The defense and prosecution rested their cases during the Dharun Ravi trial Tuesday. During his closing arguments, defense attorney Steve Altman tried to convince jurors that Ravi was an immature kid that had no malicious or bias intent when he set up a webcam in his Rutgers dorm room. The webcam caught his roommate Tyler Clementi in an intimate encounter with another man. Clementi committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge days after finding out about the webcam.
Altman said Ravi set up the webcam to make sure his roommate’s guest didn’t take his iPad and disputed the claims that Ravi encouraged others to watch the stream. Altman said there were 80 students in the dorm and none of the 32 who were spoken to said they attended or heard of a viewing party “because one never occurred.” Altman also questioned the credibility of some witnesses, including Clementi’s guest.
Prosecutor Julia McClure told jurors Ravi targeted Clementi because he was gay. “He told people in that dorm as soon as he got there that he suspected his roommate was gay,” McClure said during closing arguments. “And I suggest to you, ladies and gentlemen, that that information and that mindset was what drove his escalating and deliberate acts that you heard about in this case from the beginning.”
Ravi, 20, faces 15 criminal counts. Charges include bias intimidation, invasion of privacy and witness tampering. Deliberations are expected to begin Wednesday.
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