"Leniency urged in bullying sentence" May 05, 2012
NEW YORK - Old friends are coming to the defense of a former Rutgers University student who was convicted of hate crimes for using his webcam to view his roommate and another man kissing, in a case that came to symbolize the bullying of gay youth.
Letters from several friends of Dharun Ravi, 20, were included in a Friday court filing that asks a judge to sentence him to probation rather than prison.
The legal papers characterize Ravi as outgoing and not hateful and say it would be unfair to send him to prison, in part because doing so would probably mean that he would face deportation to his native India.
One of the letters came from Alisa Agarwal, a Rutgers student who testified on behalf of the state at Ravi’s trial earlier this year.
“Although his humor may seem offensive to people who are not familiar with his personality, by experience, I can easily vouch that words have no malicious intention,’’ she wrote. “Never could I imagine him bullying someone.’’
Sentencing is scheduled for May 21 for Ravi, who was convicted in March in a case that gained national attention when the roommate, Tyler Clementi, killed himself....
Ravi’s lawyers made their appeal for leniency even as they try to persuade Judge Glenn Berman to overturn the conviction or grant him a new trial. They filed a brief earlier this week laying out that argument. Prosecutors are expected to respond to both requests in legal papers in coming weeks.
Public support appears to be building for Ravi, who was portrayed by some commentators as hateful.
A “Support Ravi’’ event was scheduled for Friday night in Edison and a rally at the State House is being planned for later this month.
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Related: Rutgers Jury Got It Right
Did the judge?
"Ex-student gets 30 days in Rutgers gay bias case; Roommate’s suicide followed webcam incident" by Geoff Mulvihill | Associated Press, May 22, 2012
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — A former Rutgers University student who used a webcam to spy on his gay roommate was sentenced Monday to 30 days in jail — a punishment that disappointed some activists, but came as a relief to others who feared he would be made a scapegoat for his fellow freshman’s suicide.
Dharun Ravi, 20, could have gotten 10 years behind bars for his part in a case that burst onto the front pages after Tyler Clementi threw himself off the George Washington Bridge. The case focused attention on antigay bullying, teen suicide, and hate-crime laws in the fast-changing Internet age.
Ravi was also placed on three years’ probation and ordered to get
counseling and pay $10,000 toward a program to help victims of hate
crimes.
There are some things I'm tired of tolerating (wars and rumors of wars, endless bank lootings, collaborative politicians), but intolerance for intolerance, judge?
A New Jersey gay-rights organization, Garden State Equality, expressed disappointment with the punishment. In a statement, chairman Steven Goldstein said that while the maximum would have been too much, the 30-day sentence was close to the other possible extreme, no prison time at all....
Gee, they really are behind that particular agenda, and that explains the mouthpiece media coverage and focus.
Ravi had declined the prosecution’s offer of a plea agreement that called for no prison time. After a trial that lasted four weeks, he was convicted of all 15 charges against him, including invasion of privacy, antigay intimidation, and trying to cover his tracks by destroying text messages and tweets and tampering with a witness.
Too bad he didn't torture or spy for the government. Then he would have been absolved and given a pass.
The case began in September 2010 when Ravi’s randomly assigned freshman-year roommate asked Ravi for the room alone so that he and guest could have privacy. Ravi went to a friend’s room and turned on his webcam remotely, and they saw Clementi and his guest kissing.
I don't want to read this.
They told others about it online, with Ravi tweeting: “I saw him making out with a dude. Yay.’’
When Clementi asked for privacy again two days later, Ravi agreed, then told friends how to access his webcam. But this time, the camera was not on when the guest came over.
The next night, Clementi - who had learned he had been spied on - committed suicide at age 18, leaving behind a final Facebook update: “jumping off the GW bridge, sorry.’’
After the suicide, gay-rights and antibullying activists held up Clementi as an example of the consequences of bullying young gays.
I'm always wary when the agenda-pushing media seizes an issue.
President Obama himself spoke about the tragedy.
He's a fine one to talk, the drone-missile-dropping mass murderer!
Not only that, his administration -- although a bit less so than Congress -- backs up the bully of the Middle East, Israel.
