Dharun Ravi, the former Rutgers student sentenced to 30 days in jail for using a webcam to spy on an intimate encounter by his roommate, who later committed suicide, says he did not apologize in court largely because it would have been seen as insincere.
Ravi told The Star-Ledger in an interview conducted before Monday's sentencing, but published after it, that anything he would say "would sound rehearsed and empty."
He did not address the judge when he was sentenced, and the judge criticized his lack of apology.
Read NBCNewYork.com's story on why Ravi didn't apologize
Indian-born Dharun Ravi, 20, was facing up to 10 years in prison after being found guilty in March of bias intimidation and invasion of privacy in a case that rose to prominence because his roommate, Tyler Clementi, committed suicide. Ravi also was facing the possibility of deportation, but the judge recommended that he be allowed to stay in the country.
Clementi, 18, jumped off the George Washington Bridge on Sept. 22, 2010, after finding out that Ravi saw him kissing another man and appeared to encourage others to watch his romantic encounters through a camera on his computer.
Days before his sentencing, Ravi spoke with Star-Ledger columnist Mark Di Ionno during a dinner in New Brunswick, N.J., with his parents, and his family’s defense attorney, Steve Altman.
“Anything I say now would sound rehearsed and empty, and nothing I say is going to make people hate me any less," Ravi told The Star-Ledger. "Whatever I say will never change the Clementis' mind about me, or how people see me."
“When politicians give public apologies, to me, it always sounds so insincere and false," Ravi told The Star-Ledger. "No matter what I say, people will take it that way."
Former Rutgers student Dharun Ravi sentenced to 30-day jail term in webcam spying case
During the sentencing, Clementi's brother James said that hearing an apology this late from Ravi would not be meaningful to him.
Ravi's sentence also includes three years of probation, 300 hours of community service and a $10,000 fine.
Prosecutors said they plan to appeal the sentence.
Ravi must report to Middlesex Adult Correctional Center on May 31.
NBCNewYork.com and msnbc.com's Sevil Omer contributed to this report.
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