The statement made during the trial for a former student of Rutgers, who has been accused of using a webcam to witness his roommate’s homosexual encounters, is whether or not the student spied on his roommate for malicious reasons or because he was acting out of curiosity, acting like the average 18 year old guy.
The prosecutor, Julia McClure, told the jury that Dharun Ravi, the student who was 18 years old at the time of spying on his roommate, had planned to spy and did it on purpose as a way of humiliating Tyler Clementi and depriving him of any dignity that he had. The defense lawyer for Ravi, on the other hand, claims that these accusations are certainly not true. The defense lawyer, Steven Altman, says that while Ravi did do something wrong, spying on his roommate, he was not thinking clearly and was simply acting out as most teenage boys do. Altman also says that his client is far from being a criminal.
Ravi, who is now 19 years old, is facing about 15 separate criminal charges. The charges included an invasion of privacy, along with hate crimes and intimidating his roommate. The case grabbed the attention of people worldwide because Tyler Clementi ended up committing suicide due to his intimate encounter with another man being put out in the open for all to see.
McClure’s opening statement lasted for about thirty minutes but during that time, she did not mention the suicide of Clementi. Instead, she talked about Ravi and how he chose to victimize his roommate in the worst way possible. She says Ravi had plans to use the video against Clementi, exposing his sexual orientation as a way of embarrassing him to the general public.
Altman, however, argues that Ravi did not intimidate his roommate and the he never said anything bad about his roommate’s sexuality. But, McClure insists Ravi did not do this as a practical joke or a prank and that he did not make a mistake, that he did this on purpose. She says Ravi is mean and cold, having told people on Rutgers about his roommate and how he did not approve of his homosexual lifestyle.