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Subscribe to RSSFormer Rutgers University student Dharun Ravi faces up to 10 years in prison when he's sentenced in May. NBC's Rehema Ellis reports.
A former Rutgers University student accused of using a webcam to spy on his gay roommate's love life has been convicted of bias intimidation and invasion of privacy in a case that exploded into the headlines when the victim of the snooping committed suicide.
Indian-born Dharun Ravi, 20, could face 10 years in prison when he's sentenced on May 21 and be deported after he's finished serving his time. He shook his head slightly after the guilty verdicts were read for most parts of the 15 counts, including bias intimidation, a hate crime, and invasion of privacy.
Ravi's former roommate, Tyler Clementi, 18, jumped off the George Washington Bridge on Sept. 22, 2010, after finding out that Ravi saw him kissing another man and appeared to encourage others to watch through a camera on his computer.
The panel deliberated for 10 hours total on Wednesday and Thursday and began anew about 9 a.m. on Friday before announcing around 11 a.m. that it had a verdict.
Discuss this case on msnbc.com's US News Facebook page
The seven women and five men on the jury, who appear to range in age from their 20s to 70s, were urged in summations by defense lawyer Steven Altman to dismiss Ravi's actions as those of a foolish child trying to impress others rather than a bully who harbored a prejudice against gays.
Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Julia McClure in her closing statement said Ravi's messages about Clementi on Twitter and other social media, including one inviting others to a "viewing party" through a webcam aimed at Clementi's bed after he asked for the room alone, showed his animosity toward his gay roommate.
Clementi checked Ravi's Twitter account 38 times in the two days before he killed himself, the prosecution told the jury.
Altman said Friday afternoon that he would prepare a press release on the case next week. "Right now I am just dealing with the emotions that everyone involved with the Ravi family and the defense experienced and continue to experience with the verdict," he said.
Rutgers webcam verdict debated, dissected online
At a courthouse news conference after the verdict, Clementi's father, Joe, addressed himself to college students and other young people, saying: "You're going to meet a lot of people in your life. Some of these people you may not like. Just because you don't like them doesn't mean you have to work against them."
In a statement issued after the verdict, Rutgers University said: "This sad incident should make us all pause to recognize the
importance of civility and mutual respect in the way we live, work and communicate with others."
The jury found Ravi not guilty on some subparts of some of the charges, but guilty of all 15 counts as a whole.
Reaction to Rutgers gay-spying case: From 'vengeance' to 'precedent-setting'
Before the trial, Ravi and his lawyers had rejected a plea bargain that would have spared him from prison. He would have
gotten probation and 600 hours of community service and would have been given help in avoiding deportation.
Former Rutgers student Dharun Ravi has been convicted of a hate crime and invasion of privacy in a case involving his use of a webcam to spy on his college roommate kissing another man; his roommate, Tyler Clementi, later committed suicide. Msnbc's Thomas Roberts discusses the verdict with NBC's Mara Schiavocampo and attorney Matt Semino.
Reaction to the verdict in the legal and gay communities was mixed Friday.
“There’s no winner here,” said Bill Dobbs, a longtime gay activist and civil libertarian. “There’s a young gay man dead and another one whose life is wrecked to a considerable degree. This case had an overzealous prosecutor … who was pushed by gay organizations that have lost sight of justice."
Marc Poirer, an openly gay professor of law and sexuality at Seton Hall University School of Law in New Jersey, said he was concerned about the verdict, saying it was not a typical bias crime.
“I think that the law didn’t fit very well,” he said, calling Ravi’s actions those of a “dumb 18-year-old” that “went wrong.”
“I think if Clementi had not committed suicide, none of this would have surfaced in this way,” he added. “I don’t want to say it’s a miscarriage of justice. I would say it’s a misapplication of principles that would be better served -- especially if we’re just figuring out how to do this -- with a clearer case.”
Msnbc.com's Miranda Leitsinger, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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I'm gay and find the punishment a bit extreme, although I don't know all the details around the case. It's interesting that often times a punishment is in relation to what happens to the victim. If the victim had reported the incident and not committed suicide, then we would probably be looking at the perp being expelled from school and a suspended sentence involving sensitivity training and community service. Kind of like when a fight occurs and someone is punched. If the victim just falls and isn't really injured, then the case may be dismissed. If he hits his head on something and dies, then it's murder. I'm not really equating the two and I'm not at all blaming the victim, but I think the suicide made the punishment much more extreme than it otherwise might have been.
The jurors were instructed to not consider the suicide, and the attorneys were prohibited from trying to draw a link to it.
The only issues for the jury were whether certain crimes were committed under state law.
The sentencing is an issue for the judge.
lloyd....if you dont know "all the details" of the case then why dont you find out before commenting? and yes whether you understand it or not, you were equating the two and do seem to be blaming the victim.
I don't think Lloyd is blaming the victim here at all. He is pointing out that the consequence of the same action may differ, and it is fair to question whether we should judge the same action differently just because the consequences were different.
There are many analogies to this, the fight being one of them. Consider the fact that just a few weeks ago a girl died after a schoolyard fight - the other girl was not prosecuted, since it was established that both girls were parties to the fight, and there was no intent to kill.
