Former Rutgers student Dharun Ravi
faces jail for spying on gay roommate
By LEONARD GREENE
Last Updated:10:12 AM, March 17, 2012
Posted:1:28 AM, March 17, 2012
He should have taken the plea deal.
Ex-Rutgers student Dharun Ravi yesterday was slapped with a guilty verdict that could land him years in prison � and lead to his deportation � after using a Web cam to spy on a gay roommate who later committed suicide.
The 20-year-old�s sensational conviction � on all 15 counts � in a New Brunswick, NJ, court came after he had turned up his nose at a sweetheart deal that would have kept him out of prison, requiring him only to perform community service and undergo counseling.
In the dramatic verdict that capped three weeks of riveting testimony and three days of deliberations, Ravi was found guilty on charges that, in 2010, he illegally spied on and bullied an angry and humiliated Tyler Clementi, who jumped to his death days later from the George Washington Bridge.
Three of the raps � including bias and invasion of privacy � each carry a sentence of five to 10 years in prison. Experts have said Ravi will likely get about 10 years.
The Indian-born Ravi also could be deported after his sentencing May 21. Although he has lived in the United States since he was a boy, he is not a citizen.
As the verdict was read, Ravi lowered his head and shook it slowly back and forth. His lawyer, Steven Altman, rubbed his back.
Free on bail while his lawyers consider an appeal, he left court with his father�s arm around his shoulder.
Meanwhile, Clementi�s mother, Jane, wept in the front row in court after the first guilty count was read. Clementi�s father, Joe, later urged students to be more mature and responsible.
�You�re going to meet a lot of people in your life,� an emotional Joe Clementi said afterward. �Some of these people you may not like. Just because you don�t like them doesn�t mean you have to work against them.�
Although Ravi was never legally implicated in Clementi�s death, his spying on his roommate�s gay rendezvous was inexorably linked to the suicide.
Prosecutors said the verdict sent a powerful message that there is a price to be paid for bullying and intolerance. The case had attracted worldwide attention because of the technology used in the bullying tactics.
�[The jurors] felt the pain of Tyler,� said Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan. �They obviously understood what [Tyler] must have went through and what he felt.�
Juror Kashad Leverett, 20, a Middlesex County College student, said the evidence � which included Twitter posts and text messages of Ravi inviting his friends to tune in to the Web cam he trained on his roommate�s bed � was very strong.
�He was a young, immature kid, but at the same time, what he did was wrong, and the state proved its case,� Leverett told The Post after the verdict.
He said that the jury was not in conflict and that it could have reached a unanimous verdict within a few hours of getting the case but decided to take more time.
Prosecutors said Ravi remotely accessed his Web cam from a friend�s room on Sept. 19, 2010, and saw Clementi kissing a man.
After spreading the word through talk, Twitter and texts, Ravi took to the Internet to invite friends to tune in for a repeat performance two days later when Clementi asked him for the room again.
Clementi apparently got wind of the plan and pulled the plug. Two days later, he killed himself.
�You really can�t know what someone�s thinking. You actually have to get inside their head and it�s very difficult to do that,� juror Bruno Ferreira told the Newark Star-Ledger. �I think just afterwards you think about it not being done once but being done twice, another day, then that�s why we came to that conclusion.�
Scott Kochman, an Internet safety expert, said the trial and verdict will raise awareness about the power of the Internet.
�Most people have no idea that their webcam can be turned on remotely without their knowledge or permission,� said Kochman, the president of WebcamSafe, which makes software to block a webcam�s spying ability.
Michael Wildes, an immigration attorney and former federal prosecutor, said it is likely that Ravi�s immigration status will be reviewed.
�If he receives jail time, immigration authorities have a little more time to prepare,� Wildes said. �But if not, they�ll get the papers ready to serve him in May.�
0 Response to " "
Posting Komentar