According to their attorneys, Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei, the Rutgers students who secretly spied on Tyler Clementi and a male friend in his dorm room, resulting in Clementi committing suicide, were the only ones who saw the video, and only for a couple of minutes. It’s claimed that they saw Clementi and the man hugging and kissing, but nothing more.
The lawyers have chosen to make this explanation public, in order to dispel the widely held belief that not only did Ravi and Wei set up the spycam, but that they broadcast it over the internet. According to everyone on the defense side of this case, that never happened.
What did happen however, according to the defendants own account, is that the incident, while apparently not recorded, was revealed to others via personal contact and postings on Twitter. They also attempted to use the web cam once more to spy on Clementi. Ravi sent out messages to his 150 Twitter followers to tune in to see what turned out to be a failed video broadcast.
Authorities have traced postings on a gay website back to a Rutgers computer. They believe the postings were from Clementi, as the poster relayed the matter of his being spied on. Clementi appears to have been aware of a second possible spying session planned, and searched his room for other hidden cameras. He also filed a complaint on campus.
Both students have withdrawn from Rutgers and are charged with invasion of privacy, with the possibility of that being upgraded to a bias crime.
