for Zhai, but the district attorney's office decided to dismiss the case.
Zhai, a former PhD candidate at Stevens Institute of Technology, in Hoboken, NJ, was sent to the Hudson County Correctional Center in Kearny, NJ, after calling the switchboard at the campus' main building to complain about his suspension from the university and saying, "I'm going to burn that building down."
The university's special counsel, Chris Adams, told the New York Times that New Jersey law uses the term "terroristic threats" to describe "statements made with the purpose to cause serious public inconvenience."
Zhai, from Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province in northwest China, enrolled at Stevens in 2000. After receiving an undergraduate degree and two master's degrees, Zhai began pursuing a doctorate in engineering.
His disciplinary case at Stevens began in the spring, according to the New York Times.
According to the Times, his lawyer and friends said it began when a relationship with a woman turned sour.
In early March, the woman, a graduate school instructor at a university in New York City, filed a harassment complaint with the police, Hai said.
On March 11, Zhai received a letter from an assistant vice president at Stevens saying he had been suspended indefinitely.
Zhai then called the main administration building at Stevens on April 15, officials said.
A campus police officer answered, and Zhai told the officer what was on his mind, according to the New York Times.
That evening, the campus police, accompanied by federal immigration agents, appeared at Zhai's door and took him into custody.
According to Hai, the harassment charges were dismissed on July 21, meaning that Zhai has no criminal record in the United States.
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