By IANS,
New York : A former Indian American student accused of using a webcam to spy on his roommate’s encounter with another man is set to go on trial after rejecting a plea deal.
A New Jersey Superior Court judge Thursday set Feb 21 as the trial date for Dharun Ravi after he turned down a plea bargain that could have shaved his prison time to five years or less.
Ravi, a former student of New Jersey State University, Rutgers faces 15 counts that include bias intimidation, invasion of privacy and tampering with evidence. A conviction could mean 10 years or more in prison, local daily targum.com reported.
Ravi’s roommate Tyler Clementi committed suicide days after the alleged web-spying incident.
“You are presumed innocent of every one of these charges. But if you are found guilty, the exposure is significant,” Judge Glenn Berman said to Ravi when warning him about the risks of rejecting the deal.
After reviewing Clementi’s personal writings and computer documents, he also ruled that the defence could not have access to them for investigation – a response to a discover motion that the defence filed during a Sep 9 hearing.
The prosecution asked Berman to reconsider his previous decision regarding the man with whom Clementi had an intimate encounter, identified in court as “M.B.”
But the judge upheld his previous decision that the defence was entitled to M.B.’s name and date of birth since his knowledge was relevant to the bias charge against Ravi. But under a protective order, they were not allowed to share it with anyone else.