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Tyler Clementi with his mother Jane. Clementi, 18, a freshman at Rutgers, jumped off the George Washington Bridge in September, 2012.

On Monday, Rutgers University and the family of Tyler Clementi -- the freshman who committed suicide after his roommate used a webcam to film him in a romantic encounter with another man -- will announce the newly created Tyler Clementi Center at the New Jersey college, dedicated to helping students transition from home to university life. 

The ceremony at the campus will include members of Clementi's family, who started a foundation after his death focused on bullying, youth suicide and other issues related to gay students, the Star-Ledger reported.

"The Tyler Clementi Center is a collaborative effort between Rutgers University and the Tyler Clementi Foundation," Rutgers officials said in an announcement.

"The center will draw from academic disciplines across the university and throughout the nation to create new programs and approaches to address issues that confront young people — specifically youth making the transition from home to college."

Although Joseph and Jane Clementi, Tyler's parents, filed court papers shortly after their son's death in 2010 preserving their right to sue Rutgers for damages, the family chose not to file suit anyone associated with the webcam spying or the suicide, the family's attorney Paul Mainardi said in October. 

Read more about Tyler Clementi on NBCNews.com

"The Clementi family made a considered decision to not pursue civil suits," Mainardi told the Star-Ledger. "They are devoting their energies to the positive work of the Tyler Clementi Foundation."

Last year, the university and the Clementis’ newly formed foundation co-sponsored a symposium on bullying and social media on the Piscataway campus. Nearly 200 academics and school officials attended, the Star-Ledger reported.

The new Tyler Clementi Center will offer lectures, symposia and training on the misuse of social media and youth suicide, Rutgers officials said. The center will also focus on cyber bullying and the adjustment to adulthood and college life.

"The goal of the center is to provide scholarly support for the work of policymakers, social activists, community leaders and other advocates for vulnerable youth," Rutgers officials said.

Two of the university's professors will serve as directors of the center. 

John Munson / AP file

Dharun Ravi, 20, the former Rutgers University student waits before court proceedings, Friday, March 9, 2012 in New Brunswick, N.J.

Clementi, 18, jumped off the George Washington Bridge in 2010, a few weeks after he started his freshman year.

His roommate used a webcam to watch the freshman in a romantic encounter with another man in their dorm room, then boasted about what he had seen on Twitter. Clementi, who had told his parents he was gay weeks before leaving for college, filed a complaint about the spying with university officials hours before his suicide.

Clementi's roommate, Dharun Ravi, was found guilty of invasion of privacy, bias intimidation and other charges in a nationally televised trial last year. He served less than a month in county jail. 

Ravi is currently appealing his sentence. 

Chip East / Reuters

Dharun Ravi, right, convicted of a hate crime for using a webcam to spy on his roommate's gay tryst, leaves Middlesex County jail with his attorney, Steve Altman left, Tuesday in North Brunswick, N.J.

NORTH BRUNSWICK, N.J. -- Former Rutgers University student Dharun Ravi, convicted of bias crimes for using a webcam to spy on his gay roommate's sexual encounter, was released from a New Jersey jail on Tuesday after serving 20 days of his 30-day sentence.

Ravi, 20, clean-shaven when he entered prison, left looking unshaven when his lawyer, Steven Altman, picked him up from the Middlesex County jail shortly after 8:30 a.m. ET. They left from a side exit and avoided a throng of media awaiting his release. Ravi did not comment as he left.

Ravi began his jail term on May 31 after being convicted March 15 of bias crimes for using a computer-mounted dorm room webcam to spy on his roommate, Tyler Clementi, 18, and an older man Clementi met online. Days after learning that Ravi had snooped on him and used social media to urge others to watch as well, Clementi jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge in September 2010.

Ravi automatically was given five days off for good behavior and five for working, allowing him to leave after serving 20 days of his 30-day sentence imposed by Judge Glenn Berman, who could have given him a 10-year prison sentence. Ravi still faces three years of probation, plus more than $11,000 in fines and assessments, 300 hours of community service, and counseling.

AFP - Getty Images

Tyler Clementi in one of his Facebook profile pictures obtained Sept. 30, 2010.

Prosecutors are appealing the sentence, arguing that Ravi should have to serve more time for his actions. Ravi is appealing the conviction, saying he is not guilty.

Ravi will start paying off the fines and begin working on the community service part of his sentence, his lawyer said.

His time in jail was nearly as long as his time as a Rutgers student. He could have sought to stay out of jail during his appeal.

On Monday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said they would not seek to deport Ravi, an Indian citizen who has lived most of his life in the United States.

See earlier coverage of the Dharun Ravi-Tyler Clementi case

The Associated Press and Reuters contibuted to this report.