Of course, the Ron Paul delegates being bullied by the Republican Party establishment? No concern about that at all.
Related: A True Greek Tragedy
Bullied by bankers.
In handing down the sentence, the judge told Ravi that while someone might argue the first spying attempt was a foolish prank, “you cannot make or milk that argument a second time.’’
Berman also berated Ravi for deleting scores of text messages and tweets and trying to influence a witness. At the same time, Berman said Ravi has spent the past 20 months in “exile’’ since his arrest. The judge also pointed out that Ravi was not charged in Clementi’s death, and suggested “hate crime’’ is a misnomer for what Ravi was convicted of: “I do not believe he hated Tyler Clementi.’’
I'm sorry, but ALL CRIMES are HATE CRIMES! Who HURTS SOMEONE out of LOVE? I robbed, maimed, or killed you because I loved you? Why does government need an extra charge on the docket that is already implied?
The judge quoted an e-mail from Clementi himself describing Ravi’s conduct as “wildly inappropriate.’’’
Ravi’s mother, Sabitha Ravi, told the judge her son “doesn’t have any hatred in his heart toward anybody.’’
Clementi’s father, Joseph Clementi, told the judge that Ravi deserved to be punished, saying the young man saw his son as undeserving of basic human decency. The elder Clementi said Ravi “still does not get it’’ and has no remorse.
Just as Clementi became a symbol for a complicated cause, so has Ravi. Some have portrayed the case as a tragic lesson in unintended consequences and the dangers of the Internet in the hands of young people.
Like rock and roll was once considered?
Yeah, it's a LITTLE LATE to PUSH THAT GENIE back in the bottle. The KIDS LOVE THEIR NEW SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS that were promoted and foisted upon them by the agenda-pu$hing corporate media adverti$ing. Luxuries turned to nece$$ities.
Good luck taking their trackers away.
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A case that didn't receive as much publicity:
New Jersey Woman Says She Was Fired For Being Too Busty
Oh, the company owners are Orthodox Jews who were offended by her attire? No wonder there wasn't any coverage.
Related: Boston Globe Can't See the New Jersey Shore
Huge N.J. corruption case trial set to open
Yeah, did that stinking cess pool of a case ever slide right down the memory hole, 'eh?
Instead we get constant coverage of the Edwards trial and endless frame-up patsy plot convictions in our jewspaper.
Other bullies roaming New Jersey:
"Family of N.J. teen paralyzed by bully settle with school district for $4.2m" Associated Press, April 19, 2012
RAMSEY, N.J. - A New Jersey school district has agreed to pay $4.2 million to settle a lawsuit by a middle school student who was paralyzed when a known bully punched him in the abdomen.
Now give back those benefits!
The settlement between the Ramsey school district and the family of Sawyer Rosenstein, who had complained to the district about being bullied, was worked out over the past two months but not made public until last week.
Need I even.... sigh.
The family’s lawsuit alleged school officials knew or
should have known the boy’s attacker had violent tendencies and failed
to comply with a state antibullying law, said the Rosensteins’ attorney,
Jeffrey Youngman.
Just three months before being punched, Sawyer, then 12, e-mailed school officials to report he was being bullied and to ask for help.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!?????
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Just to be clear, I AM FOR NO ONE BEING BULLIED -- including Palestinians, Yemenis, Iranians, Afghans, Pakistanis, etc, etc.
"N.J. officer accused of trying to lure girl" Associated Press, April 26, 2012
PATERSON, N.J. - A New Jersey police officer sent a 12-year-old girl explicit photos of himself in uniform and tried to set up a sexual encounter with her, days after meeting the girl while assisting her family in an unrelated police matter, authorities said Wednesday....
Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia Valdes said the girl’s mother
complained to the police department Monday that the officer had made
inappropriate comments to her daughter, had given her his private
cellphone number, and had asked her to text him. Police Chief Anthony
Galietti said they immediately contacted the prosecutor’s office, whose
detectives posed as the girl and started exchanging texts with Woodland Park Police Officer Steven Vigorito Jr.
--more--"
"Mother says sun, not salon, burned girl" May 03, 2012
NEWARK - A New Jersey mother accused of causing skin burns to her young daughter by taking her into a tanning booth pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a child endangerment charge, and the tanning salon’s owner appeared to corroborate her story.
