NEW YORK,March14,2012: As the defence rested its case, Indian American student Dharun Ravi did not take the stand to defend himself against charges that he spied on his gay roommate's sexual encounter with another man. Ravi, a former Rutgers New Jersey State university student, charged with invasion of privacy, bias intimidation, witness tampering and hindering arrest, told Judge Glenn Berman on Monday that he did not want to testify. The charges stem from his alleged spying on Tyler Clementi, an 18-year-old freshman, who killed himself on Sep 22, 2010 by jumping off the George Washington Bridge. Ravi, however, is not charged in connection with Clementi's death. Before resting, defence attorney Steven Altman requested a mistrial based on information revealed during Altman's questioning of the lead investigator on the case, Frank DiNinno. DiNinno disclosed that during the course of the Ravi investigation, he had conversations with Rutgers students that Altman was not told about. During a heated exchange, Altman and Berman argued about whether that information was relevant to the case, with Altman requesting a sidebar discussion of the issue multiple times. Altman argued that the prosecution did not hand over all relevant evidence ahead of the trial in violation of rules. Both the prosecution and Berman disagreed, noting that the interviews with students were not important to Ravi's case because they yielded no information about the alleged crimes. Berman denied Altman's request, the second request for a mistrial by Altman to be denied by Berman. Earlier in the trial, the judge rejected a motion by Altman to dismiss several of the state's charges, including the most serious bias counts.
