Clementi Trial Near Close

Defense lawyers representing the Rutgers University student charged in relation to his roommate’s suicide said that the college freshman was just a “typical 18-year-old kid.” Attorney Steve Altman told the jury that Dharun Ravi, who faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of invasion of privacy, isn’t a homophobe and that he shouldn’t be punished for a hate crime. The defense presented dozens of witnesses who testified that they never heard Ravi make antigay remarks. Ravi and his friend Molly Wei used his webcam to spy on Tyler Clementi’s dorm-room date with another man. Clementi killed himself shortly after the incident.