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Updated at 10:55 p.m. ET: With prosecutors appealing for a longer sentence, former Rutgers University student Dharun Ravi on Thursday arrived at a sheriff's department to begin a 30-day sentence in a case that exploded into the headlines when his roommate, Tyler Clementi, committed suicide.

Indian-born Ravi, 20, was found guilty last March of bias intimidation and invasion of privacy.

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.

Ravi appeared in a New Jersey state court Wednesday to announce his decision to report to jail. NBCNewYork.com reported that Ravi will likely get a 10-day credit for good behavior, and may serve only 20 days in jail. He was also sentenced to 300 hours of community service and $11,000 in fines.

Ravi apologized in a written statement that was presented at his sentencing, but Clementi's parents rejected his apology as a "public relations piece," according to NBCNewYork.com.

Prosecutors are appealing Ravi's sentence, which they believe is too lenient, but they said they are not requesting the 10-year maximum sentence he faced.

Ravi could have remained free during thee prosecutors' appeal. But during a hearing Wednesday, he agreed to waive his protection from double jeopardy. He is now not allowed to argue that he's already served his time if prosecutors prevail on their appeal and he receives a longer sentence.

Ravi's lawyer, Joseph Benedict, said he's still appealing the conviction altogether. 

Assistant prosecutor Julia McClure told the court that she felt statutory requirements warranted a five-year jail term.

But Judge Glenn Berman stood by his 30-day sentence. "I can't find it in me to sentence this gentleman to a state prison that houses people convicted of offenses such as murder, armed robbery and rape," Berman said. "I know he's an adult, but I think the interests of justice demand I deviate from the guidelines."

In a statement issued Tuesday through a lawyer, Ravi said he would begin serving his jail term Thursday.

"It's the only way I can go on with my life," he said in the statement -- which also included his first apology in the case.

Ravi apologizes for spying on roommate
More on Ravi from NBCNewYork.com
Former Rutgers student Dharun Ravi sentenced

"I accept responsibility for and regret my thoughtless, insensitive, immature, stupid and childish choices that I made on September 19, 2010 and September 21, 2010," Ravi's statement read. "My behavior and actions, which at no time were motivated by hate, bigotry, prejudice or desire to hurt, humiliate or embarrass anyone, were nonetheless the wrong choices and decisions."

When Ravi was sentenced on May 21, Judge Berman chastised him for not apologizing for his actions.

"I heard this jury say 'guilty' 288 times," Berman said, referring to all the sub-parts of the charges Ravi faced, repeated once for each juror. "And I haven't heard you apologize once."

During the court proceeding, Ravi, who expressed remorse in March in an interview with the New Jersey Star-Ledger, chose not to address the judge, though he cried as his mother pleaded for mercy from the judge.

Because Ravi's sentence is under a year, it decreases chances that immigration authorities will try to have him deported to India, where he remains a citizen.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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John O'Boyle/The Star-Ledger

Dharun Ravi is sworn in during a hearing at the Middlesex County Courthouse in New Brunswick, N.J., where he appeared to request he start his 30-day sentence.

After apologizing for using a webcam to spy on his male roommate kissing another man days before the roommate killed himself, former Rutgers University student Dharun Ravi told a New Jersey state court he would report to jail Thursday to serve his 30-day sentence.

Indian-born Ravi, 20, was found guilty of bias intimidation and invasion of privacy in a case that exploded into the headlines when Ravi's roommate, Tyler Clementi, committed suicide.

Dharun Ravi apologizes for spying on roommate, heads to jail Thursday

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.

Ravi appeared in state court Wednesday to formally announce his decision to report to jail on Thursday. NBCNewYork.com reported Ravi will likely get a 10-day credit for good behavior, and may serve only 20 days in jail.

More on Ravi from NBCNewYork.com

Prosecutors are appealing Ravi's sentence, which they believe is too lenient, but they said they are not requesting the 10-year maximum sentence he faced.

Joseph Benedict, Ravi's lawyer, said Ravi plans to do community service when he's out of jail, reported NBCNewYork.com. He was sentenced to 300 hours of community service.

Assistant prosecutor Julia McClure told the court on Wednesday that she felt statutory requirements warranted a five-year jail term. But Judge Glenn Berman stood by his 30-day sentence.

"I can't find it in me to sentence this gentleman to a state prison that houses people convicted of offenses such as murder, armed robbery and rape," Berman said. "I know he's an adult, but I think the interests of justice demand I deviate from the guidelines."

In a statement issued Tuesday through a lawyer, Ravi said he would begin serving his jail term on Thursday even though the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office is appealing the sentence, The Star-Ledger of Newark reported.

"It's the only way I can go on with my life," he said in the statement.

