Tyler Clementi Case Set to Begin Friday

Opening arguments statements in the trial of Dharun Ravi -- the ill-fated roommate of Tyler Clementi -- are expected to begin on Friday. The former Rutgers student is charged with invasion of privacy, witness and evidence tampering and two counts of bias intimidation.

The AP reports that while the case gained international notoriety and helped spark the anti-bullying dialogue, it is more complicated than it appeared back in September 2010, when Tyler killed himself:

“One of the reasons the politicians jumped in so quickly is that there is a growing national concern over cyberbullying and harassment,” said Joel Reidenberg, a law professor at New York’s Fordham University who studies online law. “This appeared on first blush to be a very crystalizing example. It became an opportunity for statements about the problem.”

But, he said, New Jersey’s invasion of privacy laws don’t closely match what Ravi is accused of doing. And, he said, the legally important idea that he acted out of bias toward gays is not a slam dunk for prosecutors given the shards of evidence that have been made public so far.

All I hope (obviously) is that the jury gives him a fair trial. I've read quite a bit about the case and have not been persuaded one way or the other about the hate crime element of it all. (Truthfully, I have a feeling Ravi might be gay himself, which can certainly spark anti-gay bias.) Still, a lot of the pre-trial coverage has me thinking this could be Lawrence King all over again. While I think it would be wrong to quickly assume anti-gay bias was involved, I think there's a greater chance that jurors are too willing to assume anti-gay bias wasn't involved, and all Tyler's parents have ever wanted was the truth. Here's hoping we finally get some answers.