Both sides in the landmark cyber-bullying case of Tyler Clementi have appealed Dharun Ravi’s 30-day prison sentence.
Last month, prosecutors appealed the sentence, and on June 4 defense attorney Steven Altman filed his own notice of intent to appeal.
New Jersey Superior Court Judge Glenn Berman handed down his sentence last month after a jury found Ravi guilty of invasion of privacy and bias intimidation.
In September 2010, Ravi remotely tapped into his webcam and saw Clementi, his roommate at Rutgers University, in a sexual encounter with another man. Ravi invited others to watch and later unsuccessfully attempted to broadcast a second incident live on the Web.
Clementi later committed suicide.
Altman’s notice indicated that he would argue the bias-intimidation charges were unconstitutional as applied to Ravi’s case, although the filing did not explain how that would be demonstrated. Altman additionally plans to contend that Berman made mistakes in charging the jury and that several of the judge’s decisions, including his denial of requested discovery, hindered Ravi’s ability to receive a fair trial.
Altman also will argue that the verdict was “against the weight of the evidence.”
The appeal could take several years.
Ravi has been in prison since May 31 and, with a good-behavior credit, could be released in the next few days. Berman also ordered him to pay more than $11,000 in fines and complete 300 hours of community service.
Prosecutors said in their appeal that Ravi should have received at least five years in prison.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].