Bias-intimidation law ruled unconstitutional.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: The New Jersey Supreme Court’s ruling last Tuesday that the state’s unique bias-intimidation law was unconstitutional, has opened the door for a possible reversal of one of the most notorious hate crime rulings in recent times.
In 2012, Rutgers student Dharun Ravi was convicted of using a webcam to spy on his roommate having sex with another man, which led to his roommate jumping to his death from the George Washington Bridge.
The death of 18-year-old Tyler Clementi was pinned on Dharun Ravi largely due to the legal language used to script bias intimidation laws, which state defendants can be convicted of bias intimidation if their victims “reasonably believed” they were harassed or intimidated because of their race, color, gender, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation, per the New York Times. New Jersey’s statute on bias intimidation is the only one of its kind throughout the nation.
The jury found the Ravi had knowingly harassed Clementi because he was gay, but also convicted him based on Clementi’s “reasonable belief” that he was being targeted because of his orientation.
According to The Times, “Jurors said after the conviction that some of the most convincing evidence of Mr. Ravi’s guilt came from Mr. Clementi’s own complaints and online posts after he learned that he had been spied on.”
Ravi was duly sentenced to 30 days in prison, after 20 of which he was released on good behavior. In their appeal, Ravi’s lawyers argued against the bias statute.
“To criminalize a defendant for a victim’s mistaken belief about the defendant’s motive would turn the bias-intimidation statute into a mockery of itself,” they wrote.
In its 36-page decision on the matter, written by Justice Barry Albin, the New Jersey Supreme Court stated: “In focusing on the victim’s perception and not the defendant’s intent, the statute does not give a defendant sufficient guidance or notice on how to conform to the law,”
Furthermore, they said, “whether a victim reasonably believes he was targeted for a bias crime will necessarily be informed by the victim’s individual experiences and distinctive cultural, historical, and familial heritage–all of which may be unknown or unknowable to the defendant.”
Ravi’s lead attorney, Steven Altman, told NJ.com that they are “ecstatic” about the decision.
Altman also said he now intends to file new papers with the appeals court that includes the specific language used by the New Jersey Supreme Court justices because there was “no way for Ravi to know Clementi’s emotional state at the time of the incidents.”
3 Comments
Dharun Ravi is a living sack of sh*t
. A monster who should have never been born. He is up there with Adolph Hitler. May he rot forever in hell where he belongs. I
DEPORT HIM!
He is a horrible person who bullied someone to death!
You guys seriously need to proofread.