The man who broadcast gay Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi’s embrace with another man — shortly before Clementi committed suicide — has had his convictions overturned.
A New Jersey appellate court on Friday sided with Dharun Ravi, who in February requested the overturning of bias-inimidation and other charges he was convicted of in 2012. Prosecutors contended Ravi, Clementi’s roommate, set up a webcam to capture Clementi’s intimate moment with another man and encouraged other students to watch. Clementi committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge days later, on Sept. 22, 2010.
Friday’s opinion was largely centered on a New Jersey Supreme Court finding released after Ravi’s convictions that amended the state’s definition of a bias charge, to rely on the defendant’s state of mind, rather than the victim’s, the latter of which the court said the prosecution relied heavily upon to prove its case. The court remanded the case to the Superior Court, ordering a new trial.
Middlesex County prosecutors will have until the end of the month to decide whether to appeal to the state’s top court.
Ravi was found guilty on all 15 charges he faced. He was eligible for up to 10 years in prison but a judge sentenced him to 30 days, 20 of which he served.