UPDATE (1:57PM): Dharun Ravi was sentenced to 30 days in county jail and three years probation. He was also assessed $10,000 in fines and required to do 300 hours of community service.
The Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office says it plans to appeal the sentence.
NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—On Monday May 21, Dharun Ravi will sentenced in the highest-profile trial to be heard at the Middlesex County Courthouse in recent memory.
County prosecutors have asked for jail time after securing a bias intimidation conviction on March 15. Ravi now faces up to 10 years in prison. Originally, Ravi had rejected a plea deal that would have meant no jail time.
Last Monday, over 100 protesters rallied at the New Jersey Statehouse in support of former Rutgers freshman Dharun Ravi.
Ravi used a webcam to spy on his roommate Tyler Clementi’s sexual encounter with another man and encouraged other students to view Clementi’s next date, although on that occasion the was not successful. Clementi committed suicide by jumping from the George Washington Bridge two days after discovering the camera.
Ravi’s supporters held signs reading “Drop all the Charges” and speakers at the rally including Ravi’s mother Sabitha Ravi asked the media for help, maintaining that Ravi did not get a fair trial.
They also said that the state’s hate crime laws needed to be changed to be more specific. Marc Poirier, a Seton Hall law professor pointed to the jury’s ruling on one bias charge that Ravi did not knowingly intimidate his gay roommate, but on another bias count the jury ruled that Clementi could have reasonably believed that Ravi targeted him because he was gay.
The Associated Press quoted Sandeep Sharma, one of Dharun Ravi’s supporters, “If this kid ends up in jail on Monday my faith will be shaken in this country.”
