Rutgers spying defendant gets 30 days in jail

[Deleted]

www.nytimes.com/2012/05/22/nyregion/rutgers-spying-defendant-sentenced-to-30-days-in-jail.html?hp

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Rutgers Spying Defendant Sentenced to 30-Day Jail Term


Zena Barakat/The New York Times

Dharun Ravi arriving for his sentencing on Monday.

By KATE ZERNIKE

Published: May 21, 2012 4 Comments



The case drew wide attention because his roommate, Tyler Clementi, jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge in September 2010, a few days after learning of the spying. A jury convicted Mr. Ravi in March of all 15 counts against him, which included invasion of privacy and bias intimidation. The relatively light sentence — he faced up to 10 years in prison — surprised many who were watching the hearing, as it came after the judge spent several minutes lambasting Mr. Ravi’s behavior.

“You lied to your roommate who placed his trust in you without any conditions, and you violated it,” said the judge, Glenn Berman of State Superior Court. “I haven’t heard you apologize once.”

Prosecutors appeared visibly angered by the sentence, and said they would appeal. Mr. Ravi’s family, meanwhile, hugged one another; just a few minutes earlier, his mother sobbed through a statement in which she implored the judge to go easy on her son.

"The media misconstrued the facts to the public and misconceptions were formed," she said, adding that she watched helplessly as her son sank into despair after he was charged, barely eating while trying to take online courses from home. "All I could do was hug him and cry."

Prosecutors appeared visibly angry by the sentence, and said they would appeal. Mr. Ravi’s family, meanwhile, hugged one another; just a few minutes earlier, his mother sobbed through a statement in which she implored the judge to go easy on her son.

“The media misconstrued the facts to the public and misconceptions were formed,” she said, adding that she watched helplessly as her son sank into despair after he was charged, barely eating while trying to take online courses from home. “All I could do was hug him and cry.”

Steven Goldstein, the chairman of Garden State Equality, a prominent New Jersey gay-rights group, was displeased. “We have opposed throwing the book at Dharun Ravi,” he said in a statement. “But we have similarly rejected the other extreme, that Ravi should have gotten no jail time at all, and today’s sentencing is closer to that extreme than the other. This was not merely a childhood prank gone awry. This was not a crime without bias.”Mr. Ravi — who also was sentenced to three years’ probation, 300 hours of community service, counseling about cyberbullying and alternate lifestyles and a $10,000 probation fee — was not charged with causing Mr. Clementi’s death, but the suicide hung heavily over the trial, and over Monday’s sentencing hearing. Mr. Clementi’s mother, father and brother all read statements, their voices occasionally quivering as they spoke. “I cannot imagine the level of rejection, isolation and disdain he must have felt from his peers,” Tyler’s brother, James Clementi, said. “Dharun never bothered to care about the harm he was doing to my brother’s heart and mind. My family has never heard an apology, an acknowledgment of any wrongdoing.”

His mother, Jane Clementi, also criticized students who knew about the spying from Mr. Ravi’s Twitter feeds. “How could they all go along with such meanness?” she said. “Why didn’t any one of them speak up and try to stop it?”

Mr. Ravi’s lawyers had asked Judge Berman to sentence him only to probation, arguing that it would be a “serious injustice” to imprison him because his actions had not included violence or threats.

They had attached statements of support from friends, including some who testified against Mr. Ravi to detail his spying on Mr. Clementi, in arguing that he had no bias against gay men and lesbians. Hundreds of people, many of them, like Mr. Ravi, from India, had attended rallies urging the judge not to incarcerate him.

On Monday, Steven Altman, a lawyer for Mr. Ravi, said that he was being “demonized by the gay community” upon the mistaken belief that he caused his roommate’s death, and that the belief was infused throughout the entire prosecution. “This case is contrived, is being treated and exists today as if it’s a murder case,” he said.

He also said that prison would serve no more deterrent purpose than probation and community service, and that Mr. Ravi’s age should be taken into account. “His youth and immaturity were unable to provide him with the tools necessary to appreciate the consequences of his actions,” he said.

[Deleted]

Dude should have gotten YEARS in jail.

[eightangryreindeer]

THIRTY DAYS

OMG how very inadequate.

[marie427]

Okay, so I'm going to confess that I was one of the (few) people who cringed when the verdict was read because I honestly didn't feel from all the testimony that he hated gay people and wanted Clementi to kill himself.

HOWEVER...he was convicted of ALL charges brought against him. It seems ridiculous that they go from convicting him on every charge only to give him 30 days in prison when he could have gotten as many as 10 years in prison for what he was convicted of.

[Deleted]

On the Rutgers message board, people are up in arms that he got jail time at all and think its a travesty because he was "only pulling a prank."

Did I mention most of the people on that board are probably around 60 and are mostly male?

I think he should have gotten a year or two- not ten- but 30 days is a slap on the wrist.

[Deleted]

May 21, 2012 13:18:55 GMT -5 marie427 said:

Okay, so I'm going to confess that I was one of the (few) people who cringed when the verdict was read because I honestly didn't feel from all the testimony that he hated gay people and wanted Clementi to kill himself.

HOWEVER...he was convicted of ALL charges brought against him. It seems ridiculous that they go from convicting him on every charge only to give him 30 days in prison when he could have gotten as many as 10 years in prison for what he was convicted of.

That's what I don't get. I don't think he hated gay people either. I think he pulled a nasty prank and because of it, a kid ended up dead. And like everyone else who pulls a nasty prank that ends in death, he should have gotten more than 30 days.

Perhaps not 10 years but certainly more than a month. Because is he even going to serve a month?

I think not.

[Deleted]

May 21, 2012 13:18:55 GMT -5 marie427 said:

Okay, so I'm going to confess that I was one of the (few) people who cringed when the verdict was read because I honestly didn't feel from all the testimony that he hated gay people and wanted Clementi to kill himself.

HOWEVER...he was convicted of ALL charges brought against him. It seems ridiculous that they go from convicting him on every charge only to give him 30 days in prison when he could have gotten as many as 10 years in prison for what he was convicted of.

I agree. I read an article (New York times maybe?) during the trial that laid out the facts and it wasn't as cut and dry of a hate crime type case as the media made it seem. And I don't think this guy ever intended on making the kid commit suicide, they just were not a good match as roommates. That said, I assume there are sentencing guidelines. I am guessing given that the guy doesn't have a criminal record is why his sentence is so little. But being deported? Yeah, that sucks for him.

[Deleted]

30 days is not enough time. I hope he gets deported.

[thejackpot]

It is just a really sad case. I think he will surely pay enough with being deported and all but 30 days seems laughable. I would have liked to see a few years.

[brit1017]

May 21, 2012 13:37:27 GMT -5 @iheartcosmos said:

I think he should have gotten a year or two- not ten- but 30 days is a slap on the wrist.

This is what I was expecting. 30 days does not seem like enough for what he was convicted of. Prank or not, a lot of the charges were related to him trying to cover up the fact that he webcast Clemente (obstruction, witness tampering, etc)