New York: Former Indian-origin Rutgers student Dharun Ravi, who has been given a 30-day jail sentence for web-streaming his gay roommate`s encounter with his date, has filed a notice that he will appeal his hate crime conviction.
Ravi, 20, was found guilty of bias intimidation and invasion of privacy after he filmed gay roommate Tyler Clementi`s tryst with another man.
He was also sentenced to do 300 hours of community service and pay 10,000 dollars to assist bias-crime victims. According to the Star-Ledger, in his notice of appeal, Ravi indicated that he would argue that the bias intimidation statute is unconstitutional as applied to him.
He would also argue that Judge Glenn Berman of Middlesex County Superior Court made several decisions that ‘prejudiced the defendant`s ability to get a fair trial,’ The New York Post reports.
According to the report, the appeals process could take as long as two years, meaning Ravi is currently serving a sentence that may ultimately be thrown out. Ravi who will now never obtain US citizenship, also faces the possibility of deportation over his conviction.
ANI