Dharun Ravi's defense attorneys filed a motion yesterday to have his hate crime convictions dismissed, saying there is not enough evidence, the Star-Ledger reports:
The 33-page brief filed in Superior Court in New Brunswick contends evidence presented at trial showed Ravi was not guilty of invading the privacy or intimidating his roommate, Tyler Clementi, who committed suicide in September 2010 by jumping off the George Washington Bridge soon after discovering the webcam incident. Ravi was not charged in Clementi's death.
On the bias intimidation counts — Ravi faces up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced May 21 — the attorneys contend the law was misapplied. On some of those counts, the jury acquitted Ravi of intending to intimidate Clementi and the other man, but convicted him on grounds Clementi felt intimidated and felt Ravi's actions were purposeful.
"There has been no evidence of bias nor evidence of intimidation," wrote the lawyers, Steven Altman and Philip Nettl, who represented Ravi at trial. Neither was there evidence Clementi felt intimidated, they wrote. "A person cannot be intimidated under the statute unless they were the recipient of intimidating behavior … Here there was none."
Dharun Ravi defense team seeks to have hate crime convictions dismissed [star-ledger]
