Dharun Ravi found guilty in Rutgers webcam spying trial

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NEW BRUNSWICK — from www.nj.com - Former Rutgers University student Dharun Ravi was found guilty today of a hate crime, evidence tampering and invasion of privacy, for secretly using a webcam to spy on his roommate’s liaison with another man in their dorm room.

In the high-profile case that sparked awareness of cyber-bullying and harassment of gay teenagers, Ravi, 20, was convicted on all 15 counts against him—including four bias intimidation counts, but acquitted on some of the bias charges involving his former roommate, Tyler Clementi, an 18-year-old freshman.

The jury found Ravi not guilty of all bias counts pertaining to the man Clementi was seen with during the webcam spying.

Sitting passively at the defense table, his parents seated in the first row behind him in the standing-room-only courtroom, Ravi showed little emotion as the verdict was read by the forewoman. The 15-member jury, including three alternates, reached its verdict shortly before noon, following three days of deliberation.

"We had a 20-year-old's life in our hands," said juror Bruno Ferreira. "We were deciding his fate."

Sentencing was tentatively set for May 21. Ravi also faces the possibility of deportation to his native India. Prosecutors declined to change the status on Ravi's $25,000 bail. He already surrendered his passport.

Clementi committed suicide a few days after learning Ravi had watched him on a webcam set up the dorm room the two young men shared. Ravi was never charged in connection with Clementi's death, in the closely watched case that attracted national media attention.

The Clementi family, who was present throughout the proceedings, afterwards expressed their thanks to prosecutors and the judge in the case but said the trial was difficult for the family.

“The trial was painful for us, as it would be for any parents. We wanted to be here for our son and we believe the trial is important," said Tyler’s father, Joe Clementi. “We have come to understand that criminal law is only one way of addressing these problems."

Noting the establishment of the Tyler Clementi Foundation in his son’s memory, Clementi said, “You can make the world a better place. the change you want to see in the world begins with you."

Following the verdict, Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan said the investigation had been uniquely challenging because “we didn’t have Tyler to testify.”

He added that identifying and accumulating and analyzing all of the social media was another challenge of prosecuting.

Kaplan said the prosecution went to "extraordinary efforts" to protect the identity of the man Clementi was kissing when Ravi saw them, who testified during the trial. Named only as “M.B.” in court proceedings and documents, his identity was protected because he was considered a sex crime victim in the case.

“Tyler Clementi and M.B. were the victims of invasion of privacy,” said Kaplan. “Regardless of public opinion we were obligated to follow the law, we were obligated to follow the facts.”

Attorneys for Ravi had no immediate comment. After the judge set a sentencing date, Ravi and his family were ushered out the front of the courtroom. As he stepped out of the courtroom to the flashing cameras, his mother placed her arm around the small of his back. The family and their lawyers headed to the elevators and were surrounded by a crush of media as they waited to board the elevators, some of whom ran downstairs to try to catch them on the way out.

Ferreira said the jurors were not in conflict with each other during deliberations.

"I'm actually satisfied with the verdict. It was very hard, very difficult. Nothing means we would be personally biased toward the defendant. You have to look at all the facts and the evidence. That's why you have 24 counts guilty and 11 not guilty. Witness statements and the evidence were not there to prove those," he said. "This was very difficult, but it was a really good experience. You feel like justice has been served."

Prosecutors presented more than 20 witnesses over 10 days of testimony, including students who lived in Ravi and Clementi's dormitory, Davidson Hall, law enforcement officials, Rutgers residence life staff and computer experts.

Clementi, a shy violinist from Ridgewood, and Ravi, a tech-savvy computer geek from Plainsboro, were seemingly ill-matched from the start. The two roommates were worried about living together from nearly the moment they learned each other's names, according to documents filed in court.

When Clementi asked to use their room on Sept. 19, 2010, Ravi went to the room of a friend, Molly Wei's room and turned on his webcam from her laptop. Witnesses for the state testified that Ravi triggered the ”automatic accept” feature on his webcam to access it from elsewhere.

Wei and Ravi saw Clementi and M.B. kissing for a few seconds, and Ravi tweeted to his followers that he saw his "roommate making out with a dude."

Two days later, when Clementi asked for the room again, Ravi set up the webcam and double-checked that it was angled at his bed, according to two students who testified. He also dared his Twitter followers to chat him during the hours Clementi had asked for their room.

One witness testified that Ravi was "uncomfortable" having a gay roommate. Another read a text message in which Ravi explained his computer would "keep the gays away."

But on cross-examination, about a half dozen friends and dorm neighbors of Ravis told Steve Altman, his lawyer, that Ravi never said anything malicious or derogatory about his gay roommate or about gay people in general.

After the prosecution rested last Thursday, the defense called seven witnesses in quick succession, all friends and co-workers of Ravi's father who said they had never heard him say anything negative about gay people, though they had never actually discussed the topic with him.

Throughout the trial, Altman maintained that Ravi only looked at the webcam to see what was going on in his room because he was put off by M.B.'s scruffy appearance. Ravi told police in a statement that M.B. didn't acknowledge him, appeared much older than a college student, and he got a "bad vibe" from him.

On the evidence charges, prosecutors said Ravi deleted dozens of relevant text messages and tweets, and tried to influence what Wei told police.

Clementi, who leaped to his death from the George Washington Bridge, came after a series of suicides of other young teenagers around the country who were bullied because they were gay or perceived to be gay.

The trial lasted nearly four weeks.