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Subscribe to RSSA New Jersey judge sentenced ex-Rutgers University student Dharun Ravi to a 30-day jail term and recommended he not be deported back to India.
Dharun Ravi, the former Rutgers student sentenced to 30 days in jail for using a webcam to spy on an intimate encounter by his roommate, who later committed suicide, says he did not apologize in court largely because it would have been seen as insincere.
Ravi told The Star-Ledger in an interview conducted before Monday's sentencing, but published after it, that anything he would say "would sound rehearsed and empty."
He did not address the judge when he was sentenced, and the judge criticized his lack of apology.
Read NBCNewYork.com's story on why Ravi didn't apologize
Indian-born Dharun Ravi, 20, was facing up to 10 years in prison after being found guilty in March of bias intimidation and invasion of privacy in a case that rose to prominence because his roommate, Tyler Clementi, committed suicide. Ravi also was facing the possibility of deportation, but the judge recommended that he be allowed to stay in the country.
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 his romantic encounters through a camera on his computer.
Days before his sentencing, Ravi spoke with Star-Ledger columnist Mark Di Ionno during a dinner in New Brunswick, N.J., with his parents, and his family’s defense attorney, Steve Altman.
“Anything I say now would sound rehearsed and empty, and nothing I say is going to make people hate me any less," Ravi told The Star-Ledger. "Whatever I say will never change the Clementis' mind about me, or how people see me."
Jane Clementi, the mother of the late Tyler Clementi, tears up at the sentencing of Dharun Ravi as she speaks of the "pain" and "anguish" she felt after her son committed suicide following the realization that Ravi, his roommate at the time, had spied on his romantic encounter with another man.
“When politicians give public apologies, to me, it always sounds so insincere and false," Ravi told The Star-Ledger. "No matter what I say, people will take it that way."
Former Rutgers student Dharun Ravi sentenced to 30-day jail term in webcam spying case
During the sentencing, Clementi's brother James said that hearing an apology this late from Ravi would not be meaningful to him.
Ravi's sentence also includes three years of probation, 300 hours of community service and a $10,000 fine.
Prosecutors said they plan to appeal the sentence.
Ravi must report to Middlesex Adult Correctional Center on May 31.
NBCNewYork.com and msnbc.com's Sevil Omer contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
Sick and tired that now the haters are harping on the "apology." It's just another excuse to continue hating him. If he apologizes, they will say he's just saying it to make himself look good. If he doesn't, he has no remorse. And exactly what do they want an apology for? Driving Tyler to suicide? Also, Ravi is appealing so he has to be careful what he says. The best apology needs to be the right one, and if that is sent as a letter to the Clementi family, that would probably be the best scenario.
No one pushed Tyler off the bridge. It was Tyler himself who did that. Ravi was a silly college kid who pulled a silly college prank. How was he to know Tyler was mentally unstable? Tyler was upset that his mom did not accept that he was gay.
How about apologizing shortly after the event happened! Then it would have been seen as sincere. Save the bull ship about it may have affected his trial blah blah blah. If more people learned when you make a mistake own it and try to do the right thing. I have witnessed many bad situations being eased by a simple I made a mistake I'm sorry. Let's face it this moron made a mistake he had no right invading this person's privacy for his own fun. When it took a bad turn that was the time for the apology. The only thing he's correct in stating is that when you wait until the end of the trial yes it really doesn't have much meaning.
Ravi isn't a politician or a public figure. He does have a rather grandiose ego.
An apology is defined as: a written or spoken expression of ones regret, remorse, or sorrow for having insulted, failed, injured, or wronged another. Given that definition...I have no doubt that Ravi does not regret, have any remorse or sorrow for his 'prank'. He also failed to stand when the Judge was addressing him. That tells us quite a bit about his character (mostly lack thereof).
Every time Mr. Ravi opens his mouth, he looks worse and worse....so I guess it's better for him if he just say nothing.
What a loser.
Agreed, Carpool.
Maybe he could just admit that he won't apologize because he's not sorry ? If he wants his apology to sound sincere, then he should make a sincere apology. People are so effin phony.
Of course he's sorry.You can debate what he is sorry for,or his motivation for being sorry ,but he is nonetheless.Another tragic story from the headlines.It is too bad that his parents acceptance,presumeably a few friends,and modern openness wasn't enough to make a difference.
The problem is people expect him to be sorry for Clementi's suicide yet it's a stretch to say the camera alone is what drove him to suicide.
This was no hate crime.
But the jury decided otherwise. Of the five bias charges against him, the jury found him guilty of two. So, since you weren't on the jury, I'll just trust them.
Several million words in the English language and he couldn't cobble together ones that sounded sincere. What might have also seemed sincere is if the Friday after Clementi's death he hadn't been tweeting about going out to party. Look, talk is cheap. He's also had 2 years to DO something. Perhaps write or speak about bullying and internet boundaries?!? *sigh*
Look, he wasn't convicted of the suicide. He was convicted on a very narrow group of crimes for illegally taping and invading Clementi's privacy and subsequently destroying evidence, tampering with witnesses and lying to the police.
However, in the court of public opinion, we don't have to suspend our ability to discern based upon statements and behaviors someone's feelings and attitudes. He has brought his public shunning upon himself.
"Would have sounded empty" because you are empty no remorse at all. You should be deported.. The judge that sentenced you should be removed from the bench. He just slapped the Clementi family in the face and let a foreign dirt-bag get away with a slap on the wrist. You are a disgrace, GO HOME!
Perhaps he will self-deport. He's going to be a bit of a social outcast for the rest of his life in the USA.
Ravi was just a silly college kid who played a silly college prank. How was he to know that Tyler was mentally unstable?
I guess sweet lil' Clementi's apology was jumping off a bridge to his death, which only added to his families grief. Ravi was wrong for taping the fudge-packer, that's about it!
Yes, an insincere apology would wound like one.
They need to deport the arrogant little pr1ck.
Rott in hell judge!!!! I am a conservative! What this poor young man must have felt in his last struggle with life! 30 DAYS!!!!! Sick to my stomach!!!