Defense to call witnesses in webcam spying case

[March 09, 2012]  NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (AP) -- The first defense witnesses to be presented in the trial of a former Rutgers University student accused of using a webcam to spy on his roommate could be a pair of investigators.

One, Frank DiNinno, was frequently mentioned during the 10 days that prosecutors made their case against Dharun Ravi.

A handful of the Rutgers students who testified referred to him as "Frank," and Ravi's lawyer seemed to be trying to raise the idea that he was too friendly with the students.

The prosecution rested Thursday after calling nearly two dozen witnesses and presenting about 100 pieces of physical evidence.

Ravi is charged with 15 criminal counts, including bias intimidation, invasion of privacy and seven charges that he tried to cover his tracks.

His roommate, Tyler Clementi, committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge in September 2010, just days after the alleged spying.

Clementi's life and death quickly became symbols of the problems young gays can face.

But the legal case against Ravi is more complicated.

There's little dispute that he used a friend's computer to turn on the webcam in the room he shared with Clementi and saw his roommate and another man. But there hasn't been any testimony that contradicts his contention that he turned off the webstream after mere seconds.

There also is no disputing, so far at least, that he told, in person and through text messages and Twitter postings, others what he had seen -- and informed people that they could tune in when Clementi asked to have the room privately two days later.

There was also no evidence that the webcam was on and working on that second occasion -- though one student said he tried to view it.

Jurors will need to sort out whether Ravi intended to violate Clementi's privacy, or whether Clementi and the man he was with -- identified in court when he testified only by the initials M.B. -- reasonably believed their privacy was violated.

Computer records shown to jurors indicated that Clementi visited Ravi's Twitter page 38 times in the two days before he killed himself and saved copies of two tweets about the webcam.

To win a conviction on the most serious charges -- bias intimidation -- prosecutors will have to prove that Ravi was acting out of bias against gays.

Several witnesses said they never heard Ravi say anything bad about gays.

Besides the investigators, defense lawyers say they plan to call additional college students and perhaps other witnesses, some of whom will be asked to testify about the former student's character.

They have not said whether Ravi himself will testify.

[Associated Press; By GEOFF MULVIHILL]

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