Tyler Clementi Suicide: Accused Students Withdraw from Rutgers
NEW YORK (CBS/WCBS/AP) The two Rutgers University freshmen accused of broadcasting video online of fellow freshman Tyler Clementi having sex with another man have withdrawn from the school.
After the broadcast, Clementi jumped off the George Washington Bridge to his death.
The two students, Dharun Ravi, who was Clementi's rommate, and Molly Wei, will not face university disciplinary hearings, according to Ravi's attorney, Steven Altman.
"They were given the option of withdrawing and they can reapply,'' Altman told a local paper. "Realistically, they couldn't go back no matter what. He definitely plans to go somewhere else.''
Wei's attorney, Rubin Sinins, told The Star-Ledger of Newark his client feared for her safety.
Ravi and Wei have been charged with invasion of privacy.
Middlesex County prosecutors say the pair, both 18, used a webcam to secretly transmit a live image of Clementi having sex with a man on Sept. 19 and that Ravi tried to webcast a second encounter on Sept. 21, the day before Clementi's suicide.
Under New Jersey's privacy law it is a crime to transmit or even view images that depict nudity or sexual contact with an individual without that person's consent, reports CBS affiliate WCBS. Collecting or viewing sexual images without consent is a fourth-degree crime. Transmitting them is a third-degree crime with a maximum prison sentence of five years.
Both Ravi and Wei could face up to five years in prison if convicted. Prosecutors are considering hate crime charges.
COMPLETE COVERAGE OF TYLER CLEMENTI ON CRIMESIDER
