Rutgers student gets 30-day jail sentence in hate crime case
usamamasan1
Posts: 4,695
Defense attorneys must love this judge. 30 days is a slap on the wrist, no?
A New Jersey judge sentenced a former Rutgers student to 30 days in jail for using a webcam to spy on his roommate kissing another man.
Dharun Ravi, 20, was convicted on two second-degree bias intimidation charges in a case that garnered national headlines because his roommate, Tyler Clementi, committed suicide after the spying.
Clementi, 18, jumped from the George Washington Bridge three days after learning that a September 2010 encounter with an older man was seen by a computer-mounted camera Ravi had set up in their dorm room. The case highlighted the issues of gay bullying and teen suicide.
A jury in March convicted Ravi of hate crimes for spying on the encounter through a webcam, and for trying to get others to do the same when the man visited again. Ravi was not charged with causing Clementi's death.
Tyler Clementi's family asked the judge today to sentence Dharun Ravi to prison time.
The Associated Press reported that Clementi's father, Joseph Clementi, told the judge during the sentencing hearing, "One of Tyler's last actions was to check Ravi's Twitter page" and noted that his son checked his roommate's Twitter page 37 times before leaving the Rutgers campus and driving to the bridge where he jumped to his death.
Ravi did not speak during today's sentencing hearing.
The lead prosecutor in the case had asked for "a period of imprisonment" in her sentencing brief but according to Reuters did not seek the maximum 10-year sentence. The prosecution team wrote that Ravi "has failed to accept any degree of responsibility for the numerous criminal acts he committed, and shows no remorse for the same, despite significant evidence pointing directly at him."
Ravi's defense attorneys sought probation for Ravi, noting that he has no previous criminal record. The defense team also is appealing the verdict and seeking a new trial.
Before the sentencing, Ravi's parents and Clementi's parents each made appeals.
Ravi's parents attended a rally recently at New Jersey's State House in Trenton of several hundred supporters, many of them Indian or Indian-American, the Associated Press reported. The protesters said that Ravi, an Ultimate Frisbee player and computer whiz, should not have been convicted of hate crimes because he does not hate gay people and that prison is too harsh a punishment for someone who did not mean to hurt anyone, according to the AP.
His mother, Sabitha Ravi, aimed her words at journalists at the rally, saying that those who covered the trial should speak up against her son being sent to prison. "You were quiet there. Why don't you wake up now and bring some justice for Dharun?" she asked in the AP story.
The AP report said Clementi's parents have communicated mostly through written statements or by reading prepared statements after court proceedings. In one, they said they wanted Ravi to be held accountable but that he need not be subject to a "harsh" punishment.
They also told the AP they have started a foundation to honor their son and have talked about how he had come out as gay to them days before he started at Rutgers University
A New Jersey judge sentenced a former Rutgers student to 30 days in jail for using a webcam to spy on his roommate kissing another man.
Dharun Ravi, 20, was convicted on two second-degree bias intimidation charges in a case that garnered national headlines because his roommate, Tyler Clementi, committed suicide after the spying.
Clementi, 18, jumped from the George Washington Bridge three days after learning that a September 2010 encounter with an older man was seen by a computer-mounted camera Ravi had set up in their dorm room. The case highlighted the issues of gay bullying and teen suicide.
A jury in March convicted Ravi of hate crimes for spying on the encounter through a webcam, and for trying to get others to do the same when the man visited again. Ravi was not charged with causing Clementi's death.
Tyler Clementi's family asked the judge today to sentence Dharun Ravi to prison time.
The Associated Press reported that Clementi's father, Joseph Clementi, told the judge during the sentencing hearing, "One of Tyler's last actions was to check Ravi's Twitter page" and noted that his son checked his roommate's Twitter page 37 times before leaving the Rutgers campus and driving to the bridge where he jumped to his death.
Ravi did not speak during today's sentencing hearing.
The lead prosecutor in the case had asked for "a period of imprisonment" in her sentencing brief but according to Reuters did not seek the maximum 10-year sentence. The prosecution team wrote that Ravi "has failed to accept any degree of responsibility for the numerous criminal acts he committed, and shows no remorse for the same, despite significant evidence pointing directly at him."
Ravi's defense attorneys sought probation for Ravi, noting that he has no previous criminal record. The defense team also is appealing the verdict and seeking a new trial.
Before the sentencing, Ravi's parents and Clementi's parents each made appeals.
Ravi's parents attended a rally recently at New Jersey's State House in Trenton of several hundred supporters, many of them Indian or Indian-American, the Associated Press reported. The protesters said that Ravi, an Ultimate Frisbee player and computer whiz, should not have been convicted of hate crimes because he does not hate gay people and that prison is too harsh a punishment for someone who did not mean to hurt anyone, according to the AP.
