Rutgers Videospying Suspect Indicted for Trying to Destroy Evidence

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: ABC News

Videotaped Spying Led Roommate Tyler Clementi to Commit Suicide

By JESSICA HOPPER
April 20, 2011

A college student accused of secretly filming Rutgers University freshman Tyler Clementi having a same sex encounter in his dorm room just days before Clementi leapt to his death allegedly destroyed evidence and sent false tweets to try and throw off investigators, according to an indictment released today.

Dharun Ravi, a former Rutgers University student, was indicted on 15 counts including charges of invasion of privacy, bias intimidation and tampering with evidence by a grand jury in Middlesex County, N.J. Prosecutors allege that not only did Ravi invade Clementi's privacy, but he tried to cover it up.

Both Ravi and his alleged accomplice, former Rutgers student Molly Wei, are accused of filming Clementi during a "sexual encounter" in his dorm room with a man and then streaming it live on the Internet.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/rutgers-videotaping-suspect-charged-tampering-evidence/story?id=13417864

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Grand jury hands down 15-count indictment against roommate of Tyler Clementi

Roommate charged with hate crime in NJ suicide

[callous taoboy]

1. Lock them up and throw away the key.

[Eric J in MN]

2. Because an 18 year old who watches video of his room remotely...

...will be too dangerous to ever be free for the rest of his life?

[SemperEadem]

3. no, but an 18 yr old adult should not get a pass, either.

It's about time he learned that there are limits which apply to him. Clearly his parents failed to teach him that. Now the law gets to teach him.

If he was innocent, then there was no reason to destroy evidence.

[Eric J in MN]

4. He should be punished, but the punishment should be the same...

...as if there weren't a suicide.

It would have been difficult to guess that if he watched his dorm room remotely, it might be a factor in his roommate's suicide.

[cosmicone]

5. +1 You have a cooler head ..

In the end, it was just a horrible prank and he neither could have anticipated a suicide over it nor was it his intent.

He should be punished for the invasion of privacy as though the suicide didn't occur.

[ljm2002]

43. Except it is not a case of "He watched his dorm remotely"...

...it is a case of "He set up a hidden webcam to watch his roommate in a sexual situation AND he streamed the video AND he informed others of the streaming video and invited them to watch in real time." Not to mention that he apparently did it BECAUSE his roommate was gay.

So while I don't think he should get life imprisonment, I do not in any way accept that this is a case of "Oh he watched his dorm room remotely". That would be an invasion of privacy, to be sure; but what he did was much worse. I believe the legal issue is different because he told others about it and streamed it in real time it for them to watch.

I hope they throw every book they have at him and I hope it sticks. I hope he is in his 40s before he gets out of jail. Too bad for him, but he's a scum bag -- his victim will never get to see 40, and was such a promising young man.

[Akoto]

6. Roommate charged with hate crime in NJ suicide

Source: Associated Press

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- A former Rutgers University freshman was indicted Wednesday on a hate crime charge after allegedly using a webcam to spy on a same-sex encounter involving his roommate, who committed suicide shortly afterward in a case that started a national conversation on bullying.

A 15-count indictment was handed up Wednesday by a Middlesex County grand jury against Dharun Ravi, of Plainsboro, who had already faced invasion of privacy charges along with another student, Molly Wei.

The indictment charges Ravi with bias intimidation, invasion of privacy, witness and evidence tampering, and other charges stemming from the suicide of 18-year-old Tyler Clementi in September. The indictment said charges against Wei would not be presented to the grand jury "at this time."

Clementi jumped off the George Washington Bridge into the Hudson River shortly after authorities say Ravi and Wei used a webcam to peek at his liaison. Lawyers for Ravi say the webcam stream was viewed on only a single computer and did not show the men having sex.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_RUTGERS_SUICIDE?SITE=PAYOK&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[ThomCat]

7. It took this long?

I'm glad it's finally happening.

[xchrom]

13. it shouldn't have.

it's like they have to 'think' about it and it diminishes tyler's tragedy.

[LisaL]

32. Those are additional charges on top of what he was already charged with.

[closeupready]

8. I'm glad everyone will have their chance to offer what happened.

K&R

[ThomCat]

14. Except that the DA isn't pressing charges against Molly Wei, apparently.

Despite her part in all of this.

[closeupready]

15. 'Not at this time' - so perhaps that will come later?

Who knows.

