Judge cites abusive conduct during lawsuit
Expelled RIT student accused of making threats to court officials
U.S. District Judge Frank Geraci Jr. wrote an unusual decision Jan. 10, dismissing a lawsuit from an expelled Rochester Institute of Technology student who claimed he’d been discriminated against at the university.
The dismissal itself wasn’t odd. Rulings of this sort happen regularly in federal court. What made the decision unusual was Geraci’s expansive detailing of what he described as derogatory and harassing conduct from the former student, Akram Marseet, toward lawyers for RIT and judges and courthouse staff.
Marseet “repeatedly used abusive and insulting language in his disagreements with opposing counsel,” Geraci wrote. He called the RIT attorneys “terrorists.” He accused U.S. Magistrate Judge Marian Payson of “colluding with RIT and of engaging in gender discrimination.”
Marseet, now 40, was expelled from RIT after a disciplinary investigation into allegations that he was harassing and stalking a female student.
Marseet denied the allegations and maintained that the university discriminated against him because he is Libyan. He said that a mental health issue hindered him in his defense during the disciplinary proceedings.
RIT student threatened to kill judges, officials allege
On Jan. 10, Geraci dismissed Marseet’s lawsuit “with prejudice,” meaning he cannot refile a similar lawsuit. Later that day, federal law enforcement officials allege, Marseet threatened in a phone call to kill Geraci and Payson.
This week, on Wednesday, Marseet pleaded not guilty in federal court to criminal charges alleging the death threats. Presiding over the case in Rochester is U.S. District Judge Brenda Kay Sannes, who is based in Syracuse and is the chief judge for the federal Northern District of New York, which includes Syracuse and Albany.
An outside judge was necessary because of the allegations of threats against Rochester-based judges.
What alleged threats did the Rochester college student make?
Federal prosecutors allege that in the “you will be dead” phone call the judges were the ones threatened, as well as the clerk.
Marseet was arrested in Colorado on the charges and brought back to Rochester for Wednesday’s arraignment. Marseet was in a PhD program at the Colorado School of Mines engineering school when arrested in January. Others at the school wrote to a Colorado judge, defending Marseet, saying he was a hard-working student excited about the program there.
At RIT Marseet was a “student employee” working toward another master’s degree. He had a master’s degree in electrical engineering when he entered RIT in 2015. He maintained a high grade point average and contributed to published research papers at RIT, according to his lawsuit.
Stalking claims surrounding RIT student
The stalking allegations arose in 2018, leading to his expulsion and subsequent lawsuit alleging discrimination.
Marseet represented himself during most of the lawsuit. Despite repeated admonitions from judges, he continued to use derisive language toward lawyers and the magistrate judge, according to court records.
Marseet’s refusal to change his behavior led to Geraci’s decision to dismiss the lawsuit “with prejudice,” according to court papers. Geraci decided that only sanctions could alter Marseet’s behavior, and Marseet had little money so monetary sanctions made no sense.
Instead, Geraci decided that, if the lawsuit continued, Marseet’s “offensive, abusive, and insulting language” would also continue.
Geraci wrote that he considered Marseet’s possible mental health issues, but that Marseet had been successful in strenuous graduate programs and that Marseet “failed to substantiate that there exists any link between those conditions and the kinds of abusive and inappropriate language he has chosen to employ during this litigation.”
Marseet is now in the Monroe County jail. He has not requested a hearing to be released on bail.
A trial is tentatively scheduled for May 6.
Gary Craig is a veteran reporter with the Democrat and Chronicle, covering courts and crime and more. He is the author of two books, including “Seven Million: A Cop, a Priest, a Soldier for the IRA, and the Still-Unsolved Rochester Brink’s Heist.”