Rutgers suicide trial: Do you really have the facts?

Jurors are now being chosen in the high-profile case of a Rutgers student who committed suicide after his roommate allegedly used a webcam to spy on his gay encounter. NBC's Kerry Sanders reports.

By Kerry Sanders, NBC News correspondent

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. ? Not far from Rutgers University, all eyes have turned to a second-floor courtroom where ?cyberbullying? has taken center stage.

The hateful ugliness of bullying that has gone from the schoolyard to the Internet would, at first glance, seem to be on trial.

Talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres was one of many who drew attention to the case on a national level when the story first broke. She took a serious break on her usually light-hearted show to discuss something close to her heart. She told the nation: Tyler Clementi ?was outed as being gay on the Internet and he killed himself."

That is true, but it?s also wrong.

The details of what you think you know about 18-year-old Clementi?s suicide and the facts are likely oceans apart.

Here are some of the alleged facts and what we actually?know.

Clementi, a Rutgers freshman, jumped to his death Sept. 22, 2010, from the George Washington Bridge after his college roommate, Dahrun Ravi, set up a webcam and peeked into his room while he was with another man.

All true.

But was it criminal?

?No,? Ravi says through his lawyer.

Clementi was outed by his roommate.

Not so clear.

While he had not made his sexual preferences public among those in his dormitory, Clementi had recently started to come out to his parents and brother. And he had revealed, to at least one man, the one he was with, that he was gay.

Nineteen-year-old Ravi and others watched as Clementi and an unnamed man shared intimate moments.

Witnesses will testify that is true.

Ravi?s secret webcam captured X-rated footage, and that it was then posted on the Internet for everyone to see.

Not true. If it were, prosecutors would have a pretty easy case. ?Jurors, I now call your attention to exhibit A. Clerk, please play the video!?

Jury pool shrinks in Rutgers webcam spying case

But that won?t happen, because there are no recordings. No videotapes. No digital files.

And that detail, say experts, is what makes this case a challenge.

In a multicount indictment, Ravi is charged with ?invasion of privacy? and ?bias intimidation.?

The defense will suggest the ?invasion of privacy? in this case was nothing more than a college prank, something akin to a scene from the movie ?American Pie.?

In June 2010 photo provided by the Ridgewood Patch, Tyler Clementi, left, hugs a fellow student during his 2010 graduation from Ridgewood High School in Ridgewood, N.J.

The ?bias intimidation? is legal language that means Ravi allegedly chose to do this to his roommate Clementi because Clementi was gay (therein lies the ?bias?).

An exhaustive analysis of the legal case is detailed in a recent New Yorker magazine article.

But for Clementi?s family, the tragedy is about more than courtroom drama.

No apology
In a wide-ranging interview with his parents, Jane Clementi told me that when she thinks about her son?s death, she wonders why she hasn?t heard an apology.?

?We haven't heard any regret or remorse or thought that he [Ravi] realized the consequences of his actions at all,? his mother said.

I asked her, ?And you'd like that??

?I don't know that I need that to move on.? But it certainly would help in the healing process.?

Ravi has not apologized.

He?s not talking, but legal experts say he may not have apologized simply because in court it would haunt him as an admission of guilt.

Or it may be that he believes he has done no wrong, and in his view, no one can say if the webcam influenced Clementi?s decision to jump to his death.

Clementi left no suicide note.

Joe Clementi, Tyler?s father, says that despite what others may want to believe, when he steps back and looks at his son?s death as unemotionally as a grieving father can, he wants to but cannot conclude there is a clear ?cause and effect.?

I asked his father why he thinks his son, as his life was crashing around him, didn?t reach out to ask him for help.

?I think he was trying to be a man, trying to grow up and face his own problems and situations,? Joe Clementi said. ?And I don't know why he didn't come to me and, you know, get me involved. That's one disappointment that I had.?

Not going to be easy
It?s clear, outside the courtroom, that some believe Ravi is guilty of causing Clementi?s death.

?Frankly I think Dahrun Ravi should be charged with more than just invasion of privacy, which is essentially calling him a ?Peeping Tom,?? said Steven Goldstein with Garden State Equality, a gay rights group. ?In my view, Dahrun Ravi should be charged with manslaughter.?

Tyler?s older brother James says he plans to be in court every day once a jury is chosen.

James is also gay. He wrote about his brother?s death in Out Magazine.

He and his brother had discussed their sexuality, but James says it was almost in passing.

As Ravi maintains his innocence and fights the charges, James Clementi is worried about some of the details of the case:

• That what was seen on the webcam was two men kissing, and not an X-rated encounter.
• That no recorded video exists and nothing was posted online.
• That Clementi?s suicide won?t even be mentioned at trial.

?I'm not intimidated by his [Ravi?s] confidence, if he has it,? James Clementi said. ?I think that justice will be found in the courts.?

And then he paused for a moment and said, ?It's not going to be an easy process, of course.?

?

Source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/21/10470351-rutgers-suicide-trial-this-is-isnt-an-open-and-shut-case

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