[LisaL]

34. It's quite possible that her involvement in all of this was minimal.

[msanthrope]

45. Plea deal. She was charged in October, but it's possible she's working out a

plea deal, which is why more charges would be held in abeyance.

[SusanaMontana41]

9. R.I.P., Tyler. Sad beyond words. n/t

[gvstn]

10. I'm torn on this--10 years for a prank gone terribly wrong.

I'm glad they are pressing charges. It was a terrible invasion of privacy. Whether or not Ravi deserves 10 years on a Bias charge that involved no physical attack is where I think it might be extreme.

I know I would feel differently if it was me or my child but that sounds too high considering immediate suicide wasn't really foreseeable.

A tragedy for Tyler Clemnti and his family. :(

[cosmicone]

11. A prank gone horribly wrong and tragedy all around n/t

[frylock]

25. a prank is lighting a flaming bag of shit on someone's porch..

spying and recording someone, let alone someone having sex, and then broadcasting that online isn't what i would consider a prank. that's a serious invasion of privacy.

[LisaL]

33. How do you think something like this could have gone right?

[closeupready]

37. ...

:eyes:

[defendandprotect]

12. This was a really foul, foul thing to do -- and reckless disregard for someone else's

right to privacy -- I can see the charges --

but I think even thinking these people vile, if I were on a jury, I would see

it as "unintended consequences" by a young person --

however, since I think this event was propelled by this roommate's personal hatreds

for homosexuals, I would recommend harsh response --

something like 6 months in prison -- and a long probation.

But -- I'd be interested to read what others actually think should be done with him!

[closeupready]

16. If he's guilty, then a sentence should depend upon how remorseful he is.

If he giggles about it in court, and rolls his eyes, 6 months isn't enough.

Further, he allegedly attempted to destroy evidence and to interfere with potential witnesses.

His punishment should fit his behavior in totality, IMO. And yes, if it's clear he's entirely remorseful and he's tried to atone (on his own), then even probation could be appropriate, IMO.

[defendandprotect]

17. Didn't know about ...

his trying to destroy evidence - - or interfere with witnesses --

Seems he has learned little!!

If this is propelled by religious hatreds, any punishment could cause him to see

himself as a martyr. From the little I've read about him he seems qutie ignorant

of the concept of the rights of others.

If he is found guilty of evidence destruction, etal -- yes, I agree a much longer

sentence would be required -- 5 years, perhaps.

I'm also presuming this was "unintended consequences" -- if I had any idea that he

ever thought he could bring this young man to destroy himself -- then I would offer

little compassion!!

[freshwest]

41. The only remorse this sociopath will show is for himself. They're known for crying when caught.

[Travelman]

18. I haven't followed this very closely.

"I think this event was propelled by this roommate's personal hatreds for homosexuals...."

What evidence have you seen that draws you to this conclusion? This is the part I'm curious about, because when this first happened, I got the impression that this guy may not have even realized that his roommate was gay, and I didn't sense any particular hatred or animosity on this guy's part towards homosexuals in general. But, like I said, I haven't followed this very closely, so maybe there's something I missed? :shrug:

AFAIC, that kind of motivation completely changes this whole situation. If he spycammed this because his roommate was gay and he wanted to expose him or something like that, it's a whole different picture from he thought he might catch someone walking around in their underwear and rib them a little bit.

[JI7]

20. he said shit like OMG roommate is making out with another DUDE

he made a big thing out of the roommate doing it with another guy.

[Travelman]

26. Right, which is what led me to believe that he didn't even know

that his roommate was gay. And if he didn't know, then it couldn't really be a motive for him to set up the spycam.

BUT, I don't know for certain if he didn't know, or if he was just expressing shock at seeing a guy making out with another guy, and he did know that his roommate was gay all along. That's what I was trying to determine, because it changes the motive dynamic a whole lot. If he didn't know, then this can be a prank gone horribly wrong. Tragic, and he should have known better, but not necessarily done with malice in his heart. But if he did know, then we have good reason to suspect that he did this with malice in his heart and it's possible that he did this just because the guy was gay. If it's the former, then I'm inclined to say there should be some leniency; if it's the latter, then he needs the book thrown at him.

[JackBeck]

27. If you read the article

you would know that Ravi knew Tyler was gay one month before his suicide.

[Travelman]

30. Ah! Thank you!

I guess the page didn't load all the way before or something. I only had about four or five paragraphs before when I looked at it before.