His mother, Sabitha Ravi, aimed her words at journalists at the rally, saying that those who covered the trial should speak up against her son being sent to prison. "You were quiet there. Why don't you wake up now and bring some justice for Dharun?" she asked in the AP story.
The AP report said Clementi's parents have communicated mostly through written statements or by reading prepared statements after court proceedings. In one, they said they wanted Ravi to be held accountable but that he need not be subject to a "harsh" punishment.
They also told the AP they have started a foundation to honor their son and have talked about how he had come out as gay to them days before he started at Rutgers University
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
Still, the kid who filmed his room-mate is an absolute piece of garbage, I'm just not sure LEGALLY what can be done.
This guy was judged by America via media that was more concerned with getting the first break on any new information instead of fact-checking.
The case highlights the dangers of social media and technology. We all judge, but I'm sure that if we were deep in a hole, there is probably a text or tweet that could be used by prosecution to paint an unfair picture of us. That said, in this case they couldn't find much to support this Ravi was a bigot or hate-monger.
I'm just glad that when I went to school the biggest social tech device around was the Super Nintendo in the dorm lobby.
im not a saint... however there is neither a txt nor a tweet that exists in this world or the virtual world that would paint an unfair picture of me. anyone who doesnt understand that once they press send they lose all control of what they sent, is a fool... or at least naive.
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
unfortunately being a douche isnt a crime.
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
and then maybe one day he can run for the republican presidential nomination.
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
Would a 30-day sentence be too little, too much, or OK if he'd spied on a heterosexual couple. I'm guessing less and that nobody would care.
I feel like 30 days in jail seems a bit much for voyeurism.
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
Yep - that is where this really belongs.
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
And what about a sense of decency towards others,
knowing what is right and wrong and caring if you embarrass or hurt ...
are these lost concepts?
while they may well be lost concepts they are also irrelevent in a court of law where only encoded laws matter.
for example... its neither wrong nor right to wear a seatbelt yet not doing so is against the law... and you will be punished. but youre not being punished for something along the right/wrong dynamic but rather the legal/illegal one. but i agree with you.. just cause we can doesnt mean we should. i guess it comes down to whether or not one can live with their actions or find some way of justifying what they did... or maybe they just dont care about the implications of their actions.
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
I believe it was spying, not voyeurism. For spying, no, I don't think 30 days is enough.
-Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
he did the unthinkable to this young man, removed his privacy, dignity, control
over the most private moments in his young life ... his discovery of himself
and his most intimate moments.
He didn't just spy he humiliated and betrayed.
His actions caused this young man to take his life, put it all in motion.
30 days is ridiculous and teaches nothing about what is not acceptable in
our new social media world. What he did was wrong, very very wrong.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Per evidence from the trial, he didn't tape it. He didn't show it to others. It was just him and the girl looking in at a live feed for about five seconds and then he tweeted about it.
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
and shared without consent not to mention basic human compassion.
This spying, phones taking random pictures to make fun of others,
youtube, twitter, facebook these need some common sense golden rules.
People are able to victimize others for their own jollies without
a thought as to how that feels for their mark.
And the result in this case was loss of life. :evil:
30 days minimizes this and was an insult to the caring people in society,
those who respect the right to privacy and expect common decency towards others.
It seems justice is not feeling the victims.
He set in motion a horrible ordeal for this young man that cost him his life
for the embarrassment and betrayal he made.
Whether the sentence is fair or not, I can't really say. As others have pointed out, it's not illegal to be an asshole.
Are you saying that a sentence for a criminal act should be harsher depending on the actions taken by the victim after the criminal act?
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
I heard his cellmate is John Edwards.
or dies as a direct result of that original crime it should be considered for a harsher punishment.
Say a bank robber who frightens a person to the degree that they run out of the bank
into the parking lot and is then struck by a car and killed.
Their death a direct result of the original crime and should be considered
when sentencing the bank robber. It was his direct actions that caused the death
of an innocent person.
this actually has been pointed out by his subsequent actions by others involved.
What about the countless other people who are or will do the same
thoughtless things to hurt others?
Shouldn't society require more than personal guilt?
Shouldn't we require a punishment fit for the crime to deter others?
Or will we continue to think of the perpetrators and not the victims
out of the convenience that they no longer walk the earth.
Till there aint nothing left worth taking away from me.....
I would agree in the example you stated as that seems to be happening in the course of the criminal act itself. I have a little more difficulty directly correlating a crime of spying to a suicide a few days later (and yes - I realized it was likely a big factor).
I guess what I wonder is how long after the act is it appropriate to take the victim's subsequent actions into account when determining the penalty to be imposed? What if he had chosen to not take his own life until a year later.
Also, I struggle with the idea that - if he hadn't killed himself - the sentence would potentially be lighter for the SAME criminal activity.
If
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.