NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (AP) ? At least one more detective is expected to be called to testify in the trial of a former Rutgers University student accused of using a webcam to spy on his roommate's intimate encounter with another man.
Wednesday will be the ninth day of testimony in the trial.
Jurors learned Tuesday that in the last two days of his life, student Tyler Clementi visited his roommate's Twitter page 38 times and saved screen shots of two messages posted there. One proclaimed that the roommate saw Clementi "making out with a dude." The other "dared" friends to use a web chat program to watch later.
Clementi's roommate, Dharun Ravi, 20, faces 15 counts including bias intimidation and invasion of privacy against Clementi, who jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge on Sept. 22, 2010, one day after authorities say Ravi attempted to spy on him.
Prosecutors say Ravi used Twitter first to tell followers that he had seen his roommate "making out with a dude" on Sept. 19, and two days later to "dare" them to video chat him when Clementi had again asked to have the room to himself so he could have a guest over.
Gary Charydczak, a detective in the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office, testified that Ravi later changed the "dare" tweet, instead telling friends, "Don't you dare." That alleged change is the basis of a charge that Ravi tried to hinder apprehension.
Authorities say Ravi told friends about the expected dorm-room liaison through other means, including text messages. During testimony Monday, jurors were shown texts he sent to a friend from high school who was then attending Cornell University.
In one part of the exchange, the friend, Michelle Huang, texted Ravi: "Watch out, he may come for you when you're sleeping."
Ravi responded that he had his computer set to alert him if anyone was in his bed when he wasn't there. "It keeps the gays away," he said.
The exchange may help prosecutors show that Ravi had malice toward gays ? a necessary element to persuade jurors to convict Ravi on the bias intimidation charges he faces. But he and his friend went on to talk about some of their gay friends.
Charydczak told jurors that Ravi's computer showed that the defendant did several Internet searches for Clementi in August after learning the two would be roommates. He said Ravi also did several searches for "gay" and "homosexual," but said he could not determine when those searches were conducted.
In testimony earlier Tuesday, Rutgers computer system manager Timothy Hayes told jurors it appears Ravi's computer was used in two video chats on Sept. 21, 2010.
That doesn't prove that Ravi spied on his roommate, but it may bolster the prosecution's case that he was preparing to attempt to spy on Clementi that night. Clementi committed suicide a day later.
Authorities say Ravi used his webcam to see Clementi and another man kissing on Sept. 19 and viewed it from the room across the hall from his own.
Associated Pressjuliette lewis chelsea handler mitch daniels lakers elizabeth warren shirataki noodles john kerry
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