In the Ravi-Clementi case, there was no intent to kill either. There is no firm evidence that the spying was even the primary cause of the suicide. If you take the spying in isolation, then of course Ravi was guilty of invasion of privacy. But that crime is generally punished with a slap on the wrist - not a 10-year jail term. The "hate crime" conviction is purely a result of the presumed consequence, not the action itself.
So now he sees the error of his ways! Or at least one hope he does. What is wrong with pumk kids these days? He has a smug look on his face all the time!
It's unfair. He did not kill the guy. therefore just a year punishment or not at all . send him back to India and he could never come back to America.
YEA! This gives me some faith in our justice system again! I'm happy to see that little turd getting some hard time - to think that he drove that poor kid to jump from that bridge.....
What a nice gift for a Friday!
It is sign of times. The court did the right thing. I do hope we will learn from this. The hate of all kinds in the USA. We have to be example for the world and to the people of this country. Our children need to see we did the right thing.
YOu are ignorant,, in life no one is going to hold your hand, you have to be strong to get through life..
Now do you think it was all kidding and NO big deal? I doubt you do. You have 10 years to think about it. Creep
Kangaroo court giving way to mob mentality. If he was convicted of a hate crime it is a miscarriage of justice.
navyvet: and are his convictions on witness tampering and destruction of evidence also a miscarriage of justice?
Could someone explain to me this law? If I intentionally walk into a room and my roommate is having sex or even making out with another person and I tweet about it then it is a hate crime? Is there a difference between that and putting it up on a webcam? It wasn't even re posted and he was using his personal property in HIS room too. It seems that we are going a little bit overboard with the hate crime business. What about the countless straight people who commit suicide every day. We don't ever convict their tormentors as a "hate" crime. And we aren't even sure if the guy's death was related to the video. It seems to be speculation. That being said it is really sad the kid killed himself and shouldn't the school have had a better support system in place for students both gay and straight. They are just making an example of this kid and it is rather unfortunate.
Making an example??? Making an example??? Really??? Something tells me that you wouldn't have that opinion if you were the one who's sexual encounter was being broadcasted over the internet, or the sexual encounter of your brother or sister!
Tweeting about someone's sexual encounter that you witnessed is way different than setting up a webcam and broadcasting it! Anyone can Tweet anything, besides, it could be a lie or the truth. People lie all the time, BUT A WEBCAM DOESN'T LIE!
Think about that!
questionsto: You seem to ignore the fact that this young man was also convicted of witness tampering and destruction of evidence.
off to the deportation station scumbag!
Oh no! I want this little smug turd to serve some time in prison, getting banged like a drum, THEN getting deported!
I'm not heartless. I'd like for him to served at least 5 years, THEN, I want him sent back to India with a cauliflower sphincter!
was this a hate crime of a crime of passion? He killed himself because he was caught with another man, not because he couldn't live with himself. It seems to me that many gay people kill themselves for many reasons. Why is that? I have read many articles which enumerate gay suicides. How come? I just don't know.
Absolutely ridiculous verdict from a jury obviously more concerned with 'sending a message" and being P.C. than with using ANY common sense and actually bringing about a little justice. This guy was a jerk and there should be consequences but PRISON with murderers and rapists??? INSANE!
The kid already had issues if jumped off a bridge. Having the other kid spend several years in jail were serve nothing. I had worse things happen to me in college and I didn't try to kill myself.
People don't know all the facts to this case. Read this before you think this young man should be deported and sent to prison. The media has completly sensationalized this story.
1st New Rule, In New Jersey you cannot monitor your property in your bedroom.
2nd New Rule, If in New Jersey your homosexual roomate commits suicide, it must be because you annoyed him.
Rutgers was not responsibe, Just like Virginia Tech was not responsible.
You can certainly monitor you property; you cannot monitor your roommate's sexual activity. I'd call posting tweets about private sexual activity more than just annoying.
Horrible that his goes jail.. how about family of the kid who killed himself being responsible for him having to hide his sexuality??? This kid pulled a prank gone wrong 10 yrs in jail????? wtf is wrong with this country??
Curious, I have to wonder if all this furor would have surfaced if the guy filmed and distributed a hetero-sexual encounter. Would that have been a hate crime against women or just distributing porno?
i'm a gay man and find the verdict troubling and the possibility of ten years in prison shocking. seems like only a harsh prank to me. but this is police state america and the incarceration nation, after all...lock up everyone who offends us and then wonder why the government comes after us next!
Wow. This sets bad precedence for what is considered: "hate crimes". People commit suicide for lots of reasons, and saying that some incident is the reason seems unfathomable. An appeal must be in the air, otherwise prepare yourself for new incredibly gay America(nobody who's gay could be wrong!)--hope you stockpiled the grease.
If a woman did this to a straight man nothing would happen.
This kid who died checked Ravi's twitter account 28x in the two days before he committed suicide. I have to believe the school would have taken action in this situation, against Ravi, rather than risk being outed in the press...before the suicide took place. Such a pity that the kid felt SO intimidated and ashamed that he couldn't ask for help...even as his parents were paying the school a fortune to educate/safe haven their son. Huge lessons to be learned here.....
BTW; I hope he enjoys prison...he should be popular there...with his big brown eyes and wavy hair!
He got what he deserved. Good for him. Psychological attacks are just as damaging as a gun.