Prosecutors Want to Keep ID of Man with Clementi a Secret

[AngryAmish]

Source: Advocate

The man captured on camera in an intimate encounter with Tyler Clementi is known only by the initials “M.B.,” and prosecutors in the case against the roommate of the Rutgers University student who committed suicide last year want to keep his identity anonymous.

The Newark Star-Ledger reports on papers the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office filed Monday in the case against Dharun Ravi. The prosecutor asked Superior Court Judge Glenn Berman to issue a protective order to prevent M.B.’s name, address, and birthday from being released.

“The prosecutor’s request came in response to a motion filed earlier this month by attorneys for Dharun Ravi, Clementi’s roommate,” reports the Star-Ledger. “Ravi, 19, of Plainsboro, is charged with invasion of privacy and bias intimidation for allegedly using a webcam in his Piscataway dorm room to spy on Clementi and M.B. last September.”

Clementi, an accomplished violinist from Ridgewood, killed himself by jumping off the George Washington Bridge last September just weeks after the start of his freshman year. He experienced the cyberbullying in the days immediately prior to his suicide.

Read more: http://advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2011/08/30/Prosecutors_Want_to_Keep_ID_of_Man_with_Clementi_a_Secret/

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Sorry, MB is a witness to a crime. Defense has a right to talk to him.

[Pab Sungenis]

1. Defense can talk to him

but they can't reveal his identity.

[AngryAmish]

4. Defense does not know who this guy is, so how can they talk to him?

[Bunny]

2. Sorry! You are wrong, as Pab pointed out.

Doesn't say they can't talk to him, they just can't reveal his identity. Sorry.

[AngryAmish]

3. I thnk one of us is reading this wrong

I read it as the State is not providing the defense with the name and identifying information to the defense.

You read it as the defense has MB's info and is being barred from identifying him publicly.


on edit, the prosecutor has not revealed his name, address or date of birth to the defense



The Advocate article was unclear.

[Pab Sungenis]

5. Thorny issue.

If the prosecution calls him, they'll have to provide information to the defense. Somehow I don't think they will. He wasn't a witness to the crime, instead he was a second victim.

[AngryAmish]

6. Was he there when the crime occurred? If so he is a witness.

Imagine a two victim gang rape is alleged to occur. Victim 1 is scheduled to testify. Victim 2 is not. While I think a protective order to forbid dissemination of Victim 2's identity is appropriate, why would the defendants' lawyers not be permitted to interview or call victim 2 to present their side of the story? What if Victim 2 impeaches Victim 1's testimony?

[Pab Sungenis]

7. Like I said, thorny.

He wasn't there in the room when the webcam was monitored, or when the footage was leaked.