The man whose gay tryst with a Rutgers University student was secretly caught on a webcam took the stand Friday in the spying trial of the student's roommate.Â
Tyler Clementi, of Ridgewood, N.J., killed himself in September 2010 by jumping off the George Washington bridge, days after the alleged spying took place inside his college dorm room.
His former roommate, Dharun Ravi, faces 15 criminal counts, including invasion of privacy and bias intimidation, a hate crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Ravi's attorney has said his actions may have been "stupid," but they were not "hateful" or criminal.Â
Prosecutors claim Ravi secretly activated a webcam inside his room and watched Clementi kissing another man. He then posted what he had seen on Twitter and encouraged his followers on the social network site to watch again a few days later, according to prosecutors.Â
Most of the prosecution's witnesses so far have been other college students who have testified that they heard about the streamed video.
On Friday, a jury began hearing testimony from the man who witnesses say was watched via webcam while kissing Clementi.Â
The man, identified only by the initials M.B., testified that he met Clementi in August 2010 through a social networking site for gay men. They chatted online initially, he said, and their first in-person meeting was in Clementi's dorm room on Sept. 16 -- three days before the alleged spying.
On Thursday, jurors heard testimony from a Rutgers police officer who said that he knocked on the door of a dorm room shortly before 10 p.m. on Sept. 22, 2010, for a well-being check on Clementi.
Officer Krzysztof Kowalczyk testified the other freshman who lived in the cramped room answered and said that when he'd last seen Clementi five hours earlier, everything was normal.
Prosecutors appear to be using Thursday's testimony from Officer Krzysztof Kowalczyk, which lasted less than 45 minutes, to lay groundwork for the case there was a cover-up -- a major theme during the fifth day testimony in the trial.
The jury hasn't yet heard a timeline that is laid out in legal filings but which might help the prosecution's case.
According to those documents, Clementi posted to Facebook at 8:42 p.m.: "Jumping off the gw bridge, sorry." After that, he jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge.
And Ravi sent Clementi long text messages at 8:46 p.m. and then 10 minutes later describing the use of his webcam as "a petty misunderstanding."
Kowalczyk said Ravi didn't mention anything about that -- just that he saw Clementi at about 4:30 p.m. when his roommate finished the day's classes and dropped off his book bag in the room.
The officer, who didn't say what led to his being dispatched to the dorm room at 9:46 p.m., said Ravi did volunteer one other piece of information: "He had stated that an individual had stayed in the dorm room with Tyler a couple days prior," Kowalczyk said.
Prosecutor Julia McClure asked if Ravi mentioned that the guest came back the night before the officer came to the door. He hadn't, Kowalczyk said. Authorities say Ravi used a webcam to spy on the man's first visit and attempted to do so again on the second. Witnesses have said only seconds of the streaming video was viewed and that it included nothing more graphic than two shirtless men kissing.
Kowalczyk's testimony suggested that Ravi didn't bring up another matter: A dorm resident assistant had testified that he spoke with Ravi earlier on Sept. 22 on Clementi's request to change rooms.
The testimony from the officer was the second instance Thursday in which prosecutors seemed to be building a cover-up case.
They also interviewed a university administrator who said that she looked at Ravi's Twitter posts the morning of Sept. 23 -- the day after Clementi went missing.
Jennifer Hellstern, an assistant director of residential life, read Twitter posts for Ravi's that were posted nine hours later -- or within a few hours after Kowalczyk left his room
One warned: "don't you dare videochat me."
Gone was a post with similar words that some students had earlier testified Ravi made that on Sept. 21: "I dare you to videochat me between the hours of 9:30 and 12. Yes, it's happening again."
Jurors have not yet heard from the witness who has generating the most intense media interest: the other man in the webstream. In court papers, he's been identified only by the initials M.B.
The judge is protecting his identity because he's could be a victim of a sex crime.
McClure wouldn't say whether the man would be called Friday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.Â
Article from FOXNEWS
