Guy who filmed gay roomate with man, caused suicide, Found guilty

[Yopaz]

Wait a second. No offence, but how can this man be held accountable for the suicide of this man? I don't exactly know the definition of a hate crime (which seems to be iffy anyway), and I understand that it was a gross "invasion of privacy", but I think the sentence is a bit too much. Then again, I have a warped "tit-for-tat" sense of justice which would force the perpetrator to be filmed kissing another man and then having it uploaded to the internet, just like he did to his victim.

And why would the perpetrator be deported to India? As the article says, he'd legally lived in the US since he was a child.

This won't make bullies think twice about what they're doing, because this shit happens all the damn time. The bullies don't care if they hurt you. Maybe some of them underestimate the damage and don't think the victim would actually kill themselves, but most of them still WANT to hurt you, because it makes them feel better.

And I'm -almost- tempted to blame Twitter for how widespread this video was.

He's not being held accountable for his suicide. He is being charged with hate crime (which is a crime) invasion of privacy (filming him without consent which is a crime). He did do a few illegal things that led to someone's suicide and he is being held accountable for the illegal things he did.

 

[spartan231490]

That sentence is way too harsh. Further, I'm curious how he was guilty of any crime, from a legal standpoint. They were roommates, it seems like it should be perfectly legal to film your own room and put the contents on the internet. I feel like there is a crime specifically for uploading sex tapes that were unknowingly filmed, that's what this should be. Not all this extra stuff. That's my $0.02

 

[RaikuFA]

That sentence is way too harsh. Further, I'm curious how he was guilty of any crime, from a legal standpoint. They were roommates, it seems like it should be perfectly legal to film your own room and put the contents on the internet. I feel like there is a crime specifically for uploading sex tapes that were unknowingly filmed, that's what this should be. Not all this extra stuff. That's my $0.02

Please read the actual charges, he was also charged with tryinbg to destroy evidence and witness tampering.

 

[Lejsen]

Why jump off a bridge just because someone made a sextape of you? Need more details here.

 

[Zen Toombs]

Why jump off a bridge just because someone made a sextape of you? Need more details here.

Dude, there [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17406173] are [http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/03/ravi_webcam_trial_verdict.html] links [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_of_Tyler_Clementi] throughout this thread.

Read one of them.

The OP provided a summary of the situation and a link to find more - please read them before you make a comment like that. Thank you, and have a nice daycycle.[footnote]Note - not sarcastic.[/footnote]

 

[Womplord]

This sounds like the trial was influenced heavily by the media and politics. I don't think justice was done fairly, he wasn't the one who killed Tyler Clementi. The punishment seems inordinate.

Read the post above you, hes being charged for more than just bullying...

That's all beside the point. He wouldn't have been charged with all of those things if the media and politics wasn't involved is what I'm saying. He would have been found innocent for a lot of those, the threshold for a 'crime' was lowered for this case and this case alone. I think you're being naive if the presidents personal message isn't gonna change a few things.

 

[Aprilgold]

Wait a second. No offence, but how can this man be held accountable for the suicide of this man? I don't exactly know the definition of a hate crime (which seems to be iffy anyway), and I understand that it was a gross "invasion of privacy", but I think the sentence is a bit too much. Then again, I have a warped "tit-for-tat" sense of justice which would force the perpetrator to be filmed kissing another man and then having it uploaded to the internet, just like he did to his victim.

And why would the perpetrator be deported to India? As the article says, he'd legally lived in the US since he was a child.

This won't make bullies think twice about what they're doing, because this shit happens all the damn time. The bullies don't care if they hurt you. Maybe some of them underestimate the damage and don't think the victim would actually kill themselves, but most of them still WANT to hurt you, because it makes them feel better.

And I'm -almost- tempted to blame Twitter for how widespread this video was.

If you hold a dude in a basement for as long as they will live and keep feeding them, telling them that the only way out is through the shotgun on the other side of the room, they will most likely use it eventually to get out. If this kid isn't held accountable then this person here must not be either. Neither are killing the person outright without the persons choice in how to get out affecting their life.

Probably got deported as a form of punishment? I'm not sure on that either.

Ten years is nicer then what the family will have to deal with, which is losing their son long before his prime.

I don't really know the whole situation.
But was this gay roommate constantly bringing over strange gay men to have sex with all the time or something?

I've lived with intolerable roommates in cramped college dorms before too. I hated when they brought their girlfriends over and acted inappropriately as though I weren't there.

Maybe he's not a bully. Maybe he's just putting the guy in his place.

Again, I don't know all the facts. Nor do I care to look it up.

As far as I remember, he wasn't his room mate at the time, and was just doing this for the LOLZ.

Now question i want to know is . If he had secretly filmed someone having heterosexual sex , and said person commited suicide , would it be still considered a hate crime?

I just think i is a college prank gone wrong . Now i do believe he should face consequences for invasion of privacy , but anythin more than that is just silly .

It wouldn't be considered a hate crime, like if a black dude made a [enter burning symbol here] and lit it on a white guys yard. Hate Crimes are usually used on the hated minority, not the liked majority.

I don't really care that this dude is in prison, whether he wanted to kill the dude or not, he certainly ruined and fucked up the family.

 

[ezaviel]

This sounds like the trial was influenced heavily by the media and politics. I don't think justice was done fairly, he wasn't the one who killed Tyler Clementi. The punishment seems inordinate.