"Ravi tweeted on Aug. 22, "Found out my roommate is gay," according to Forbes.com, and then posted a link to a gay men's website where Ravi said Clementi had placed posts."


So, that answers that. Throw the book at him. He may not hate all homosexuals, but he clearly did what he did to this particular homosexual with malice in his heart derived from that homosexuality. No mercy from me.

[closeupready]

38. And the process of discovery you've just gone through, that will be what a jury goes through, and

I believe they will likely render a just punishment.

[JI7]

28. he knew when he decided to do the webcam. he saw him making out with a guy first and then decided to

spy on him and show to everyone else that his roommate was having sex with a guy.

[JI7]

29. was what happened to Erin ANdrews a prank ?

[Zhade]

42. Good.

NT!

[JI7]

19. i don't think 10 years is enough even if there was no suicide

pretty fucked up to secretly want to record someone having sex and get others to watch.

if that happened to me i wouldn't mind if the person who did it got life in prison. so i don't mind if that happens to those who do it to others either.

[alcibiades_mystery]

24. Ridiculous

[JI7]

21. what exactly is the Prank as some are claiming this to be ?

what about it made it a prank. was it a prank when that guy was spying on and recording Erin Andrews ?

[frylock]

23. right?!

serious WTF here.

[frylock]

22. setting up a camera and broadcasting your roomate having sex is pretty fucking far from a prank..

and calling it a "harmless prank" really diminishes what happened. should he get 10 years for it? probably not. but can we PLEASE back away from referring to this as a harmless prank?!

[fascisthunter]

31. I agree.... what a head case

[freshwest]

40. Not harmless, and if people think this is a prank, maybe they've been listening to Rush too long.

After all, he called waterboarding no worse than what college fraternities do to their members. What low standards the right wing possesses are demonstrated daily, and their pundits are a vector of degrading, sadistic behavior.

Everything is excused from shooting Gifford, Abu Graib, killing animals and people in cruel fashion, everything is just fine and dandy. Nothing is sacred to them except their money.

I contend that the reason people fell comfortable in calling this a prank is that they consider it justified to humiliate the young college student because of his sexual orientation. The intent of the guy being held to account was completely malicious from the news accounts put forth when this occurred.

Some are on other threads mocking the gay student in Texas whose parents are suing the district for blatantly violating their own policies and allowing him to be beaten and bullied on their premises. They tried to work with the school and the boy ended up committing suicide. No one has a right to pull these 'pranks.'

[alp227]

35. Dharun WRONGvi screwed up his future right here.

Once he gets out of prison he'll suffer a life of ridicule and regret from a stupid, immature choice he made while in college. TO redeem himself he should learn a real lesson about homophobia (insert prison treatment/soap reference here?) and then advocate for tolerance once finished with his punishment.

[JI7]

36. he could have apologized early on but i really don't think he is sorry

for what he did and probably sees himself as a victim.

he probably thinks everything happening to him is unfair.

[closeupready]

39. That's what I kept saying, but everyone said, "oh, no, he lawyered up; advice is prob. say nothing"

Well, okay, so he may have gotten bad advice then, because if it'd been me, I would have tried to make amends.

[ljm2002]

44. What is it with people...

...calling this a prank??? WTF???

He set up a secret webcam, set up a remote viewing area in another student's dorm room, live-streamed it and informed others of the gay encounter so they could watch it in real time.

THAT IS NOT A F***ING PRANK. That was a very, very nasty and deranged thing to do.

Had he himself been the only person watching, that would have been bad enough. He probably would have used it for blackmailing purposes. BUT HE STREAMED IT LIVE AND INFORMED OTHERS OF IT SO THEY COULD WATCH.

Geez, Louise. Please put yourself in the shoes of someone like Tyler Clementi, who had not admitted to his friends or family yet that he was gay, who was a sensitive young man -- try to think of how you would have felt knowing that other people you had never met not only knew you were gay, but watched you having sex without your knowing it.

That is about as bad an invasion of privacy as one can imagine.

That is NOT a PRANK. There is no reality where that could be construed as harmless. It was not an "Oops, guess I showed some bad judgment there." It was downright mean and nasty and HIGHLY illegal and I hope this scum bag pays dearly for it. Tyler Clementi certainly did. If only someone could have spoken to him first, but young people sometimes think that their shame and terrible feelings from whatever bad thing has just happened will never end.

RIP Tyler.