Tuesday's statement was the first time Ravi apologized.

Former Rutgers student Dharun Ravi sentenced to 30-day jail term in webcam spying case

"I accept responsibility for and regret my thoughtless, insensitive, immature, stupid and childish choices that I made on September 19, 2010 and September 21, 2010," Ravi's statement read. "My behavior and actions, which at no time were motivated by hate, bigotry, prejudice or desire to hurt, humiliate or embarrass anyone, were nonetheless the wrong choices and decisions."

When Ravi was sentenced on May 21, Judge Berman chastised him for not apologizing for his actions.

"I heard this jury say 'guilty' 288 times," Berman said, referring to all the sub-parts of the charges Ravi faced repeated 12 times, once for each juror. "And I haven't heard you apologize once."

During the court proceeding, Ravi, who expressed remorse in March in an interview with the New Jersey Star-Ledger, chose not to address the judge, though he cried as his mother pleaded for mercy from the judge.

Because Ravi's sentence is under a year, it decreases chances that immigration authorities will try to have him deported to India, where he remains a citizen.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Lee Celano / Reuters file

Dharun Ravi stands alone after being sentenced to 30 days for using a webcam to spy on his roommate, Tyler Clementi, and another man in their college dorm room. The case that drew national attention to bullying.

A former Rutgers University student criticized by a judge for refusing to apologize for using a webcam to spy on his male roommate kissing another man days before the roommate killed himself apologized on Tuesday and said he has accepted responsibility for what he did.

"I accept responsibility for and regret my thoughtless, insensitive, immature, stupid and childish choices that I made on Sept. 19, 2010, and Sept. 21, 2010," Dharun Ravi, 20, said in a statement issued through a lawyer. "My behavior and actions, which at no time were motivated by hate, bigotry, prejudice or desire to hurt, humiliate or embarrass anyone, were nonetheless the wrong choices and decisions. I apologize to everyone affected by those choices."

Ravi also said he will begin serving a 30-day jail term on Thursday even though he doesn't have to because the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office is appealing the sentence, The Star-Ledger of Newark reported. "It's the only way I can go on with my life," he said in the statement.

It was his most contrite public statement in a case that made him a symbol of what his family called an overzealous prosecution and that made his roommate, Tyler Clementi, a prime example of what gay rights advocates said were the consequences of bullying.

After spending two days repeatedly looking at the Twitter feed on which Ravi announced "I saw him making out with a dude. Yay," Clementi threw himself from New York City's George Washington Bridge on Sept. 22, 2010.

In March, a jury convicted Ravi of all 15 criminal counts with which he was charged, including invasion of privacy and bias intimidation. On two of the intimidation counts, he faced up to 10 years in state prison.

Last week, a judge sentenced him to 30 days in jail beginning May 31. The judge's sentence was dramatically more lenient than state sentencing guidelines, The Star-Ledger reported, which call for five to seven years for second-degree crimes. Superior Court Judge Glenn Berman, however, found that this case included "extraordinary circumstances."

Ravi could be released in 20 days for good behavior, according to The Star-Ledger.

Prosecutors, finding the sentence too lenient, said they would appeal. Still, the prosecution was a landmark in New Jersey, according to The Star-Ledger. It was the first time invasion of privacy has been tied to bias intimidation.

Ravi's lawyers have said they expect to appeal the convictions entirely. They say that he was not hateful and that authorities charged him with such serious crimes because of Clementi's suicide even though he was not charged with the 18-year-old's death.

Steven D. Altman, one of his lawyers, did not immediately return a phone call from msnbc.com on Tuesday afternoon.  

The apology comes as a reversal in course for Ravi, whose story inspired hundreds of people to rally at New Jersey's State House calling for no prison time and changes in the state's hate crime laws.

When Ravi was sentenced last month, Judge Glenn Berman chastised him for not apologizing for his actions.

"I heard this jury say 'guilty' 288 times," Berman said, referring to all the sub-parts of the charges Ravi faced repeated 12 times, once for each juror. "And I haven't heard you apologize once."

During the court proceeding, Ravi, who expressed remorse in March in a newspaper interview, chose not to address the judge, though he cried as his mother pleaded for mercy from the judge.

He told The Star-Ledger newspaper in an interview conducted before the sentencing but published afterward that he did not want to say he was sorry during the sentencing because he thought it would sound insincere.

During the sentencing, Clementi's brother James Clementi said that hearing an apology so late from Ravi would not be meaningful to him.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Updated 6:12 p.m. ET: A New Jersey judge on Monday sentenced a former Rutgers University student accused of using a webcam to spy on his gay roommate's love life to a 30-day probationary jail term.

