Defense to Begin Stating Its Case in Rutgers Trial

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
Superior Court Judge Glenn Berman presides over the case of Dharun Ravi, the former Rutgers University student Thursday, March 8, 2012 in New Brunswick, N.J. Prosecutors rested their case Thursday in the trial of Ravi, a former Rutgers University student, setting the stage for lawyers to begin their defense of the young man accused of using a webcam to spy on his roommate's intimate encounter with another man. (AP Photo/The Star-Ledger, John Munson, Pool)

After 10 days of testimony and more than 20 witnesses, the prosecution in the Rutgers University cyberbullying trial has rested its case. Today, the defense will have its chance to call witnesses to the stand, including investigators, other students and character witnesses.

In addition, defense lawyers attempted to get nine of the 15 charges brought against Dharun Ravi dropped. The motion to dismiss covered all invasion of privacy and bias intimidation charges. Superior Court Judge Glenn Berman outright declined to throw out five of the counts. He also said he would likely keep the other four counts, an issue he is expected to rule on this morning. The other six charges that the defense didn’t try to dismiss were all related to hindering apprehension and witness tampering.

When disputing the charge of bias intimidation, a hate crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison, Ravi’s lawyers argued that Ravi did not purposefully act to intimidate his roommate, Tyler Clementi.

“How can you have the purpose to intimidate somebody if what you’re doing is intended to be kept from the person who is the supposed target?” the attorney said.

Ravi is accused of using a Webcam to spy on Clementi engaged in intimate contact with another man on two occasions and using Twitter to encourage others to tune in and watch. Clementi, who read the tweets, committed suicide the day after the second spying attempt.

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