We’re guessing the high school friendship between Tyler Clementi’s tormentors is over, seeing as Molly Wei has decided to testify against Dharun Ravi. Both Wei and Ravi had been charged with several counts of invasion of privacy after allegedly filming fellow Rutgers student Clementi’s sexual encounter with another man; a filming which may have driven Clementi to commit suicide. Though the court will drop the charges against Wei, she will still have to complete 300 hours of community service, undergo cyberbullying counseling, and take classes about how to respect people of different backgrounds. Meanwhile, Ravi may spend a very long time in prison for “charges of invasion of privacy with bias intimidation because, prosecutors say, he targeted Clementi for his sexual orientation. Ravi has also been charged with witness tampering and destruction of evidence for allegedly deleting text messages, altering tweets that could implicate him in the crime and attempting to convince individuals not to testify against him in court.”
Cam
I’m glad they are going after the roomate…but they used her computer twice, it seems like she was definitly part of the scheme. Seems odd that she gets off with no charges.
alan brickman
Naturally the woman gets off…that’s why so many hate groups are using them as frontline opponnets of equal rights for gays…Can you say “Double Standards”?….
Yaël
Seems unfair to me, too, that Molly should get off with barely a wrist slap. I realize deals occur behind the scenes, but her punishment seems too light.
honkplzer
Witness and evidence tampering makes it appear that Ravi has more to hide. His behavior/actions probably mean he was the driving force behind it all. If prosecutors thought they could get both behind bars I’m sure they wouldn’t have made a deal. Better one gets punished rather than neither.
Adonis-of-Fire
Both of them should go to jail, for at least 20 years.
tazz602
While both are probably culpable we don’t know what kind of pressure was placed on her to go along with it, and for all we know the prosecutors probably needed her to turn on Ravi to make the case solid. She will be living with this and the stigma for the rest of her life, she is hardly getting “off”.
JKB
@tazz602: Agreed.
Shannon1981
I wish Molly’s punishment were stiffer, but I’d be willing to bet the roommate was the ring leader in this, and hey, if this gets the ring leader nailed, so be it. Furthermore, Molly is now famous for taking part in a heinous act that eventually caused a young man to take his own life, and people will remember that for the rest of her life.
alan brickman
excuses for women’s actions against gays…how typical…she should join Fox TV…
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
I am pretty damm amazed that they are actually seriously going after that scumbag……..One would have thought because Tyler was Gay Ravi would have gotten off with simply going away…..
When this first broke so many claimed it was a “college prank” and Ravi would have “done the same thing” if his roomate was straight. Except in the tweets and e-mails he sent out and then furiously attempted to delete he invited all to “laugh at the faggot having sex”………
Hopefully he does time and sees if still finds humor in Gay sex……
Jazpyy
They both should be made as an example to anyone who thinks it’s ok to ridicule and make well planned jokes against people who want to explore their true sexual identity. When you are that age and you are gay, for some people, delicate frame of mind is an understatement, and these two MONSTERS came along and shattered someone’s confidence so bad that they couldn’t continue!
Irked
UNACCEPTABLE! *snaps*
TMikel
They both deserve prison – will all the educating and community service bring back the dead?
mb00
@tazz602: I agree with you 100%. There are people in this world who’s personalities are so strong, persuasive, and socontrolling that he may of had this girl convinced and/or bullyed into using her as his accomplice. She may not be getting jailtime, but living in public for her will probably be worse than hidding behind cynder block walls and jron bars.
Cam
@mb00:
Oh, she sent him out to do this. They had used her computer before to do the same thing. How many times in college did you see a pretty girl with her boyfriends following her around like puppy dogs.
I’m not saying thats the case, but trying to pretend that she is some wilting little victim under the control of a guy…i’m saying it could be the opposit and she could have been the ringleader just as easily.
Riker
@Cam: Could be, but i’d bet anything that prosecutors know a lot more about what happened than we do. If they thought Wei was the ringleader, they wouldn’t have gotten her off so easy.
the crustybastard
Look, it’s incredibly difficult to secure a criminal conviction. If even one person on a jury harbors some doubt of the defendant’s guilt, the defendant walks.
In a criminal conspiracy, feds will turn one perp against the other on the theory that it’s better if one guilty party gets off easy than all of them get off entirely.
The federal lead prosecutor will access to ALL the evidence made a judgment call. I’d bet my house that prosecutor has a better handle on that evidence than anyone here does. The chance that judgment call was based on sexism or racism is vanishingly remote compared to the chance that call was based on securing a conviction.
triangular
Justice would be to put videos of Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei having sex on the internet permanently, for their families and employers and students to see whenever.
chris
The Clementi family made a statement about the Molly Wei plea and it reveals more truth about what happened, even though the details arent public yet.
”
Friday, Clementi’s parents made a rare public statement after watching Wei’s appearance from the back row of the courtroom. Jane and Joe Clementi said they attended the hearing on behalf of their late son and people around the world following the case.
“Actions have consequences,” Joe Clementi read from a prepared statement. “We wish that Ms. Wei will become a person who will make better decisions, will help people and show kindness to those she comes in contact with.”
The Clementis said prosecutors asked if they would object to Wei entering the pre-trial intervention program, known as PTI. The family consented because Wei had cooperated with the investigation and her actions were “substantially different in their nature and their extent than the actions of Tyler’s former roommate,” Joe Clementi said.
”
Also Wei went immediately to authorities and has cooperated from the beginning where as Ravi engaged in an attempted cover up.
Paul Dwyer
Stupid little twerp with no knowledge of the world and a victim himself of this still anti-gay society. What must have been drummed into him from the start about how wrong it is to be same sex oriented is what has been a sickness of this society from its beginning. I just don’t know if sending an 18 year old to prison for several years will do anything but appease those who now want to revel in seeing blood, rather than the true justice of changing people’s minds about same sex preference. And I have to add, I am very appalled about the remarks from so many who are openly stating that they hope that Dharun Ravi is subjected to sexual abuse in prison. Shame on you.
David Ehrenstein
A major part of Wei’s punishment comes in the form of her being forced to testify in court with the whole world watching. Her life is OVER.