Rutgers witness: Video camera 'stuck out'

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. -- A man who witnesses say was watched via webcam while kissing a Rutgers University student who later committed suicide told jurors Friday that he noticed the camera pointed in their direction while the two were together.

"I had just glanced over my shoulder and I noticed there was a webcam that was faced toward the direction of the bed," the man, identified only by the initials M.B., said in court. He later noted that there was no light indicating it was on. "Just being in a compromising position and seeing a camera lens -- it just stuck out to me."

The man testified that he had met the student, Tyler Clementi, in August 2010 through a social networking site for gay men and said he texted repeatedly after their third and final rendezvous. He wanted to see him again, though he didn't know his last name at the time. "I didn't know it until I picked up a newspaper," he said.

Clementi's name wasn't in the paper until about a week later, when it was reported that he had jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge.

They chatted online initially, he said, and their first in-person meeting was in Clementi's dorm room on Sept. 17 -- two days before the alleged spying.

The man's testimony came in the trial of Clementi's roommate, Dharun Ravi, who is charged with bias intimidation, invasion of privacy and other crimes.

The judge did not allow photographs of M.B. to be taken in the courthouse, barred any audio or video of him to be recorded and said he would be identified in court only by his initials. The man's lawyer had successfully fought to conceal his identity because he's considered a victim of an alleged sex crime. Invasion of privacy is classified as a sex crime in New Jersey.

Jurors were given his whole name to make sure none knew him.

Friday, the trim young man appeared in court in a button-down shirt, and did not match the description of the overweight "sketchy" or "homeless"-looking man that students had reported seeing visit Clementi. His hair was closely cropped and he didn't have the goatee that some described seeing him have.

After a full day's testimony -- most of it during testy cross-examination by a defense layer -- many mysteries remained. The man said he was 32 years old. He disclosed little else.