Attorney: It’s ‘too early to tell’ if a Syracuse University graduate student facing child pornography charges will go to trial
The defense attorney for a Syracuse University graduate student who is facing multiple child pornography charges has said it’s “too early to tell” if his client’s case will go to trial.
Bingdong Gu, a 22-year-old graduate student in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, was arrested by New York State Police on Nov. 15 for allegedly promoting digital images and video of children under the age of 10 years old engaging in sexual acts via the internet, authorities said.
Gu was released on bail last week and ordered to give his passport to a court clerk. He faces six felony charges, including three counts of promoting a sexual performance by a child and three counts of possessing a sexual performance by a child. Gu’s bail was $5,000 cash or $10,000 bond. Gu was held in the Onondaga County Justice Center after his arrest.
The graduate student appeared before Judge Rory McMahon for a brief preliminary hearing on Nov. 20 alongside Eric Jeschke, his Syracuse-based defense attorney, at the Onondaga County/City of Syracuse Criminal Courthouse.
Jeschke, in an interview after the hearing, said he initially has until McMahon’s set date of Jan. 9 to review the case. Until then, it’s unclear if Gu will go to trial.
If his case does go to trial, prosecutors would have to prove the children in the images and video Gu promoted were younger than 17 years old for a jury to find him guilty on charges of promoting a sexual performance by a child, according to state penal law, and prove the children were younger than 16 years old for a jury to find him guilty on charges of possessing a sexual performance by a child.
A jury might inspect the content Gu promoted or rely on testimony of a medical expert to determine the children’s ages, among other options, per state penal law.
According to state penal law, prosecutors would have to prove that Gu “knew the character and content” of the sexual performances he allegedly promoted for a jury to find him guilty on the child pornography charges.
Promoting a sexual performance by a child is a class D felony, punishable by up to seven years in prison. Possessing a sexual performance by a child is a class E felony, punishable by up to four years in prison.
In a statement, a university spokeswoman on Nov. 15 said Gu’s been placed on interim suspension. The university declined to comment further on his arrest because of the ongoing investigation. The graduate student lived in the 100 block of Remington Avenue, west of South Campus.
The FBI Mid-State Child Exploitation Task Force and Department of Defense assisted state police during the investigation of Gu.
Gu, outside the courtroom before his hearing, declined to comment on the case. Both Jeschke and an Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office representative did not respond to a follow-up request for comment after the hearing.
In a similar case more than a decade ago, an SU international graduate student from Russia faced child pornography-related charges for allegedly possessing sexually explicit photographs of his 2-year-old daughter.