In his first interview since being convicted, former Rutgers student Dharun Ravi tells the New Jersey Star-Ledger that he's sorry for what happened to Tyler Clementi.
"I'm very sorry about Tyler," Ravi said. "I have parents and a little brother, and I can only try to imagine how they feel. But I want the Clementis to know I had no problem with their son. I didn’t hate Tyler and I knew he was okay with me. I wanted to talk to his parents, but I was afraid. I didn’t know what to say.”
On March 16, a jury found Ravi guilty of 15 counts, including invasion of privacy and bias intimidation for spying on Clementi during a sexual encounter with another man. Clementi killed himself a few days after the incident by jumping off the George Washington Bridge.
READ MORE: Get caught up on the Rutgers roommate trial
Ravi admits that he handled the situation poorly, saying, “I’m not the same person I was two years ago. I don’t even recognize the person I was two years ago."
And Ravi is adamant that he was not biased against his former roommate. “If I took the plea (deal), I would have had to testify that I did what I did to intimidate Tyler and that would be a lie," he said. "I won’t ever get up there and tell the world I hated Tyler because he was gay, or tell the world I was trying to hurt or intimidate him because it’s not true."
Ravi faces up to 10 years in jail. HLN and In Session will cover his sentencing on May 21.
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