Indian-born Dharun Ravi, 20, was facing up to 10 years in prison after being found guilty of bias intimidation and invasion of privacy in a case that exploded into the headlines when Ravi's roommate committed suicide. Ravi also was facing the possibility of deportation, but the judge recommended Monday that he be allowed to stay in the country.

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 his romantic encounters through a camera on his computer.

NBC News

Parents of Indian-born Dharun Ravi, 20, react to his sentencing for charges of bias intimidation and invasion of privacy in a case that exploded into the headlines when Ravi's roommate committed suicide.

"This individual was not convicted of a hate crime, he was convicted of a bias crime, and there's a difference," Superior Court Judge Glenn Berman said.

"I say that because I do not believe he hated Tyler Clementi. He had no reason to," Berman said, adding that Ravi's crimes were committed out of "colossal insensitivity.”

"I heard this jury say, 'guilty' 288 times -- 24 questions, 12 jurors. That's the multiplication," Berman said. "I haven’t heard you apologize once."

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.

"While the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office did not request the maximum period of incarceration for Dharun Ravi, it was expected that his conviction on multiple offenses of invading the privacy of two victims on two separate occasions, four counts of bias intimidation against Tyler Clementi, and the coverup of those crimes, would warrant more than a 30-day jail term," Prosecutor Bruce J. Kaplan said in a statement.

As Clementi's father, brother, and mother addressed the court, holding back tears at times, the image that emerged was of a "vulnerable" Tyler "shaken by the cold, criminal actions of his roommate.”

"Nobody other than Tyler understood how vulnerable he was," Tyler's father Joseph Clementi said. "We are seeking justice and accountability, not revenge."

The family spoke about their long-running ordeal as the media and several court hearings picked apart every detail of Tyler's last days.

"My world came crumbling apart in September 2010,” Tyler's mother Jane Clementi said, adding that Ravi had come to Rutgers with preconceived notions about her son.

"He never really knew Tyler," she said, describing the day she helped her son move into his new room at Rutgers, when Ravi ignored Tyler.

"He could never have known the viper’s nest he was walking into,” Tyler's brother James Clementi told the court, adding that an apology from Ravi would now be empty and spoken without empathy.

"I love my brother and I will mourn for him every day for the rest of my life,” he said.

The court also heard a statement from "MB," the man who was watched via webcam as he kissed Clementi. MB described his emotional pain and a combination of embarrassment, emptiness and fear in the wake of Clementi's death and subsequent court proceedings.

"I do wonder if it has ever entered [Ravi's] mind that he has caused me a great deal of pain, and yet he knows nothing about me," MB's statement read.

Ravi did not wish to address the court, but both of his parents spoke, expressing their belief in the American justice system.

In her grief-stricken statement, which was often interrupted by tears and sobs, Dharun's mother Sabitha Ravi told the court his son's life and health have been devastated by the events that occurred over the past 20 months.

She said her son now only eats one meal a day, and has lost more than 25 pounds.

"He was absolutely devastated and broken into pieces,” Sabitha Ravi told the court, as she wiped away tears.

"Dharun’s dreams are shattered and he has been living in hell for the past 20 months," she added, hugging her son after finishing her statement.

Dharun Ravi also cried.

"Contrary to the false propaganda, we are not a homophobic family," Dharun's father Ravi Pazhani told the court. "Dharun was not raised to hate gays."

As the hearing began, the judge noted the court had received letters and petitions asking that Ravi be pardoned. Gay activists also made public pleas for leniency in recent days.

Ravi must report to Middlesex Adult Correctional Center on May 31.

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Mark Dye / Reuters

Dharun Ravi, a Rutgers University student charged with bias intimidation, stands up after the jury leaves to begin deliberations in the Superior Court of New Jersey in Middlesex County, New Brunswick, NJ. March 14.

Dharun Ravi, the former Rutgers student convicted of a hate crime for using a webcam to spy on his gay roommate, says he doesn't regret refusing a plea deal.

Ravi spoke to the New Jersey Star-Ledger on Wednesday after being convicted last Friday of all 15 counts of privacy invasion, investigation tampering, and bias intimidation in a case that exploded when his 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.

"I’m never going to regret not taking the plea," Ravi told the Star-Ledger, published on NJ.com on Thursday. "If I took the plea, I would have had to testify that I did what I did to intimidate Tyler and that would be a lie. I won’t ever get up there and tell the world I hated Tyler because he was gay, or tell the world I was trying to hurt or intimidate him because it’s not true."

'I'm very sorry about Tyler': Read full story on NJ.com

Ravi did not testify in his own defense in the month-long trial, in which jurors 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.

Clementi checked Ravi's Twitter account 38 times in the two days before he killed himself, the prosecution told the jury.