Patricia Krentcil, whose skin is deeply bronze-colored from regular visits to the tanning salon, called the accusation a lie....
I don't think the sessions have helped.
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"A doctor fatally shot a former colleague Wednesday whom he apparently blamed for his dismissal from a residency program over a year ago, then killed himself minutes later when police stopped his car....
--more--"
"Controversial test question dropped
TRENTON - New Jersey education officials will no longer use a standardized test question that asked third-graders to reveal a secret and write about why it was difficult to keep. The question appeared on the writing portion of some versions of the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge given to third-graders this past week."
WTF is with the school being the first line of snoopers, huh?
I'd say the kids are certainly getting an education regarding the type of society they will be functioning in, seig heil.
"Suspect in Obama threat to get guns back" Associated Press, May 23, 2012
NEWARK - A man accused of talking about shooting President Obama in 2009 can get his gun collection back, a New Jersey appeals court said in a ruling released Tuesday.
Translation: Israel still must have plans on table.
Related: Sunday Globe Special: A Sexier Secret Service Would Save the President
And bloggers hollering about it.
John Brek was working as a security guard at Newark Liberty International Airport in October 2009 when he was overheard talking about how easy it would be to shoot the president, who was scheduled to arrive the next day. He also allegedly made racist comments about the president.
Brek initially was charged with making terroristic threats and
weapons offenses, but he eventually pleaded guilty to harassment and
served 30 days in jail.
It is a crime in New Jersey for anyone convicted of a felony to possess firearms. Though Brek’s crime fell under the less-serious category of disorderly persons offenses, state Superior Court Judge Joseph Cassini III in 2010 ruled that post-Sept. 11 concerns took precedence.
It's official: the US Constitution also went up in that fireball we all saw.
He better not be!
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Yeah, better watch out for those airport workers when they aren't molesting you or contracting cancer.
"N.J. airport aide charged with ID theft" Associated Press, May 16, 2012
NEWARK - A Newark Liberty Airport security supervisor pleaded not guilty to identity theft Tuesday as new details emerged about his alleged 20-year odyssey of deception, including that he may have assumed the identity of a New York man weeks before the man was slain.
Through his court-appointed attorney, Bimbo Olumuyiwa Oyewole pleaded not guilty to one count of identity theft, an offense punishable by a maximum 10-year sentence.
Standing in an orange prison jumpsuit, Oyewole appeared via video
feed from the jail where he has been held since his arrest Monday at
his home in Elizabeth.
Oyewole also has been placed under a federal immigration detainer, essentially a notification that he has been identified for deportation to his native Nigeria.
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Now look who is getting into the act:
"Congress reviews threat of airport workers" May 17, 2012|Eileen Sullivan, Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Commercial air travel is at risk from terrorists who quietly get jobs at airports so that they can attack sensitive areas from within, a senior Homeland Security Department official told lawmakers.
(Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha)
Sorry, readers, but where they been for the last ten years, blah, blah, blah? This YO-YO JERK of FEAR is REALLY BECOMING EMBARRASSING and DISGRACEFUL lately!!!
There has never been such an incident, but a security supervisor at Newark Liberty Airport is facing criminal charges that nearly 20 years ago he took the identity of a New York man who was later killed. This case raised questions of whether the Transportation Security Administration knows the true identities of those who work in airports.
PFFFFFFFFFFFTTT!!!!
The TSA said the man, Nigerian Bimbo Olumuyiwa Oyewole, never worked for TSA and the agency did not issue the man’s security badge.
This guy wasn't any terrorist; he was a guy who wanted to get a job and stay here!
The House Homeland Security Committee had an oversight hearing Wednesday, and a senior TSA official, assistant administrator John Sammon, said he could not assure lawmakers there were no other such cases around the country.
That's okay because I've decided I will never fly again, not in AmeriKa.
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Related: Screeners' pat-down of 4-year-old defended
Hey, it's OKAY if the PERVERTS work at the AIRPORT and get FREE FEELS!!
Also see: Boston Globe Bullies Mitt Romney
Update: Canadian mother, daughter slain in N.J.
