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At a courthouse news conference after the verdict, Clementi'sfather, Joe, addressed himself to college students and other youngpeople, saying: "You're going to meet a lot of people in your life.Some of these people you may not like. Just because you don't likethem doesn't mean you have to work against them." Rutgers said in a statement: "This sad incident should make us allpause to recognize the importance of civility and mutual respect inthe way we live, work and communicate with others." Ravi shook his head faintly after hearing the verdict. He and hisparents left the courthouse without comment, his father's armaround his shoulders. His attorney Steven Altman issued a brief statement saying"everyone could rest assured that at the appropriate time an appealwill be filed." Ravi's lawyers had argued at the trial that the college freshmanwas not motivated by any hostility toward gays and that his actionswere just those of an immature "kid." Rejected earlier plea bargain In letting the case go to trial, Ravi gambled and may have lostbig. Months ago, he and his lawyers rejected a plea bargain thatwould have spared him from prison, and prosecutors would have evenhelped him avoid deportation. The most serious charges bias intimidation based on sexualorientation, a hate crime carry up to 10 years behind bars each.But legal experts said the most Ravi would probably get alltogether at sentencing May 21 would be 10 years. Ravi was not charged with causing Clementi's death, and the suicideremained largely in the background at the trial, though somewitnesses mentioned it and the jury was told Clementi had taken hislife. Prosecutors were not allowed to argue directly that the spying ledto his death; defence lawyers were barred from saying there wereother reasons he killed himself. Each bias intimidation charge included five questions. A finding ofguilty on any of them made Ravi guilty of the entire charge. Thejury issued a split verdict on those subquestions. It found, for example, that Ravi did not try to intimidateClementi's romantic partner, identified in court only as M.B., andthat Clementi reasonably believed Ravi was trying to intimidate himbecause of his sexual orientation. It split on questions of whetherRavi knowingly or willfully intimidated Clementi because of hissexuality. String of suicides Clementi's death was one in a string of suicides by young gaysaround the country in September 2010. President Barack Obamacommented on it, as did talk show host Ellen DeGeneres. New Jersey lawmakers hastened passage of an anti-bullying lawbecause of the case, and Rutgers changed its housing policies toallow people of the opposite sex to room together in an effort tomake gay, bisexual and transgender students feel more comfortable. Testimony came from about 30 witnesses over 12 days, including32-year-old M.B. Ravi himself did not testify, though the jurywatched a video of his interrogation by police. Ravi and Clementi, both 18-year-old freshmen from comfortable NewJersey suburbs, had been randomly assigned to room together, andClementi had arrived at college just a few days after coming out tohis parents as gay. A string of students testified they never heard Ravi say anythingbad about gays in general or Clementi in particular. But studentsdid say Ravi expressed some concern about sharing a room with a gayman. On Sept. 19, according to testimony, Clementi asked Ravi to leavetheir room so that he could have a guest. Later, Ravi posted onTwitter: "Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went intomolly's room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with adude. Yay." Ravi told police that he watched only seconds of the encounter viacomputer. His friend Molly Wei testified that she and a few other studentsalso watched the live stream of the men kissing. (Wei was initiallycharged in the case but was later accepted into a pretrial programthat will allow her to keep her record clean.) Two nights later, Clementi asked for the room alone again. Thistime, Ravi tweeted: "I dare you to video chat me between the hoursof 9:30 and 12. Yes, it's happening again." He also texted a friendabout a planned "viewing party" and, two students said, went tofriends' rooms to show them how to access the feed. However, there was no evidence the webcam was turned on that night.Ravi told police he had put his computer to sleep. Prosecutorsargued Clementi himself unplugged the computer. According to testimony, Clementi submitted a room-change requestform and talked to a resident assistant about what happened. Healso used his laptop to view Ravi's Twitter site 38 times in thelast two days of his life. He killed himself Sept. 22. I am an expert from gsmgpstracker.com, while we provides the quality product, such as GSM Alarm SMS Manufacturer , GPRS Vehicle Tracker Manufacturer, GPS Car Trackers,and more.
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