Rutgers freshman suicide after roommate broadcast gay sexual encounter online?

[jAZ]

Wow. Prank gone waaay wrong.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/201...gers_post.html

Rutgers freshman is presumed dead in suicide after roommate broadcast gay sexual encounter online

Wednesday, September 29, 2010, 5:42 PM
Kelly Heyboer/ The Star-Ledger



PISCATAWAY — A Rutgers University freshman appears to have killed himself by jumping off the George Washington Bridge after his roommate broadcast live images of the 18-year-old having a sexual encounter with another man on the internet, according to campus and law enforcement sources.

Tyler Clementi, 18, of Ridgewood, is presumed dead after his car, cell phone and computer were found near the George Washington Bridge last week, law enforcement sources said. His wallet was found on the walkway adjacent to the New York-bound lanes. In a statement released this afternoon, Clementi’s family confirmed the suicide and said his body has not been found.

Dharun Ravi, 18, of Plainsboro, and Molly Wei, 18, of Princeton, were charged with two counts each of invasion of privacy for setting up a camera in a dorm room on Sept. 19 and using it to view and transmit a live sex scene, said Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan.

Paul Mainardi of Woodbury, the Clementi family's attorney, said Ravi and Clementi were roommates at Rutgers.

Ravi's Twitter feed on that date referred to seeing his roommate have sex with another man in their room on the Piscataway campus, classmates said.

"Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went into molly's room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay," Ravi said on his Twitter page in a Sept. 19 entry posted at 6:17 p.m.

Two days later, Ravi posted another entry directing his nearly 150 Twitter followers to iChat, an internet messaging service with a live video feed.

"Anyone with iChat, I dare you to video chat me between the hours of 9:30 and 12. Yes it's happening again," Ravi wrote in the Sept. 21 post.

Ravi's Twitter feed has since been taken down. But the entries survived in a cached version of the page still available through Google's search engine this afternoon.

Prosecutors said Ravi and Wei set up a camera on Sept. 19 and broadcast live images of Clementi having a "sexual encounter." Ravi is also accused of trying unsuccessfully to broadcast a second sex scene Sept. 21.

The Clementi family released a statement this afternoon. "Tyler was a fine young man, and a distinguished musician. The family is heartbroken beyond words. They respectfully request that they be given time to grieve their great loss and that their privacy at this painful time be respected by all," it said.

"The family and their representatives are cooperating fully with the ongoing criminal investigations of two Rutgers University students," the statement said.

Clementi was an accomplished violinist who had received a college scholarship from the Ridgewood Symphony Orchestra for his musicianship and leadership.
The violinist left a lasting impression with some in the Bergen County town, said Hiro Kagei, 17, who played in the orchestra with the teenager. A solo Clementi played in a concert last year "blew the audience away," he said.

"Now that he’ dead, it’s sad to think we won’t hear something like that anymore," Kagei said.

On the Rutgers campus, classmates described Clementi as quiet. At a mandatory dorm meeting called the day he was reported missing, only three students said they had spoken to Clementi since they moved into the dorm last month, according to students who were at the meeting.

Ravi and Wei — who were classmates at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North before enrolling at Rutgers this fall — did not respond to e-mail requests to comment Tuesday. Steve Altman, Ravi’s attorney, also declined to comment.

Ravi surrendered to Rutgers police Tuesday and was released on $25,000 bail, the prosecutor’s office said. Wei surrendered to the campus police Monday and was released on her own recognizance.

Under New Jersey’s invasion-of-privacy laws, it is a fourth degree crime to collect or view images depicting nudity or sexual contact involving another individual without that person’s consent, the prosecutor said. It is a third degree crime to transmit or distribute the images.

If the students are convicted on a third degree offense they could face up to five years in prison each under state law. Conviction on a fourth-degree crime could lead to probation or up to 18 months in prison.

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by Donger

Surely one can find homosexual acts repulsive without being afraid of homosexuals, no?

i suppose but when you allow it to go further and effects how you treat people then it's homophobic.

if you find homosexual acts repulsive then don't do them or watch them but it doesn't mean you should try to punish/outlaw people who are gay.

[Pants]

Originally Posted by Mr. Kotter

Agreed. But let the punishment fit the "crime." Someone commiting suicide as a result of one's stupid actions, should not be a emotional justification to increase the punishment for something less serious than drunk driving, for example....an offense for which the punishment is much less severe than what most here, it seems, would like to see given to these two idiots.

What are you talking about? Nobody is asking for him to be tried as a murderer.

[Hootie]

Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath58

And the State of Missouri writes you a $100 ticket and puts you on the sex offender list. No joke.

So what's your point?

are you ****ing kidding me?!?!?

that's hysterical

when I was 19 I pissed outside of a bar and got a $75 ticket...but no sex offender charge

my friend Nate got a pissing ticket just last year outside of a bar...but the kid is diabetic so I kind of felt bad for him

[Hootie]

Originally Posted by Laz

i suppose but when you allow it to go further and effects how you treat people then it's homophobic.

if you find homosexual acts repulsive then don't do them or watch them but it doesn't mean you should try to punish/outlaw people who are gay.

well I've never tried to punish or outlaw a gay person...so I guess I'm not homophobic

sweet

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Laz

i suppose but when you allow it to go further and effects how you treat people then it's homophobic.

if you find homosexual acts repulsive then don't do them or watch them but it doesn't mean you should try to punish/outlaw people who are gay.

