Heartburn over gay rights case outcome

New Brunswick, New Jersey:  A former Rutgers University student who used a webcam to spy on his gay roommate was sentenced on Monday to 30 days in jail — a punishment that disappointed some activists but came as a relief to others who feared he would be made a scapegoat for his fellow freshman's suicide.

Dharun Ravi, 20, could have received ten years behind bars for his part in a case that burst onto front pages when Tyler Clementi threw himself to his death off the George Washington Bridge.

The punishment

Instead, Superior Court Judge Glenn Berman gave Ravi a month in jail, placed him on three years' probation and ordered him to get counselling and pay $10,000 (Dh36,722) towards a programme to help victims of hate crimes.

"Our society has every right to expect zero tolerance for intolerance," the judge said.

Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan said he will appeal the sentence, calling it insufficient.

Ravi did not speak in court but shed tears as his mother pleaded with the judge not to send him to prison. Afterwards, Ravi, his family and his lawyers left court without comment. He is expected to appeal his conviction.

Mitigating factors

In handing down the sentence, the judge quoted an e-mail from Clementi himself describing Ravi's conduct as "wildly inappropriate".

At the same time, Berman pointed out that Ravi was not charged in Clementi's suicide. He said Ravi has spent 20 months in "exile" since his arrest. And he suggested "hate crime" is a misnomer for what Ravi was convicted of: "I do not believe he hated Tyler Clementi."

New Jersey gay rights organisation Garden State Equality expressed disappointment with the punishment. In a statement, chairman Steven Goldstein suggested that while the maximum would have been an act of "vengeance", 30 days was too light.

Criticism

"This was not merely a childhood prank gone awry," Goldstein said.

Bill Dobbs, a New York gay rights activist, said he believes the judge gave a short sentence in part in response to a backlash against the prosecution that became visible in recent weeks, including at a rally last week at New Jersey's Statehouse calling for leniency. "Law and order cannot solve social problems," he said.

Clementi's father, Joe Clementi, told the judge that Ravi "still does not get it" and that he had shown no remorse. but Ravi's mother, Sabitha, said her son "doesn't have any hatred in his heart towards anybody".