A day after he made his first public apology for spying on his homosexual roommate, Indian student Dharun Ravi appeared in a New Jersey court to tell a judge he will begin his 30-day prison sentence tomorrow and is waiving his right not to be punished twice for the same crime.
Ravi was handed down a month-long prison sentence after he was convicted on hate crime and bias intimidation charges for spying on his gay roommate Tyler Clementi’s sexual encounter with another man in his Rutgers dorm room in September 2010.
The India-born 20 year old appeared in state Superior Court in New Brunswick early morning today and told Superior
Court Judge Glenn Berman he is ready to report to the Middlesex County Correctional Facility tomorrow.
Ravi’s lawyer Steven Altman would work out details of when and how he surrenders.
Ravi had yesterday apologised publicly for the first time for his “insensitive and immature” actions for spying on
Clementi with a webcam. Days later, Clementi had committed suicide.
Ravi remained silent throughout the 42-minute hearing in court, answering only ‘yes’ and ‘no’ to questions about
whether he understands the consequences of heading to jail before he is required to.
The prosecution has appealed against his 30-day sentence, saying it is too lenient and is demanding a longer prison term of about five years. Ravi was not required to begin his jail term till the appeal was ruled upon but he said he wants to finish the sentence as soon as possible since “it is the only way I can go on with my life.”
——————PTI