But, even in your scary example above, that's just hate. Not fear.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath58

And the State of Missouri writes you a $100 ticket and puts you on the sex offender list. No joke.

So what's your point?

They could.

But for the most part they don't.

It's a clear gap in the law and the legislature needs to fix it. For the most part, prosecutors are doing it on their own by simply saying that they'll reduce the charge to a public nuisance for a guilty plea. That may be part of the reason why the state hasn't patched up the law.

It's a nasty little weapon for the prosecutors to use, but they rarely do so. Living in Columbia, there is no shortage of people pissing in parking lots, but I've not heard of anyone ending up in the sex offender registry because of it.

[Hootie]

fine...

I'll play this game too...

DJ thinks he's never wrong. But he is wrong...he's stating these two deserve jail. He clearly thinks he can run America better than our judicial system. That's pure arrogance.

This dude will get sentenced to probation. That's it. Probation.

NO JAIL, NO PRISON

So everyone that is talking about how he deserves prison is thinking IRRATIONALLY...and letting emotions get in the way of common sense.

The TEENAGE KID made a HUGE mistake...a terrible lack of judgment...and did a cruel, cruel thing.

That said...he isn't a detriment to society, and he isn't a "criminal"...

he's a stupid kid that will have to live with his misdemeanor charge and get through his 3 years of probation...maybe face a civil suit from the family

[Mr. Kotter]

Originally Posted by Metrolike

What are you talking about? Nobody is asking for him to be tried as a murderer.

5 yrs in prison? A severe beating...suggested by some?

If we are going down this road to punish people more severely for sheer stupidity, and/or undefined "cruelty"....the jails will be over-flowing with young people very soon--hell, not even just young people.

[OnTheWarpath15]

Originally Posted by The Meat Dragon

are you ****ing kidding me?!?!?

that's hysterical

when I was 19 I pissed outside of a bar and got a $75 ticket...but no sex offender charge

my friend Nate got a pissing ticket just last year outside of a bar...but the kid is diabetic so I kind of felt bad for him

Not kidding at all.

I'm getting my BSED and when I was admitted to the Teacher Education Program at the university I attend, we had to go to an orientation.

That actually took the time to tell the guys, find a bathroom from here on out, or your future as a teacher is shot.

We all laughed for a split-second until we realized she was dead serious.

Sex offender list. For urinating in public. I shit you not.

[Hootie]

Originally Posted by Mr. Kotter

5 yrs in prison? A severe beating...suggested by some?

If we are going down this road to punish people more severely for sheer stupidity, and/or undefined "cruelty"....the jails will be over-flowing with young people very soon--hell, not even just young people.

exactly...and that's why, unless this thing turns into an absolute media circus...the kid is going to get a slap on the wrist and the girl will probably get everything dropped...since I assume the dude will take full blame

[Hootie]

Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath58

Not kidding at all.

I'm getting my BSED and when I was admitted to the Teacher Education Program at the university I attend, we had to go to an orientation.

That actually took the time to tell the guys, find a bathroom from here on out, or your future as a teacher is shot.

We all laughed for a split-second until we realized she was dead serious.

Sex offender list. For urinating in public. I shit you not.

JFC

That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

"Hi, I'm your new neighbor. I'm a sex offender though. I really had to pee, so I pissed behind a tree and a cop was right there! KEEP YOUR CHILDREN AWAY FROM ME!"

[OnTheWarpath15]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

They could.

But for the most part they don't.

It's a clear gap in the law and the legislature needs to fix it. For the most part, prosecutors are doing it on their own by simply saying that they'll reduce the charge to a public nuisance for a guilty plea. That may be part of the reason why the state hasn't patched up the law.

It's a nasty little weapon for the prosecutors to use, but they rarely do so. Living in Columbia, there is no shortage of people pissing in parking lots, but I've not heard of anyone ending up in the sex offender registry because of it.

I've heard of a handful through school, from what I'm able to gather is that it depends on where, and who's around.

Apparently, one guy got nailed for pissing in a downtown surface lot during a Rams tailgate, with a 12 year old girl nearby. He's on the list, or so I've been told.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by The Meat Dragon

fine...

I'll play this game too...

DJ thinks he's never wrong. But he is wrong...he's stating these two deserve jail. He clearly thinks he can run America better than our judicial system. That's pure arrogance.

You stated that they could get jail time if the media makes an issue of it and it becomes a career case.

In other words, you are conceding the punishment will be directly proportional to the zeal with which the state prosecutes the case.

Deserving jail time and avoiding it are two separate animals. If the prosecutors take this all the way to a verdict, the guy is going to jail. They probably won't do so because they simply don't have the resources to put that much time into one case.

Getting off light because the state doesn't have enough manpower to fully and fairly litigate your case doesn't mean you didn't deserve prison time.

Once again, you're mixing suppositions.

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by Donger

But, even in your scary example above, that's just hate. Not fear.

nope, that would be revenge ... which is not pretty either.

never said i was perfect



btw the only reason your in this thread is because you like to argue, so i don't know that says either.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Laz

nope, that would be revenge ... which is not pretty either.

never said i was perfect



btw the only reason your in this thread is because you like to argue, so i don't know that says either.

Revenge against or for what?

I'm not sure what your third sentence means.