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    The Rutgers Dorm Spying Trial Is All About Intent

    By Eric Randall | The Atlantic Wire – Fri, Feb 24, 2012
    The Rutgers Dorm Spying Trial Is All About Intent

    The trial of Rutgers student Dharun Ravi began Friday, with the focus on both sides not on the facts of the case -- he's accused of bias intimidation for using a webcam to spy on his gay roommate, Tyler Clementi, who later committed suicide -- but on the intentions of the defendant. As The New York Times's Richard Perez-Pena reports, "The crucial questions in the trial ... are not about what happened involving him and his roommate ... but why." The prosecutor's opening arguments sought to portray Ravi as motivated by an anti-gay bias while the defense argued he was merely curious as to what his roommate was up to, and not hateful or intimidating. As a wonderfully reported New Yorker article last month showed, the facts of the case show Ravi's intentions and Clementi's reactions to be extremely complex. Both prosecutors and defense will have ample pieces of evidence to paint their picture. 

    RELATED: What Did Trayvon Look Like? That Depends on Your Politics


    A conviction of bias intimidation for Ravi could come with a sentence of 10 years in prison, and because Ravi was born in India, he also might face deportation. But at least for now, he seems to have won the day: The first witness, a classmate whom Ravi told he wanted to use his webcam to spy on his roommate, says, in the words of the AP, "he didn't seem to have a problem with homosexuality."

    RELATED: Rutgers Claims It Had No Clue the NYPD Was Spying on Muslim Students


    In a case that's as much about intentions as actions, that's a key point, but only one early piece of testimony in a trial that's expected to last several weeks. 

     

    8 comments

    • jason-q
      jason-q  •  3 mths ago
      How do you prove "hate"? Am I to be convicted of rape for envisioning my neighbors daughter in a lavishous way.
    • dan87
      dan87  •  3 mths ago
      Voyuerism is voyuerism,.....The sex act captured on a hidden camera is not 'perverted',....the person that planted the hidden camera and secretly videotaped the act is the sexually perverted one.
      • Harold
        Harold 2 mths ago
        Forcing your roommate to hear your #$%$ get pounded by some other dude is perverted in a lot of people's eyes.
    • khiem
      khiem  •  Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base, California  •  3 mths ago
      This room was ALSO Ravi's room, what's wrong with him videoing HIS room to ensure that nothing ILLEGAL was taking place in the room when he was not there? This entire incident seems to be "much ado about nothing"; since most homosexuals are unstable psychologically, nobody really knows what caused him to commit suicide. If he was content as a homosexual, nothing that anyone else could do would cause him to take his life, other than losing his gay lover, contracting AIDS, venereal disease, genital warts, his parents cutting off his stipend, or a bad Monday!
    • someone
      someone  •  Fair Oaks, California  •  2 mths ago
      The videotaping had nothing to do with him commiting suicide. He was, obviously, already mentally unstable. People who are mentally stable dont commit suicide, regardless of circumstance. Period!
    • ozymandias
      ozymandias  •  3 mths ago
      Ravi should sue the University for giving him a sicko roommate.
    • Girl with guts
      Girl with guts  •  Los Angeles, California  •  3 mths ago
      It isn't spying. If you are sharing a room with someone, you don't have any privacy at all. He just wanted to watch. Maybe he was curious about gay men. He would have done the same to straight roommate.
    • Bliss Resurrects 2012XMAS
      Bliss Resurrects 2012XMAS  •  Puttaparthi, India  •  3 mths ago
      Not Guilty
      GOD is a homosexual
      • gofer
        gofer 2 mths ago
        God assured you this when you last held a conversation about sexuality with him?
      • Bliss Resurrects 2012XMAS
        Bliss Resurrects 2012XMAS 2 mths ago
        Gofer
        Maybe do a little research about Sai Baba
    • Bliss Resurrects 2012XMAS
      Bliss Resurrects 2012XMAS  •  Puttaparthi, India  •  3 mths ago
      This trial will be in Ravi's favor but he will carry a valuable lesson and pain all his life. His EGO will completely fail. As will yours, before GOD's resurrection 2012
     Post a comment
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