By Justin Zaremba | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on September 09, 2016 at 11:05 AM, updated September 09, 2016 at 12:04 PM
NEWARK — Former Rutgers student Dharun Ravi has won his appeal seeking to overturn his convictions in the Tyler Clementi webcam case.
The appellate court sided with Ravi’s attorneys who argued he never should have been charged with bias crimes and all of his convictions should be reversed. The decision also ordered a new trial, even though Ravi has already served his 30-day sentence and three years of probation.
“It’s far from over,” Ravi’s attorney Steven Altman said Friday morning. “I’m extraordinarily pleased with the decision. I haven’t spoken with the Ravi family yet, but I can only imagine they’re pleased as well.”
Since this case was not still being decided, but supposedly over and done with, isn’t it unusual to reverse the decision based on legal changes made later? Wouldn’t that open countless cases to such reversals?
The public wanted a scapegoat for Tyler Clementi’s death by suicide and the Middlesex County prosecutors served up Dharun Ravi’s head on a platter. Ravi’s a Sikh, quiet, peace loving people who in this instance had to bear the indignity of having one of their own mistreated by a legal system they respect and uphold to the utmost.
Voice of Reason NJ 7 hours ago
My condolences to everyone involved, but there’s no way in hell that this was a bias crime. No way. The law was unconstitutional from day one, the victims State of Mind, especially a deceased victim in this case, has no relevance whatsoever to these charges. I am not condoning for a minute what this guy did, nor am I condemning the young victims sexual orientation, but the fact that this guy faced enhanced penalties because the subject of his actions was gay does not and should never have had any bearing upon the degree of the offence for which he was charged. I’m sure there are others out there who disagree with me end a right to express your opinion is why this country is so great, but bottom line is that the lower Court’s decision was flawed from the start, as was the prosecutors decision to charge this kid with a bias crime
One thing that came to mind while reading the Record’s article was that these events happened in a freshman-only dorm. Can someone please tell me what a thirty-something year old man was doing on campus in that dorm? Tyler Clementi may have been victim of a sexual predator but instead, they are looking to crucify Ravi for peeping. Ravi was wrong, but a bias crime? Was Clementi so distraught by someone watching him OR was it that he was being raped by a predator? Put this whole sordid affair in the past where it belongs. Ravi’s life is destroyed and sadly, Clementi is gone. Rutgers is probably more to blame for letting these events go unchecked.
All good comments.