Dharun Ravi, the former Rutgers student who was found guilty of spying on his freshman roommate Tyler Clementi, will not be deported. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said, "Based on a review of Mr. Ravi's criminal record, ICE is not initiating removal proceedings at this time."
n September 2010, Ravi had set up a webcam in the dorm room he shared with Clementi and viewed Clementi and Clementi's guest during intimate encounters, and shared a link (unsuccessfully) to view the livestream via Twitter. Clementi killed himself by jumping off the George Washington Bridge the day after the second time he was filmed. While prosecutors have portrayed Ravi as homophobic, his lawyer and the witnesses speaking on his behalf said he was not homophobic, instead claiming he was simply acting immaturely. But jurors agreed with prosecutors, finding that Ravi invaded Clementi's and his guest's privacy twice and meant to intimidate Clementi when he spied a second time.
Judge Glenn Berman had sentenced Ravi, who is in the country legally but is not a U.S. citizen (he was born in India), to 30 days in prison, pointing out that he'll also serve 300 hours of community service. Berman said, "I can’t find it in me to remand him to state prison that houses people convicted of offenses such as murder, armed robbery and rape. I don’t believe that that fits this case. I believe that he has to be punished, and he will be."
Seton Hall Law professor Lori Nessel told the Wall Street Journal, "It doesn't surprise me, given the sentence that he ultimately received. If he had gotten a much longer sentence then it might have put a lot more pressure or made it much harder for ICE not to move to deport him."
Ravi only apologized after he was sentenced; Clementi's grieving parents believe his words were meaningless, "We are concerned that the sentence of probation simply disregarded the unanimous verdicts of twelve jury members on these serious charges, that it disregarded the applicable law, that it missed a valuable opportunity to reinforce the message that our society takes these types of crimes seriously, and that we will act decisively to protect individuals' privacy and human dignity."
