BY NATASHA BARSOTTI – Dharun Ravi, sentenced to 30 days in jail for using a webcam to spy on roommate Tyler Clementi’s sexual encounter with another man, said May 29 he regretted the “thoughtless, insensitive, immature, stupid and childish choices” he made. 
Clementi jumped to his death from New York City’s George Washington Bridge in 2010 after discovering Ravi had videotaped him and discussed his personal life on Twitter with other students.
Ravi apologized to “everyone affected” by his choices days after Superior Court judge Glenn Berman told the former Rutgers University student that he had yet to hear him express remorse.
“I heard this jury say ‘guilty’ 288 times — 24 questions, 12 jurors. That’s the multiplication. I haven’t heard you apologize once,” Gay Star News quotes the judge as saying.
Ravi, convicted on 15 counts, including invasion of privacy, tampering with evidence and bias intimidation — a hate crime — had faced the prospect of serving up to 10 years in prison.
In addition to jail time, Ravi has been ordered to pay $10,000, do community service and serve three years’ probation. As the sentence is less than a year, immigration authorities might not seek to have Ravi, a citizen of India, deported, according to an Associated Press report on nydailynews.com.
The judge has recommended against deportation.
Slate.com’s J Bryan Lowder, who was in favour of a lenient sentence for Ravi, offered this analysis in the wake of the May 21 sentencing.
An alternative take on the 30-day sentence is offered here.
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