Ravi admitted in his interview with the newspaper that he was immature as a college freshman

"But I wasn’t biased," Ravi said. "I didn’t act out of hate and I wasn’t uncomfortable with Tyler being gay."

'It's hard to form hate'
Ravi said he feels as though he's been portrayed unfairly. From his family home in Plainsboro, N.J., Ravi told the newspaper, "My high school has all kinds of kids. There were a lot of Indians, Chinese, Korean kids, some Hispanic, white kids. It’s hard to form hate when you grow up around so many different kinds of kids."

He said there were few openly gay kids in his town, but he met some at college.

"One of my friends had a gay roommate and I met a gay kid I liked a lot at orientation. They were cool. It was no big deal. Now there’s a verdict out there that says I hate gays. The jury has decided they know what is going on in my mind; they can tell you what you think."

Ravi's friends knew him as a computer whiz, and he admitted he was showing off, he told the paper.

"I never really thought about what it would mean to Tyler," he said. "I know that’s wrong, but that’s the truth."

He said he was frustrated that Tyler couldn't hear how sorry he is.

 Former Rutgers student convicted in webcam case 

"I texted an apology and when he didn’t answer, I e-mailed him. I told him I didn’t want him to feel pressure to have to move and that we could work things out," he said.

The text he was referring to - sent after Tyler was headed to his suicide jump - was shown in court.

"I'm very sorry about Tyler," he said. "I have parents and a little brother, and I can only try to imagine how they feel. But I want the Clementis to know I had no problem with their son. I didn’t hate Tyler and I knew he was okay with me. I wanted to talk to his parents, but I was afraid. I didn’t know what to say.

"At first, I actually thought I could be helpful because as far as I knew, I was the last one to see him alive."

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Some experts called Friday’s guilty verdict against a former Rutgers student who spied on his gay roommate's romantic encounters “precedent setting” in the battle against bullying, but others decried it as entering the “realm of vengeance.”

Dharun Ravi, 20, was facing 15 counts, including bias intimidation -- the state's nomenclature for a hate crime -- and invasion of privacy. Fellow New Jersey residents found him guilty on most parts of the 15 counts. He faces as much as 10 years imprisonment at his sentencing in May.

Ravi’s roommate and fellow first-year student at Rutgers, Tyler Clementi, jumped to his death off the George Washington Bridge on Sept. 22, 2010, three days after Ravi watched Clementi kiss another man via a web camera and one day after Ravi tried to do it again, an event he invited fellow students to watch.

Prosecutors pursued New Jersey’s hate crimes’ statute in the case, which attracted national interest and triggered debate over such laws. The bias crime law, on the books since 2002, has seemingly never been applied in a case where the underlying charge is invasion of privacy – or such cases haven’t been publicized, experts said.

Former Rutgers student guilty in webcam spying case

“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.

“The suicide cast a long shadow into that court room and really got the book thrown at Dharun Ravi,” Dobbs added, noting he didn’t think there would have been a criminal case without Clementi’s death. “This is well beyond looking for justice and into the realm of vengeance considering the number of charges against Ravi and the seriousness of them. As hate crimes prosecution mount, the flaws of such laws become apparent.”

The jury had to find the India-born Ravi, who could face deportation after serving his sentence, guilty of invasion of privacy -- known as the underlying charge -- to then convict him of bias intimidation. The use of that charge was deemed atypical in such cases, with some law professors divided on its use.

Louis Raveson, a law professor of criminal and civil trial litigation at Rutgers School of Law-Newark, thought the prosecution made its case and that the bias intimidation charge was used appropriately. 

“There was a fair amount of evidence that Ravi did harbor a bias towards gay males and that he thought it was funny to expose Tyler because of his relationship with another man. … It may not have been overwhelming evidence but it was certainly sufficient for the jury to find that Ravi was guilty,” he said.

Groundwork for future cases
Raveson also thought the decision could lay the groundwork for similar cases nationally.

“It will be an important precedent throughout the country because it is recognizing the kind of bullying that’s gone on for decades and decades isn’t just boyish pranks but rather they’re serious crimes,” he said, adding: “Access to social media exacerbates the seriousness of invasion of privacy because instead of one person telling his friend about it, and it dying, instead it goes on the Internet where … potentially thousands of people can see it, and the kind of trauma that that can cause to a victim is enormous.”

Former federal prosecutor Robert Mintz, now a partner at New Jersey law firm McCarter & English agreed that the case highlighted the role of modern communications in such cases. “This verdict should serve as a cautionary tale as to the serious consequences of reckless behavior in the age of technology,” he said in a statement.

Meanwhile, 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.”

