Deportation is at stake
in Rutgers webcam trial
Associated
Press
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. —
Jurors considering the fate of a former Rutgers University student accused of
watching his roommate's intimate liaison on a webcam won't be deciding just
whether he'll go to prison — they also could indirectly determine whether he's
deported to his native India.
Dharun Ravi, now 20, is
accused of viewing a few seconds of his roommate's encounter with another man
in their dorm room and telling people about it in text messages, tweets and in
person. He could face years in prison if convicted of charges including invasion
of privacy and bias intimidation, a hate crime.
Lawyers gave their
summations Tuesday in the case, which has gotten enormous attention since the
events of September 2010, when the roommate, Tyler Clementi, jumped to his
death from the George Washington Bridge.
Ravi could also be sent back to India, where he was born
and remains a citizen, if convicted. The risk of deportation is highest if he
is convicted on the most serious charges, said Michael Wildes, a New York City
immigration lawyer who is not involved in the case.
Last year, prosecutors offered Ravi, who is in the U.S.
legally, a plea bargain that called for no prison time — and help avoiding
deportation.
"The decision was made by his legal team to roll the
dice," Wildes said. "We'll see whether it was a good decision."
Immigration authorities could seek to have Ravi deported
if he is convicted of any crime that lands him a prison sentence of a year or
more, Wildes said.
In theory, all 15 of the
charges he faces — among them are hindering apprehension, tampering with a
witness and tampering with evidence — could result in prison time. But
incarceration is likely only if he's convicted of one of the two second-degree
bias intimidation charges he faces.
The government could also seek to deport Ravi if he's
convicted of a crime it considers to involve "moral turpitude,"
Wildes said, whether he's imprisoned for it or not. The list of those crimes is
long.
Any deportation decision would have to be made by a
federal immigration judge. And, Wildes said, Ravi could argue that his
deportation would harm U.S. citizens, or that he should remain in the country
because he has lived here legally with his family since he was a young boy and
because he has no prior criminal record.
As for the immigration help from state authorities,
Wildes said such offers are usually "empty promises."
The trial — which
included testimony from about 30 witnesses over 12 days, in addition to the
closing arguments — focused on a few days in the Rutgers dorm where Ravi and
Clementi, both 18-year-olds from well-off New Jersey suburbs, were randomly
assigned to be first-year roommates.
Jurors asked for a copy
of the judge's instructions to them on Wednesday afternoon, after less than an
hour of deliberations. Judge Glenn Berman said he didn't have a copy to give
them, but said he would answer specific questions if they had them. A bit
later, they asked about one of the bias intimidation charges, wanting to know
definitions of "intimidation" and "purpose."
The jury went home for
the night after about four hours of deliberation and no quick verdict.
There are relatively few
factual disputes in the case. The challenge for jurors could be deciding
whether the laws apply to what Ravi is alleged to have done.
Ravi can be convicted of
intimidation if he's also found guilty of an underlying invasion-of-privacy
charge. And to convict him of bias intimidation, jurors would have to be
convinced that he intended to intimidate Clementi or his guest, or that
Clementi reasonably believed Ravi wanted to intimidate him because he was gay.
Clementi's death was one
in a string of suicides by young gays around the country in September 2010 and
became probably the best known. President Barack Obama commented on it in an
online video, as did talk show host Ellen DeGeneres.
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