Bias crime charges weighed after NJ teen's suicide

[Akoto]

Source: Associated Press

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) -- As prosecutors consider filing bias-crime charges against two college freshmen accused of streaming online video of a classmate's sexual encounter with another man, a huge divide has emerged between those who support the suspects and those who want to see them punished.

The saga that unfolded this week at Rutgers University has become a flashpoint for debate after the revelation that 18-year-old Tyler Clementi had jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge on Sept. 22.

-snip-

A person can be found guilty of a bias crime in New Jersey if the jury agrees that he or she committed a crime because of a belief that the victim is a member of a protected group, such as a racial minority or gay.

-snip-

The author described his conflicted feelings after reading his roommate's tweets about the author kissing a guy in their room while he watched from afar. Should he report his roommate or request a room change? Would either help or just make things worse? The author later wrote that he told a resident assistant about the filming - and that he unplugged his roommate's computer and searched the room for hidden cameras before another liaison.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_STUDENT_TAPED_SEX?SITE=TXHAR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

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Sorry for all the snips. There's a lot of important info in the article, more than I could squeeze into four paragraphs. This case really bothers me, and I don't deny hope that they can nab those two on charges which carry heavier penalties.

What disgusts me almost as much is, as described in the article, there are now websites cropping up to defend the two who did this to Tyler.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. How is it defensible??

[Akoto]

2. Well, according to the article ...

The people with said defending websites are claiming that it was a prank, or that the two (who are members of minorities) are the victims of racism. Some of the sites are praising them for what they did, or I guess for the consequences of their actions. Don't ask me to try and comprehend it.

[Turbineguy]

3. OK. Let's say it's a prank.

The perpetrators are still responsible for the consequences.

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. Yeah, I think that should be the point. Just because you don't expect things

to go a certain way doesn't mean you don't have some level of responsibility for when they do go south.

[pennylane100]

12. Not sure that they are minorities has anything to do with it.

What they did was beyond despicable and I hope they pay dearly for it, regardless of whether they thought of it as a prank.

[cosmicone]

4. It was a heinous act, but ....

I think it was a nefarious prank that went horribly wrong. I don't know what was in the culprits' minds but I seriously doubt they wanted their prank to result in a suicide. A lot of humiliating and embarrassing pranks are carried out on college campuses against straights and gays -- none are defensible but they almost never result in death as this one did.

I doubt this prank would have been carried out had the accused known that their victim may end up dead.

Having said that, the accused should be given the maximum sentence for violation of privacy and any other acts they knew were wrong, but charging them with manslaughter or murder is a stretch and generates sympathy for them.

[RZM]

11. I imagine it would be very tough to get a conviction

on anything other than whatever privacy-type laws they violated. Maybe a lawyer could enlighten us here, but I doubt people are ever charged for someone else's suicide. There was that myspace bullying thing a few years ago (not sure how it turned out), but that was a bit different since the deceased was a child and an adult had participated in the bullying.

[handmade34]

6. huh?

"...divide...between those who support the suspects..." how could anyone 'support' the suspects?????

if this is the idea of a prank... we, as a country, are in much more serious decline than I imagined... this is a horrendous matter that needs to be taken very seriously and we can only hope that it is the point in which we take active steps to end discrimination and abuse

[TexasObserver]

7. recommend

[The Backlash Cometh]

8. There are people who publicly support the two?

WTF?

[Solly Mack]

9. k/r

[MadMaddie]

10. They can define it as a Prank all they want but if it violated

the law it is a crime.

[queerart]

13. K/R (nt)

[BadgerKid]

14. A wrongful death case could be possible.

Anyone heard about the case against Nancy Grace?

On November 21, 2006, thesmokinggun.com exposed pending litigation on behalf of the estate of Melinda Duckett, asserting a wrongful death claim against CNN and Grace. The attorney for the estate alleges that, even if Duckett did kill her own son, Grace's aggressive questioning so traumatized Duckett that she committed suicide. She also argues that CNN's decision to air the interview after Duckett's suicide traumatized her family.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Grace