'Worries me'
Poirer also was concerned about part of the bias law that allows jurors to find guilt on victim intimidation without the perpetrator having intent to actually do that; instead, it’s based on the way the victim felt. The jurors did convict in this way, though they also did find Ravi guilty in some instances of “knowing” or acting with “the purpose to intimidate.” (Verdict breakdown: http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/03/ravi_webcam_trial_verdict.html)

This “is subject to a very … widespread kind of application, so that worries me a good deal,” he added.

Meanwhile, a civil rights group, Garden State Equality, hailed the decision.

“This verdict sends the important message that a ‘kids will be kids’ defense is no excuse to bully another student,” chairman Steven Goldstein wrote in a statement posted to their website. (http://www.gardenstateequality.org/)

“Though Tyler Clementi has left us, the rest of Dharun Ravi’s life will help tell his life story. Ravi’s own lawyer basically portrayed him as a young man who engaged in jerky, insensitive behavior. Ravi can stay that course, or he can (do) some good with his life by making amends and fighting for the justice and dignity of every individual, including people who are LGBT. That much is up to Ravi.”

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The verdict returned Friday against Dharun Ravi, a former Rutgers University student who spied on the sexual tryst of Tyler Clementi, a roommate who later committed suicide, made for fast and furious conversation on the Web.

Related:

Former Rutgers student guilty in Rutgers webcam spying case

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John O'boyle / AP

Dharun Ravi listens to testimony during Ravi's trial at the Middlesex County Courthouse in New Brunswick, N.J. on Monday.

Dharun Ravi could face a decade in prison over charges that he used a web camera to spy on the romantic encounters of his gay roommate, who later took his life. As jurors mull his fate, experts disagree over whether he should be convicted of the most serious charge: bias intimidation.

Ravi’s roommate and fellow first-year student at Rutgers University, Tyler Clementi, jumped to his death off the George Washington Bridge on Sept. 22, 2010. Authorities say that was three days after Ravi watched Clementi kiss another man via a web camera and one day after Ravi tried to do it again.

Closing arguments wrapped up Tuesday in a New Jersey courtroom where Ravi faces 15 criminal charges, including invasion of privacy. The jury would need to find him guilty of that in order to convict him of bias intimidation.

“Invasion of privacy is a very odd crime for bias intimidation or hate crimes. It’s usually something violent – baseball bat, swastikas, cross burning,” said Marc Poirer, an openly gay professor of law and sexuality at Seton Hall University School of Law in New Jersey. “Maybe it’s new territory, lots of things involving computers are.”

The presiding judge in the case has expressed some skepticism about the bias intimidation law, The Associated Press reported.

"I could be wrong," Judge Glenn Berman told lawyers on Monday after the jury left. "I said this statute to me is muddled. It could be written better."

The bias crime law has been on the books since 2002, replacing an earlier version of the state’s hate crimes legislation. It has seemingly never been applied in a case where the underlying charge is invasion of privacy – or such cases haven’t been publicized, experts said.

The law’s author, state Sen. Joe Vitale, said he felt the legislation’s intent was clear and was applied correctly in this case.

AFP - Getty Images

This undated photograph shows Tyler Clementi in one of his Facebook profile pictures.

“We didn’t spell out under what circumstances a bias crime would be applied to sexual orientation, whether as a violent crime or a crime of intimidation. It’s really … a bias intimidation law,” he said, adding that it was akin to domestic violence, which can occur as emotional abuse rather than physical harm.

"Domestic violence takes on many shapes and forms as does … a bias crime against someone because of their sexual orientation,” he added.

And though the law apparently hadn’t been used this way before, he said he thought it was “probably the blueprint for a case like this.”

The jury heard from about 30 witnesses over less than two weeks of testimony. Ravi did not testify, but jurors saw a video of a statement he gave to police.

The defense said Ravi was immature but not homophobic, while the prosecution said he intended to intimidate Clementi and the man who visited his room – known by the initials M.B. – because they were gay.

For a bias intimidation conviction – which carries a 10-year sentence – the jury has to unanimously agree that one of three criteria has been met: There’s 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, said he thought all of the bias intimidation criteria had been met, citing M.B.’s testimony that he felt intimidated, and Tyler’s request to change rooms, which was followed by his suicide. He also said he believed from watching the testimony that Ravi wouldn’t have treated heterosexuals the same way as he did the gay pair.

“I think the statute correctly predicted this kind of crime and … is being used appropriately,” he said. But he surmised that if Ravi is convicted, the defense would try to appeal based on the “victim” aspect of the bias criteria.

“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.”

But Poirer thought the case was “really a stretch … I’m not sure the state thought very hard about it. I also think the evidence is pretty weak on bias intimidation.”

Though the suicide was technically not part of the case, it loomed over the proceedings, he said.

“I think there was clearly political pressure by one segment of the gay community … to make Ravi an example because there have been and continue to be gay suicides and there continue to be examples of bullying,” he said.

