Justice for Tyler Clementi

Tyler Clementi was a freshman at Rutger’s University in New Jersey and jumped to his death off the George Washington Bridge in September 2010. It’s been big news here every day since it happened. Why did it happen? What made this young man take his own life? If you aren’t familiar with the story, Tyler was gay and had an intimate encounter with another man in his dorm room. Tyler’s roommate, Dharun Ravi, thought it would be a good idea to set up a webcam to record the encounter, without Tyler’s knowledge. Then Ravi texted and tweeted other students to tell them to watch. When Tyler discovered what had happened, he was so distraught and humiliated, that he took his own life.

Tyler was a talented violinist. He had just told his parents that he was gay only a few days before attending Rutgers. His father was supported, his mother very disappointed and withdrew from him. Before Tyler even got to campus, his roommate, Ravi, had been doing searches on him online to see who he was. He said Tyler appeared to be gay, socially inept and poor. When Tyler and Ravi moved in together, Ravi texted friends that Tyler was shy and awkward. Tyler texted Ravi about using their room on a couple of nights in September. Ravi witnessed Tyler with an older man and decided to set up his webcam before leaving the room. The camera was angled to view the area of the room where the bed was. Ravi recorded Tyler kissing a man on that occasion and Tyler complained to his resident assistant about the invasion of privacy. He wanted a new room with a different roommate. Tyler also made complaints to others, but nothing was done. Then, Ravi’s recording of the second sexual encounter, was more than Tyler could stand. At the time Tyler was at the George Washington Bridge, Ravi had sent him an apology message…too little too late.

Ravi was arrested and prosecuted for many counts concerning this incident. The dozen or so counts include: invasion of privacy, bias intimidation, witness tampering, and evidence tampering. The trial concluded yesterday with a guilty verdict. He will be sentenced in May to a number of years in prison and possible deportation to India. That’s what comes from harassing, humiliating, and driving a sensitive young gay man to his death.

If Tyler hadn’t taken his life, maybe Ravi would have went on to finish his education and have a career here in the United States. Maybe he would have be reprimanded by Rutgers for his actions, maybe not. In other words, Ravi wouldn’t have suffered any type of punishment really had Tyler just complained. Tyler, on the other hand, would have had to finish his education with a cloud over his head, not knowing how many students viewed Ravi’s handiwork or who they were. But, Tyler did take his life. That’s what brought all the attention to this incident. That’s what raise the concerns over the seriousness of this offense. It seems someone always has to die to shine a spotlight on many crimes that society wants to sweep under the rug. How many young gay people have to kill themselves before something is done? Tyler complained after Ravi’s first recording. There should have been swift and immediate action taken. Ravi should have been sanctioned by the school or maybe expelled, and maybe the second incident would never have happened. But no, it wasn’t taken seriously, giving Ravi another opportunity to record and publicize an even more intimate encounter for the sake of humiliating his roommate all over campus, and causing Tyler to take his own life.

Maybe Ravi thought of it as a kind of practical joke at the time? I can’t imagine what was going through his head. I’m sure he got a thrill out of it and a few laughs too. But, he isn’t laughing now and he won’t be laughing for a long time. He basically threw his own life away with his hateful actions. There goes his education and career, his life here in America, his and his parent’s dreams for him shattered. This act will follow him the rest of his life. He is going to be punished with jail time and possible deportation.  And, he can go on living with the thought that his intolerance cost a young man his life. I can’t imagine having to live with that.

Jeff Ashton, Prosecutor, Speaks Out On Casey Anthony…

Well, Dr. Phil has his finger on the pulse of everything that everyone wants to know, and his hand on the cash that high ratings brings.  Jeff Ashton’s book about the Casey Anthony trial just came out and Dr. Phil had him on the show to talk about what happened.  Did he misjudge the jury?  And what is he going to say about Casey’s psychological evaluation.  I invested so much in following the story hoping for justice for Caylee, that I decided to tune in and see what new information Jeff might shed on the case.  He may give us his thoughts as to what he thinks happened to Caylee…here we go.

Jeff has a new book, Imperfect Justice, that has come out.  It contains new information that never came out.  Jeff was totally shocked by the verdict.  All 12 jurors disregarded all the evidence in a short amount of time.  His biggest complaint about Jose Baez, his dishonesty with the prosecution, the Anthony’s and the court.

They show a couple of jurors who said that the prosecution didn’t even prove their case, yet Jeff never thought the case was in trouble.  Jeff says they never saw the photos of how the body was found with duct tape over her face.  There is no reason to have duct tape over Caylee’s face.  (On a previous show, George Anthony believes that too much drug was given to Caylee and she never woke up…a chemical babysitter, so Caylee could go out and have a good time and freedom).  Jeff says this theory still doesn’t explain the duct tape. Jeff says Casey decided that Caylee was keeping her from the life she wanted.  She used chloroform to put her to sleep and, type up her mouth and nose to kill her and then left in the trunk of the car while she went off with the boyfriend.  Jeff says no one takes a drowned child and puts duct tape over her mouth and dumps her in a swamp.  Two mental health doctors said that Casey told them that George murdered Caylee by drowning her. 

The defense points the finger at George during the trial.  Wow Marcia Clark is on the show and looks NOTHING like herself at all!  How much plastic surgery did she have? Damn!  The damaging problem is that the prosecution did not “clear” George so that Casey could be found guilty.  Marcia says a trial is a popularity contest.  If the jury likes the defendant there is no way you are going to convict.  They jury bought the story that George was there when Caylee drowned.  

Jeff is angry that they labeled George a child molester and Marcia agrees that something like that has a big impact on the jurors.  George was suspect.  And that is what really caused the acquittal.  They had doubts about George’s involvement that, in their minds, was never resolved by the prosecution.

Did the media influence the outcome of the trial?  Jane Valez Mitchell is on the show to speak to that.  She wants to know how to make chloroform, if that is what she used, how did she make it?  Why wasn’t that explained?  Jeff thinks the media was a factor in the outcome, even though they did what they were supposed to do and report on the case. The information they released helped to exclude many potential jurors who wanted to be on the jury and would have evaluated the evidence in a different way.  

The jury was not unanimous from the start.  Not guilty doesn’t mean innocent.  The jury did what they did based on how they interpreted the law, says one juror.

Marcia Clark gets very passionate about the evidence that all points to Casey’s guilt: the duct tape, the bella vita tattoo, the chloroform, the 30 days of lying, she was the last person seen with the baby… These are all the things and more that point only to Casey and not George.  

All in all, there was really nothing new brought out.  If the jury had reasonable doubt because of George, then they were not the brightest group of people.  Too bad because a child murderer is free to do whatever she wants and go on to have a life while her precious baby barely had a chance to live.  

It was good to see Marcia Clark again.