Convicted Rutgers Web-cam spy Dharun Ravi said he takes “comfort” in the belief that his gay roommate didn’t kill himself over the snooping incident.
Ravi said what he learned about his freshman roommate during his trial — including information not made public — convinced him that Tyler Clementi took his life for reasons that had nothing to do with the Web-cam snooping.
“The more and more I found out, it would be kind of obnoxious of me to think that I could have this profound effect on him,” Ravi told ABC’s “20/20” for a show airing tonight.
“After all this time and reading his conversations and how and what he was doing before, I really don’t think he cared at all. I feel like I was an insignificant part to his life. That’s giving me comfort now.”
Last week, a New Jersey jury convicted Ravi of a hate crime for invading Clementi’s privacy in September 2010 when he used his Web cam to snoop on his roommate’s gay tryst.
Prosecutors said Ravi tweeted about what he saw and invited friends to tune in for a repeat performance two days later. Days later, Clementi jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge.
Ravi maintained his innocence and declined a no-jail plea deal.
The man who was spied on during intimate encounters with Clementi and has been identified only as MB said he will draft a statement his lawyer will read when Ravi is sentenced May 21.
Lawyer Richard Pompelio tells The Record that his client believes Ravi deserves time behind bars because that’s what the law provides.
Ravi faces up to 10 years in prison.
Pompelio says his 32-year-old client doesn’t hold any malice toward Ravi. But the lawyer believes his client has learned there was a degree of “meanness” in what happened.
With AP