But a bias intimidation conviction “won’t do anybody any good,” he added.

“I think that people who want to police odious behavior will be encouraged, even when it’s not appropriate to criminalize it, and I think there will be a backlash in terms of people who blame the gay community for being motivated by vengeance rather than justice.”

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Closing arguments in the trial of a former Rutgers University student accused of using a webcam to spy on his roommate's intimate encounter with another man kicked off Tuesday with the defense attorney making the case that his client was a "kid," not a criminal.

The defendant is 20-year-old Dharun Ravi, who faces 15 criminal charges, including bias intimidation and invasion of privacy and seven charges that he covered his tracks. Closing arguments in the case began Tuesday.

Defense attorney Steven Altman said his client is a kid, not a criminal, and he emphasized that there was no recording, no broadcast and no YouTube video of the encounter.

"An 18-year-old boy, a kid, a college freshman had an experience, had an encounter that he wasn't ready for, that he didn't expect, that he was surprised by," Altman said of Ravi, adding that his client was not acting out of hatred of his roommate or gays in general.

"If there's hate in Dharun's heart, if there's ugliness in Dharun's heart," Altman, fighting a cold and speaking with an uncharacteristically soft voice, asked jurors, "Where's there some information and some evidence to support it?"

Prosecutors are expected to make their closing arguments later in the day. Jurors are expected to start deliberating by Wednesday, but they will have to wrestle with some relatively untested legal issues.

Ravi's randomly assigned roommate, Tyler Clementi, a fellow first-year student at Rutgers, committed suicide on Sept. 22, 2010 — three days after authorities say Ravi spied on him and one day after he's accused of trying to do it again.

The jury heard about 30 witnesses over 12 days of testimony in the trial. They did not hear testimony from Ravi himself, though they did see video of a statement he gave to police.

"It's my decision, yes," Ravi told the judge after the ninth and final defense witness testified.

Altman spent parts of his first hour poking holes in the credibility and memory of two of the state's key witnesses, both Rutgers students who said Ravi came to their room and showed them how to access video from his webcam.

There's no dispute that Ravi saw a brief snippet of video streamed live from his webcam to the laptop of a friend in her dorm room on Sept. 19, 2010.

The friend, Molly Wei, said Clementi and his guest — identified in the trial only by the initials M.B. — were fully clothed and kissing at the time.

The man told the jury he noticed the webcam. "I had just glanced over my shoulder and I noticed there was a webcam that was faced toward the direction of the bed," said M.B. "Just being in a compromising position and seeing a camera lens - it just stuck out to me."

Defendant in Rutgers webcam trial won't testify

Ravi posted a Twitter message that night that concluded: "I saw him making out with a dude. Yay." Altman characterized that as an attempt to talk about something that surprised him - an example of immaturity, perhaps, but not a criminal act.

Later, Wei showed some other students. They said the men had removed their shirts, and that the webstream was turned off after mere seconds. Wei was initially charged, but later entered a pretrial intervention program that could allow her to avoid jail time and a criminal record if she complies with a list of conditions.

Two days after the first incident, Clementi asked for the room alone again.

Man seen kissing Rutgers student Tyler Clementi testifies he noticed webcam

This time, Ravi tweeted: "Yes, it's happening again" and "dared" followers to connect with his computer to video chat. There was testimony that he told one friend that there was going to be a "viewing party" at Rutgers. Asked by police, Ravi said it was a joke.

But there was no webcast. Ravi's lawyers say it's because he disabled his computer before Clementi had M.B. over. And witnesses placed Ravi at Ultimate Frisbee practice for most of the time he was asked to stay away from his room.

Judge Glenn Berman said on Monday that some of the charges are difficult because they have not been frequently tested by higher courts.

After jurors left for the day Monday, Berman made rulings on the instructions he will give them. But he wasn't fully confident that an appeals court would not view things differently, especially regarding the bias intimidation law. "I could be wrong," he told lawyers. "I said this statue to me is muddled. It could be written better."

The challenge for jurors could be deciding whether the laws apply to what Ravi is alleged to have done.

One of the invasion-of-privacy charges accuses Ravi of viewing exposed private parts or sex acts — or a situation where someone might reasonably expect to see them.

Another accuses him of recording or disseminating the images to others. There's no evidence that the webstream was recorded, and witnesses said Ravi wasn't there when Wei opened the webstream for other students.

Prosecutors build strong case in Rutgers webcam spying trial, analysts say

The bias intimidation charges could also be complicated. Ravi can be convicted of intimidation if he's also found guilty of an underlying invasion-or-privacy charge. Two of the four charges of that crime are second-degree crimes punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Each of those charges says Ravi committed invasion of privacy — or attempted to — out of malice toward gays — or that Clementi believed he was targeted because of his sexuality.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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John O'boyle / AP

Dharun Ravi attends his trial at the Middlesex County Courthouse in New Brunswick, N.J.

