Dharun Ravi was found guilty today of spying on his college roommate Tyler Clementi, who later committed suicide in the fall of 2010.
Ravi, 19, was convicted of invasion of privacy, bias intimidation, witness tampering, and hindering arrest in conjunction with using his webcam to witness and then live stream Clementi’s date with a man on September 19, 2010. In addition, Ravi was also accused of encouraging others to participate in the crime during a second date in September which led to the eventual intimidation of Clementi for his sexual orientation, and became the main factor in today’s verdict.
Ravi faces 10 years in prison and deportation to India. The debate came down to whether Ravi was using the webcam for intimidation and ridicule because Clementi was gay which could constitute a hate crime, or if he was just a stupid bully who invaded a fellow classmate’s privacy. The bias intimidation charge is really the big one, and one that hasn’t been used in this way before. Experts say that it’s akin to domestic violence, which can occur as emotional abuse rather than physical harm.
Ravi’s attorney often used diminutive language in discussing his client, often referring to him as a “boy” a “kid” and an “immature college student” in an attempt to play the “boys will be boys” card with the jury.
Middlesex County Prosecutor Julie McClure disregarded these statements and struck a human chord irrespective of the age of the accused.
“Three weeks into the semester and (Clementi) finds out that his sexual orientation has been broadcast to the defendant’s twitter followers,” McClure said. “His private sexual activities have been exposed. What do you think he’s thinking? ‘If Molly saw it, did Cassie see it? Did people in the hall see it? Did people in Davidson C see it?’ You don’t think that he was intimidated by learning that information? Fearful, embarrassed? He’d been exposed.”
Whether or not the jury in their verdict embraced the idea of Ravi’s actions equating to that of a hate crime, one thing they seemed to say unequivocally is that his actions were indeed malicious and fit the bias intimidation mandate — evidence that the victim felt he was being intimidated or evidence that the defendant purposely or knowingly attempted to intimidate based on biased motivations.
Louis Raveson, a law professor of criminal and civil trial litigation at Rutgers School of Law-Newark says about the charge:
“This is an effort to say this is a serious crime, it inflicts serious harm, it’s intolerable … and I think that’s great,” he later added. “A prosecution like this spreads the word that it’s not fooling around; it’s not immature jokes by young people. It’s real damage, and the damage can be great, as it was with Tyler, and we’re not going to tolerate it anymore.”
Ravi will not be charged in connection with Clementi’s death. There is no word as of yet if Clementi’s family will pursue the case further with a civil suit.
