Today in New Jersey, a judge sentenced former Rutgers University student Dharun Ravi to thirty days in jail for using a webcam to spy on his roommate being intimate with another man: Former Rutgers student gets 30-day jail sentence in bias crime case.18-year-old Tyler Clementi killed himself three days after discovering that his roommate had spied on him in their dorm room. Ravi was convicted on 15 counts, including bias intimidation, invasion of privacy and tampering with a witness and evidence, and had faced up to ten years in prison:
The judge also placed Ravi on three years of probation. Ravi faced a maximum sentence of 10 years in a more strict and secure prison. The judge spared the stiffer prison time, and did not recommend Ravi be deported to India, where he was born and remains a citizen. Ravi was also ordered to get counseling and to pay $10,000 toward a program to help victims of bias crimes.The sentence might have been lenient, but Judge Glenn Berman didn't let Dharun go without at least a little bit of a verbal asskicking:
Judge Glenn Berman said he would not recommend Ravi be deported to India, where he was born and remains a citizen. But Ravi was ordered to get counseling and to pay $10,000 that would go to a program to help victims of bias crimes.
"I heard this jury say guilty 288 times - 24 questions, 12 jurors, that's the multiplication," the judge told Mr. Ravi, recalling the questionnaire jurors filled out in arriving at the verdict. "And I haven't heard you apologize once."Considering that Tyler Clementi is dead, "colossal insensitivity" feels like one hell of an understatement. He has thirty days to think long and hard about that apology. More here: Rutgers Webcam-Spying Defendant Sentenced to 30-Day Jail Term.
"I do not believe he hated Tyler Clementi," the judge told a courtroom packed on one side with supporters of Mr. Ravi and on the other with those of the Clementi family. "I do believe he acted out of colossal insensitivity."