Man in Rutgers video stream says he noticed webcam

[xchrom]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_RUTGERS_SUICIDE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-03-02-11-51-21

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (AP) -- A man who witnesses say was watched via webcam while kissing a Rutgers University student who later committed suicide took the stand Friday, telling jurors he noticed the webcam while the two were being intimate.

"I had just glanced over my shoulder and I noticed there was a webcam that was faced toward the direction of the bed," said the man, identified only by the initials M.B. "Just being in a compromising position and seeing a camera lens - it just stuck out to me."

The man testified that he had met Tyler Clementi in August 2010 through a social networking site for gay men. They chatted online initially, he said, and their first in-person meeting was in Clementi's dorm room on Sept. 16 - three days before the alleged spying. Clementi killed himself days later.

The man's testimony came in the trial of Clementi's roommate, Dharun Ravi, who is charged with bias intimidation, invasion of privacy and other crimes.

[William769]

1. This is going to be one strange trial.

[xchrom]

2. I'm a little worried about this one.

I posted a longish article from the new yorker the other day.

It has some details that surprised me.

[William769]

3. I don't remember that one is it in this group?

[xchrom]

4. It is. When I'm on the big computer again, I'll try to find it.

No one responded to it so it sank pretty quickly.

[xchrom]

5. The Story of a Suicide

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/02/06/120206fa_fact_parker

*** snip

It became widely understood that a closeted student at Rutgers had committed suicide after video of him having sex with a man was secretly shot and posted online. In fact, there was no posting, no observed sex, and no closet. But last spring, shortly before Molly Wei made a deal with prosecutors, Ravi was indicted on charges of invasion of privacy (sex crimes), bias intimidation (hate crimes), witness tampering, and evidence tampering. Bias intimidation is a sentence-booster that attaches itself to an underlying crime—usually, a violent one. Here the allegation, linked to snooping, is either that Ravi intended to harass Clementi because he was gay or that Clementi felt he’d been harassed for being gay. Ravi is not charged in connection with Clementi’s death, but he faces a possible sentence of ten years in jail. As he sat in the courtroom, his chin propped awkwardly on his fist, his predicament could be seen either as a state’s admirably muscular response to the abusive treatment of a vulnerable young man or as an attempt to criminalize teen-age odiousness by using statutes aimed at people more easily recognizable as hate-mongers and perverts.

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/02/06/120206fa_fact_parker#ixzz1nzZrGHm5

[William769]

6. Thank you!

[xchrom]

7. sure. it's a good read. nt

[MarkCharles]

8. Thanks for posting this link! I'm sorry I didn't...

respond when you put it up a few days ago. I had already read the entire article a few days further back.

I think the article does a very creditable job of painting the whole picture, a puzzling one, wherein a family had already accepted his coming out, and where he has a gay brother.

This case does bother me in some ways, as I think the defendant may be being overcharged.

But I'm open to discussion of points about this.

[xchrom]

9. I honestly don't know. It's left me w/ more questions. Nt

[La Lioness Priyanka]

10. i feel like this case is really dicey

i am not saying dharun ravi is an awesome ally but there is really very little to show that he is a rabid homophobe who deserves a hate crime charge