A lawyer for a former Rutgers University student from Plainsboro is reportedly seeking a dismissal of the cyber-bullying charges against his client, who prosecutors say spied on his gay roommate using a webcam.
Dharun Ravi, 19, a North graduate, was charged last year after allegedly use a webcam to watch an sexual encounter his roommate, Rutgers freshman Tyler Clementi, had with another man — and posted it over the web. The incident, which took place last September, generated coverage around the nation after Clementi committed suicide days after the incident by jumping off the George Washington Bridge.
Ravi has pleaded not guilty to a set of 15 charges. In April, Ravi was indicted on two counts of invasion of privacy and two counts of attempted invasion of privacy, but the grand jury also found that he “acted with bias” because his actions against Clementi “were intended to intimidate” Clementi and his partner “because of their sexual orientation,” said the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office.
A second degree bias offense carries a prison exposure of 5 to 10 years, the press release stated.
Ravi, and his friend and fellow North graduate Molly Wei, 19, of West Windsor, were charged in September with allegedly using the web camera in Ravi’s dorm room to transmit images of his roommate’s sexual encounter live on the Internet.
Wei, however, was accepted into a pretrial program after the approval of both the judge and the prosecutor’s office. Wei pleaded not guilty and was accepted into the program, which would require her to perform 300 hours of community service and undergo counseling for cyber-bullying and dealing with the alternative lifestyles of others.
If she completes the three-year pre-trial program without getting into any more legal trouble, the charges against her will be dropped, reports stated.
According to recent reports, however, Ravi’s lawyer, Steve Altman, of the Benedict & Altman law firm in New Brunswick, is seeking dismissal on the bias charges. In the reports, Altman says Ravi’s classmates and friends told investigators that Ravi was not biased toward gays and that the webcam scenes were not shared.
He has reportedly also claimed that Wei provided statements to law enforcement officials that prove Ravi was not biased. Reports stated that Altman is planning to file a motion to dismiss the charges and is seeking the release of files from Clementi’s computer, a handwritten note found after his death and the identity of the man involved in the encounter.
Superior Court Judge Glenn Berman set Friday, September 9, for the next hearing. Calls to Altman’s office were not returned.