NEW BRUNSWICK , N.J. -- Prosecutors built a better than expected case before resting Thursday in the trial of a former Rutgers University student accused of using a webcam to spy on a gay sexual encounter of his roommate who later committed suicide, legal experts say.

While prosecutors set a high bar for the defense starting Friday of Dharun Ravi, 20, two pivotal charges of invasion of privacy and bias intimidation remain hard to prove, the analysts told msnbc.com.

Ravi's roommate at Rutgers, Tyler Clementi, 18, killed himself on Sept. 22, 2010, after learning Ravi covertly saw him kissing another man, according to court testimony.

“The defense has an extremely large burden; the prosecution put on a good case,” said Edward Weinstein, an East Brunswick, N.J., criminal and family law attorney closely following the trial. Before the trial started, Weinstein was quoted in several media reports as saying the prosecutor's case might be weak.

Weinstein said Thursday that among facts that first came out to the public during the trial were Ravi’s tweets showing “he was not just a mischievous kid pulling a prank” by expressing distaste for Clementi’s homosexuality and inviting people to a online viewing party of Ravi’s encounter.

“The outcome totally remains to be seen,” he said.

The defense, he predicted, will not be able to ask for a dismissal.

“What will be extremely interesting is whether they put the defendant on the stand,” Weinstein said.

Ravi faces 15 counts of invasion of privacy, witness and evidence tampering and bias intimidation, which is a hate crime. If convicted, he faces the possibility of 10 years in prison. He also could be deported to India, where he was born and remains a citizen, if he's convicted on any counts, The Associated Press reported.  

AFP - Getty Images

Tyler Clementi is shown in one of his Facebook profile pictures obtained September 30, 2010.

He is not charged in Clementi's suicide, which was widely portrayed in 2010 as a tragic example of bullying and the toll it too often takes on gay teenagers.

For example, television talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres addressed the issue on her show, saying, “We can’t let intolerance and ignorance take another kid’s life.” The New York Times said outrage over the Clementi case was similar to outrage over the cyber-bullying case of Phoebe Prince, a student in South Hadley, Mass., who also committed suicide that year.

Prosecutors say Ravi spied on Clementi and intimidated him for being gay. The defense says Ravi behaved childishly but did not commit any crime.

“Before the trial, it appeared Ravi was more concerned that a 30-year-old visitor [of Clementi’s] might take some of his possessions than he was about getting a view of their sexual activity,” Jack Levin, a Northeastern University professor and author of books on hate crimes, told msnbc.com. “The position of the camera became very important.”

The camera appeared to be positioned for a clear view of the bed, said Levin, who was also quoted in media before the trial as being concerned the prosecutors' case might be weak.

“That’s open to interpretation but suggests more than just an attempt to see that Ravi’s possessions were being burglarized,” Levin said, calling the evidence “one small surprise,” Levin said, noting that invasion of privacy was tough to prove when it’s inside one’s own apartment.

However, the bias intimidation charge is hard to prove because the two knew one another well, Levin said. Most hate crimes are committed by strangers who often state slurs or leave behind graffiti, he said.

About Ravi’s actions, “it becomes difficult to determine whether the motivation was due to sexual orientation or some other conflicts between the roommates that have nothing to do with sexual orientation,” Levin said.

Among those who testified for the prosecution was the man seen in the webcam with Clementi. Identified only as M.B., he said he had noticed the webcam while in a "compromising" position with Clementi.

M.B. testified he met Clementi in August 2010 through an online social network for gay men.

After learning that his roommate watched him via webcam on Sept. 19, 2010, Clementi asked the university to switch to a single room, Reuters said, citing court records.

He jumped off the George Washington Bridge three days after the webcam incident.

Other prosecution witnesses were students and friends of Ravi's, a handful of whom said they watched Clementi's encounter via webcam for a few seconds and only saw two men kissing.

Prosecutors played a videotaped interview of Ravi in which he told police he violated his roommate's privacy but meant no harm. He said he was concerned about the security of his belongings while Clementi was entertaining a visitor.

Police in the video also questioned Ravi about a Twitter posting in which he mentioned a "viewing party." Ravi said the posting had been a joke.

Ravi said he went to a friend's room and used her computer to view images from his own webcam, which he had set up to accept webchat requests automatically, The Associated Press reported.

Jurors heard about a message Ravi sent Clementi apologizing for the webcam and saying his actions had been "good natured."

This article contains reporting by msnbc.com's Jim Gold and Reuters.

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