New Jersey v. Dharun Ravi
State of New Jersey vs. Dharun Ravi was a criminal trial held in Middlesex County, New Jersey Superior Court from February 24, 2012 to March 16, 2012 in which former Rutgers University undergraduate student Dharun Ravi was tried and convicted on 15 counts of crimes involving invasion of privacy, attempted invasion of privacy, bias intimidation, tampering with evidence, witness tampering, and hindering apprehension or prosecution. The charges stemmed from incidents that occurred on September 19 and 21, 2010. In the first incident, Ravi and his friend Molly Wei used a webcam to view a private romantic encounter between Ravi's roommate, Tyler Clementi, and another man identified only as "M.B." In the second incident, Ravi urged friends and Twitter followers to watch via his webcam a second tryst between Clementi and M.B., though the viewing never occurred. Clementi committed suicide on September 22, 2010, and his death brought national and international attention to Ravi's trial. On May 21, 2012, Ravi was sentenced to 30 days in jail, 3 years probation, 300 hours of community service, a $10,000 fine, and counseling on cyberbullying and alternate lifestyles. Ravi served 20 days of his 30-day jail term from May 31 to June 19, 2012 at the Middlesex County Adult Corrections Center in North Brunswick, New Jersey.<ref name=""released">Tom Haydon (June 19, 2012). "Dharun Ravi is released from Middlesex County jail". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved June 19, 2012. </ref>