Re: Gay spying case: Will jury unjustly convict for 'hate'?

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How can this be true? Simple college pranks are becoming crimes? So
what that he used a spy cam. The homo didn't kill himself because of
the camera, he did it because he was ashamed of his deranged sexual
preferences. homosexuality IS a form of sexual perversion and the
connoisseurs of the brown hole know it. Would he be charged with hate
crimes if they were Heterosexual?

''Invasion of privacy is a very odd crime for bias intimidation or
hate crimes. It’s usually something violent – baseball bat,
swastikas,cross burning,” said Marc Poirer, professor of law and
sexuality at Seton Hall University School of Law in New Jersey.

FREE Mr. Ravi!!!! b&c
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John O'boyle / AP

Dharun Ravi listens to testimony during Ravi's trial at the Middlesex
County Courthouse in New Brunswick, N.J. on Monday.
By Miranda Leitsinger, msnbc.com

Dharun Ravi could face a decade in prison over charges that he used a
web camera to spy on the romantic encounters of his gay roommate, who
later took his life. As jurors mull his fate, experts disagree over
whether he should be convicted of the most serious charge: bias
intimidation.

Ravi’s roommate and fellow first-year student at Rutgers University,
Tyler Clementi, jumped to his death off the George Washington Bridge
on Sept. 22, 2010. Authorities say that was three days after Ravi
watched Clementi kiss another man via a web camera and one day after
Ravi tried to do it again.

Closing arguments wrapped up Tuesday in a New Jersey courtroom where
Ravi faces 15 criminal charges, including invasion of privacy. The
jury would need to find him guilty of that in order to convict him of
bias intimidation.



The presiding judge in the case has expressed some skepticism about
the bias intimidation law, The Associated Press reported.

"I could be wrong," Judge Glenn Berman told lawyers on Monday after
the jury left. "I said this statute to me is muddled. It could be
written better."

The bias crime law has been on the books since 2002, replacing an
earlier version of the state’s hate crimes legislation. It has
seemingly never been applied in a case where the underlying charge is
invasion of privacy – or such cases haven’t been publicized, experts
said.

The law’s author, state Sen. Joe Vitale, said he felt the
legislation’s intent was clear and was applied correctly in this case.

“We didn’t spell out under what circumstances a bias crime would be
applied to sexual orientation, whether as a violent crime or a crime
of intimidation. It’s really … a bias intimidation law,” he said,
adding that it was akin to domestic violence, which can occur as
emotional abuse rather than physical harm.

"Domestic violence takes on many shapes and forms as does … a bias
crime against someone because of their sexual orientation,” he added.

And though the law apparently hadn’t been used this way before, he
said he thought it was “probably the blueprint for a case like this.”

The jury heard from about 30 witnesses over 12 days of testimony. Ravi
did not testify, but jurors saw a video of a statement he gave to
police.

The defense said Ravi was immature but not homophobic, while the
prosecution said he intended to intimidate Clementi and the man who
visited his room – known by the initials M.B. – because they were gay.

For a bias intimidation conviction – which carries a 10-year sentence
– the jury has to unanimously agree that one of three criteria has
been met: There’s evidence that the victim felt he was being
intimidated or evidence that the defendant purposely or knowingly
attempted to intimidate based on biased motivations.

Louis Raveson, a criminal law professor at Rutgers, said he thought
all of the bias intimidation criteria had been met, citing M.B.’s
testimony that he felt intimidated, and Tyler’s request to change
rooms, which was followed by his suicide. He also said he believed
that Ravi wouldn’t have treated heterosexuals the same way as he did
the gay pair.

“I think the statute correctly predicted this kind of crime and … is
being used appropriately,” he said. But he surmised that if Ravi is
convicted, the defense would try to appeal based on the “victim”
aspect of the bias criteria.

“This is an effort to say this is a serious crime, it inflicts serious
harm, it’s intolerable … and I think that’s great,” he later added. “A
prosecution like this spreads the word that it’s not fooling around;
it’s not immature jokes by young people. It’s real damage, and the
damage can be great, as it was with Tyler, and we’re not going to
tolerate it anymore.”

But Poirer thought the case was “really a stretch … I’m not sure the
state thought very hard about it. I also think the evidence is pretty
weak on bias intimidation.”

Though the suicide was technically not part of the case, it loomed
over the proceedings, he said.

“I think there was clearly political pressure by one segment of the
gay community … to make Ravi an example because there have been and
continue to be gay suicides and there continue to be examples of
bullying,” he said.

But a bias intimidation conviction “won’t do anybody any good,” he
added.