Read the post above you, hes being charged for more than just bullying...

That's all beside the point. He wouldn't have been charged with all of those things if the media and politics wasn't involved is what I'm saying. He would have been found innocent for a lot of those, the threshold for a 'crime' was lowered for this case and this case alone. I think you're being naive if the presidents personal message isn't gonna change a few things.

Go have a look at the list of charges I posted earlier.

This guy destroyed evidence, faked evidence, lied to the police, he even tried to get witnesses to lie for him. That is several felonies right there.

And if you look at the charge list, he WAS found innocent of a lot of the charges laid against him. He was charged with a LOT of stuff.

If you film someone having sex without their knowledge, it is a serious crime, even more so if you organise for a public veiwing of it. It is probably one of the worse invasions of privacy I can think of. We have a case of it happening here at our military academy. Everyone involved is heterosexual and it is still a serious crime, so this is not just "because he is gay", or "because he killed himself". It is because it is a serious crime.

I'm sure it is only in the media because the victim was gay and killed himself, but it was a serious crime before that.

 

[ezaviel]

That sentence is way too harsh. Further, I'm curious how he was guilty of any crime, from a legal standpoint. They were roommates, it seems like it should be perfectly legal to film your own room and put the contents on the internet. I feel like there is a crime specifically for uploading sex tapes that were unknowingly filmed, that's what this should be. Not all this extra stuff. That's my $0.02

So, it's reasonable to film your own room under any circumstances, even if you know other people with an equal claim to the room do not wish to be filmed, but it is not reasonable to expect to NOT be filmed by other people while having sex in your own room?

Wouldn't that imply that a landlord could film you having sex without your permission? They own the house after all.

Even if there were people who didn't live at my house having sex in my bedroom, I'm pretty sure I would get in trouble if I filmed them having sex against their will and screened it to anyone who wanted to see it.

There is a crime for recording peoples private moments without their knowledge, it is called invasion of privacy.

 

[ezaviel]

I'm gonna come off sounding like a dick here, but so be it, I gotta say it.

If you are so embarrassed about something that you would kill yourself rather than be exposed... maybe you should re-evaluate what you are doing. Was this guy 100% homosexual, or just experimenting with men in college and didn't want it to get out? If he is gay, he should be proud of who he is, not ashamed and scared and hiding... Honestly, most of the people I know (and I live in a small rural town) wouldn't care if someone was gay, people have a lot more pressing concerns these days.

Yes, you do.

You know, a lot of people would be ridiculously embarrassed by a video of them having sex being made public right? Whether they were gay or not.

For example, there have been many cases of heterosexuals committing suicide after this kind of thing. They are not embarrassed because they think what they did is wrong. They are embarrassed because having a video of you having sex being spread around to anyone who wants to watch it is embarrasing. People even sometimes react this way to videos made of them WITH their knowledge, if an ex spreads the video around, or someone steals the tape/cd/etc. They often feel it cheapens them, their relationship, and that everyone else is now judging them for whatever they did in the video. Depending on their mental state, this can tip people over the edge.

Also, If you don't have some proven incurable terminal disease, then I have no sympathy for you if you commit suicide. Sure it sucks that someone died, but don't expect people to feel sympathetic towards you for opting out. Lot of people in this world have it a lot worse than someone who's biggest concern is coming out of the closet.

Almost no one commits suicide while in a rational state of mind (excepting people with incurable terminal illnesses as you said). It is not something they "choose" to do. Usually they are in such a damaged mental state that the only option they can see to escape/fix their current situation is to die. As a general rule, the best way to prevent someone committing suicide is to convince them that there is any other possible option, because they almost always do not actually want to die, they just see no other way. Someone who is in that mental state deserves sympathy, but more then that, they need help, not derision.
I say this as a psychologist, someone who has dealt with suicidality a fair bit.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

While I think what he did was extremely mean, especially if it was done with homophobic intent, maybe the other guy throwing himself off a bridge wasn't the most rational and balanced response to the situation.

 

[RaikuFA]

This sounds like the trial was influenced heavily by the media and politics. I don't think justice was done fairly, he wasn't the one who killed Tyler Clementi. The punishment seems inordinate.

Read the post above you, hes being charged for more than just bullying...

That's all beside the point. He wouldn't have been charged with all of those things if the media and politics wasn't involved is what I'm saying. He would have been found innocent for a lot of those, the threshold for a 'crime' was lowered for this case and this case alone. I think you're being naive if the presidents personal message isn't gonna change a few things.

Go have a look at the list of charges I posted earlier.

This guy destroyed evidence, faked evidence, lied to the police, he even tried to get witnesses to lie for him. That is several felonies right there.

And if you look at the charge list, he WAS found innocent of a lot of the charges laid against him. He was charged with a LOT of stuff.

If you film someone having sex without their knowledge, it is a serious crime, even more so if you organise for a public veiwing of it. It is probably one of the worse invasions of privacy I can think of. We have a case of it happening here at our military academy. Everyone involved is heterosexual and it is still a serious crime, so this is not just "because he is gay", or "because he killed himself". It is because it is a serious crime.

I'm sure it is only in the media because the victim was gay and killed himself, but it was a serious crime before that.

To add to this...

Witness Tampering itself is punishable by 10 years minimum if he didn't threaten physical harm. If he did, it's 20 minimum.

If he only gets 10 years and deportation, I'd say he's getting off easy.