Dharun Ravi, Rutgers student convicted in webcam spying, seeking probation sentence

This local article concerning an upcoming sentencing in high-profile New Jersey case reports that "lawyers for the Rutgers University student who spied on his gay roommate kissing a man have asked that he receive probation rather than a jail term." Here is more:

In a 33-page motion loaded with positive personal accounts of Dharun Ravi’s character and lack of bias, attorneys urged Judge Glenn Berman to depart from sentencing guidelines that require a jail term for a bias-intimidation conviction.  They argued that the judge could apply a legal doctrine known as “the serious injustice standard” to impose a lighter sentence.

Ravi, 20, of Plainsboro, N.J., is scheduled to be sentenced May 21. He was convicted of bias intimidation, invasion of privacy, and several related charges in a trial that attracted international attention.  The media attention, his lawyers argue, produced a distorted picture of Ravi as “the face of cyberbullying and homophobia” after his arrest in October 2010.

Ravi was accused of setting up his laptop computer and streaming webcam images of his dorm roommate, Tyler Clementi, as Clementi engaged in a sexual encounter with a man.... Clementi, 18, committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge on Sept. 22, 2010, days after learning of the spying incident.  His death, while not part of the case against Ravi, became the focal point of the debate about gay-bashing and intimidation.

The motion asking for a lighter sentence includes dozens of comments from friends and family members of Ravi’s who maintain he is not homophobic and had no bias against Clementi.  “Not one person ever perceived of Dharun Ravi as a hatemonger,” his lawyers wrote, noting that the jury found that Ravi had not acted to intimidate Clementi, but that Clementi had perceived Ravi’s actions as intimidating.

Ravi, who has been taking college courses online since withdrawing from Rutgers, has been the subject of “a number of threatening and negative voice mails and e-mails,” his lawyers wrote.  The motion also included a plea from Ravi’s mother, Savitha, who told the court: “When it all started and the media was ripping him apart with misleading facts and the statements of people made about his moral values, he really broke into pieces."...

Lawyers argued that probation was an appropriate sentence given the nature of the case, pointing out, among other things, that bias-intimidation hate-crime legislation was written with the assumption that threats and acts of violence would be prosecuted under the law.  There were no threats and there was no violence in this case, Ravi’s lawyer’s wrote.  “Dharun Ravi lacked hatefulness,” they argued.

They also pointed out that if Ravi is sentenced to a jail term of more than year, he could later be deported.  A native of India who came to the United States with his parents as a 3-year-old, Ravi has permanent-residence status.  That can be revoked.

This AP story about the filing also includes these interesting legal details about Ravi's upcoming sentencing and arguments for probation:

Some prominent gay pundits, including former Gov. Jim McGreevey, also have said publicly that they do not think the Plainsboro resident should be sent to prison. Clementi’s parents issued a statement last year saying Ravi should not be punished “harshly.” Ravi exposed himself to the possibility of prison when he chose to go to trial rather than accept a plea offer in which prosecutors would have recommended no jail time.

A major issue for those who say Ravi should not go to prison is the nature of the four bias intimidation charges of which he was convicted. In considering those charges, jurors were asked to consider not only the defendant’s actions but also his state of mind — and the victim’s. Two of the bias intimidation charges are the only ones he faced that include the presumption of incarceration, which means the judge could sentence him to probation for them, but would have to offer an explanation for deviating from sentencing guidelines.

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