Surely the facts involve a lot more than what was captured on the webcam.

“The secret webcam stream that captured Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi in an intimate encounter with another man was viewed on a single computer — and did not show the pair having sex, according to friends and attorneys of the two freshmen charged in the case.”

Oh so according to “friends and attorneys” Tyler didn’t do the deed on camera.

Why, praytell, does this allegation improve matters for the perps?

“Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei, 18, are charged with invasion of privacy for allegedly using the webcam to watch Clementi in a sexual encounter in his dorm room on the Piscataway campus. Clementi eventually committed suicide and the case gained international attention as an example of cyber bullying and gay bashing.
For more than a month, investigators, school officials and the arrested students have declined to publicly discuss exactly what was viewed on the internet feed. But Ravi’s and Wei’s attorneys and friends recently agreed to give some details in an attempt to dispel the widespread image of the pair as peeping toms who broadcast a fellow teen having sex on the internet.
“When the forensic evidence from all the seized computers is revealed, the truth will come out,” said Steve Altman, Ravi’s attorney. “Nothing was transmitted beyond one computer and what was seen was only viewed for a matter of seconds.” “

Oh really? Did you clock it with a stopwatch?

“The students watched the live internet feed on Wei’s computer in her room, the attorneys and friends said. It showed Clementi and another man hugging and kissing, but nothing more, they said.
“I’m unaware of any evidence of sexual contact,” said Rubin Sinins, Wei’s attorney. “The statute defining sexual contact refers to nudity and private parts, and, to my knowledge, nothing like that was seen. I’m also unaware of any evidence that any video was recorded, reproduced or disseminated in any way.” “

We are now deep into lawyerspeak. “I’m unware” = “I have no intention of admitting.” Please note that this was stated twice: once for the sex and once for the dissemination.

I trust we’ll have to wait for the video and see for ourselves. They could be lying about the sex. Tyler and his date could have moved out of camera range the better to consumate ‘the urge to merge with a splurge” (as Cole Porter caled it.)

As for the rest, they’re blatantly lying.

“Law enforcement officials declined to discuss the case because it is still under investigation. Prosecutors are considering whether to upgrade the charges against Ravi and Wei to bias crimes because Clementi was gay.”

And that of course goes to motive — which the perps, their friends and their lawyers are backing away from as fast as they can.

“Ravi, of Plainsboro, and Wei, of West Windsor, are charged with invasion of privacy for allegedly using the webcam to spy on Clementi in his room in Davidson Hall on Rutgers’ Busch Campus on Sept. 19.
A few days later, Wei confided to friends that Ravi used her computer to remotely turn on the webcam in his dorm room. “She said, ‘Dharun came in to my room and turned on my computer to web chatting. We watched for two minutes,’…” said Sean Yan, 18, a longtime friend.
Wei told friends she saw Clementi and a male visitor kissing. She described the visitor as “kind of sketchy,” with ragged clothes and a scruffy beard, Yan said.”

IOW “Not one of our crowd,” to put it mildly. Did Tyler pick up a tramp ? Une espece de “rough trade” peut-etre?

Oh I’ve been there alright. Chereau’s early masterpiece (a key clip from which opens this FaBlog post) decribes my college years perfectly. It wouldn’t be at all unusual for a guy like Tyler to take a walk on the wild side.

If that’s indeed what happened.

I do hope the Mystery Man surfaces.

“Later on the night of Sept. 19, Ravi used his Twitter account to tell friends that he and Wei had seen his roommate “making out with a dude.” The feed went out to Ravi’s nearly 150 Twitter followers.
“He was kind of bragging. He told me, after that he told the entire hall,” said Scott Xu, 17.
However, Xu said Ravi was not known among his friends for being homophobic.”

So he was “bragging” yet “was not known among his friends for being homophobic.”

Riiiiiiight.

“He knew Clementi, his roommate, was gay and one of the first friends he made at Rutgers’ college orientation earlier in the summer was also gay, said Xu.”

Oh really? I trust we’ll see that KAPO at the trial.

“On Sept. 21, Ravi tried to use the webcam to catch Clementi in a second encounter, prosecutors said. But the attempt failed.
Ravi posted another message on his Twitter account that day telling friends when to tune in to a video chatting site to watch.
It is unclear how much Clementi knew about what Ravi and Wei had seen on the Sept. 19 internet feed.”

“What they had seen” is infinitely less important the fact that they were looking!!!!!!See? That’s what they hired lawyers for — obfuscation.

“In a series of posts on a website for gay men, a user who appears to be Clementi describes finding out his roommate had secretly watched him with a webcam in his dorm room.
“he went into somebody else’s room and remotely turned on his webcam and saw me making out with a guy. given the angle of the webcam I can be confident that that was all he could have seen,” the poster said.”

So there was more. But again, that’s not the point.

“Though the poster does not mention Rutgers, officials at the website said the computer used to post the messages can be traced back to Rutgers.
In later posts, the user said he turned off his roommate’s computer on the evening of Sept. 21 and looked for other hidden cameras in the room when he suspected his roommate was trying to watch him again. He filed a complaint and a request for a room change with a resident assistant.
“he seemed to take it seriously … he asked me to e-mail him a written paragraph about what exactly happened,” the poster wrote at 6:17 a.m. on Sept. 22.”

So maybe the poster wasn’t Tyler. Maybe it was one of the perps.

“That evening, Clementi jumped off the George Washington Bridge.”

Surely that fact is not in dispute.

“Wei’s friends and attorney said she eventually went to police and told them about the webcam incident after campus officers came to the dormitory after Clementi disappeared.
“My understanding is she fully cooperated with the police, going so far as to reach out to the police after the initial interview,” Sinins, Wei’s attorney, said.”

Cause she obviously knew that if she didn’t make the first move othwers who saw the video would. And that wouldn’t “look good” for the bitch.

“Ravi and Wei have withdrawn from Rutgers University, their attorneys said. Ravi is free on $25,000 bail and Wei is free on her own recognizance. No court date has been scheduled.”

This will doubtless take some time. But I for one am patient. And while we wait we can keep track of the perps as one hopes their lives are crushed into dust by their crime.

Sing us out, Rufus.