NEW BRUNSWICK — In the weeks before his suicide last year, Rutgers University freshman Tyler Clementi confided to a friend that he had met a 25-year-old man he wanted to bring back to his dorm room.

Clementi debated paying $35 for a hotel room. But the 18-year-old ultimately decided to bring his new friend back to his room despite fears his roommate, Dharun Ravi, might walk in on the couple in an intimate encounter.

"That would be so awk tho lol ... him walking in," Clementi said in an instant message chat with a friend.

Ravi didn't walk in — but allegedly used a webcam to watch Clementi and the other man kissing, with their shirts off. A few days later, on Sept. 22, Clementi jumped off the George Washington Bridge in a suicide that made national headlines.

New details about the days leading up to Clementi’s death — and the growing tension between the roommates over his sexuality — were revealed today in hundreds of pages of documents released in a court filing by Ravi’s attorney.

Ravi is charged with invasion of privacy, bias intimidation and other charges related to Clementi’s death.

The transcripts show Clementi, a shy violinist from Ridgewood, and Ravi, a tech-savvy computer geek from Plainsboro, were worried about living together from nearly the moment they learned each other’s names. Clementi also reveals in instant messaging chats that he had recently told his family he was gay and felt his mother had "rejected" him.

Ravi: 'I've known you were gay and I have no problem with it.' (Read defendant's preliminary statement here)

Ravi also attempted to apologize to Clementi for the webcam incident in a series of text messages. "I’ve known you were gay and I have no problem with it," Ravi texted. "I don’t want your freshman year to be ruined because of a petty misunderstanding, it’s adding to my guilt."

But Ravi’s texts were likely too late, according to court papers. Clementi put a message on his Facebook page saying he was jumping off the George Washington Bridge minutes before Ravi sent his apology.

The hundreds of pages of revelations and uncensored witness testimony were attached to a motion filed in Superior Court in New Brunswick by Steve Altman, Ravi’s attorney. Altman asked Superior Court Judge Glenn Berman to dismiss all charges against Ravi, who is now 19.

Ravi is charged with 15 counts, including invasion of privacy and bias intimidation for allegedly targeting Clementi because of his sexual orientation. Ravi is also accused of trying to mislead investigators by deleting text messages, changing a post on his Twitter account and trying to persuade friends not to testify against him.

If convicted on the most serious charges, Ravi could face up to 10 years in prison.

A second student, Molly Wei of West Windsor, has agreed to testify against Ravi in exchange for admission into a pre-trial probationary program, Ravi allegedly watched the webcam image with Wei, now 19, in her dorm room on Rutgers’ Busch campus.

The motion filed by Altman says the grand jury was not told key facts before Ravi’s indictment. Altman asks the judge to require prosecutors to turn over the name, address and date of birth of the man Clementi brought back to his room. The man is identified only as "M.B." in court documents.

Ravi’s attorney also wants Port Authority police reports related to Clementi’s jump from the George Washington Bridge, handwritten documents found in Clementi’s room and images and documents found on his computer and hard drive.

A spokesman for the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office had no comment on Altman’s motion. Altman declined to comment beyond what was contained in the court papers.

Paul Mainardi, an attorney for the Clementi family, said he had not seen the newest court documents or the pages of personal texts and instant messages written by Clementi.

"I have no basis upon which to comment on anything," Mainardi said.

NEW DETAILS EMERGE

The court documents reveal several new details about this case, including:

• Clementi told his family he was gay shortly before leaving for college and received a mixed reaction from his parents. "It’s a good thing dad is ok w/it or I would be in serious trouble/ mom has basically completely rejected me," Clementi wrote in another instant messaging chat with a friend.

• Ravi used his computer skills to deduce Clementi was gay as soon as Rutgers sent him the name of his new roommate. He used Clementi’s e-mail address to learn he had frequented web pages for gay men. "Most gay person I’ve ever seen," Ravi wrote in an Aug. 22, 2010, computer chat with a friend.

• After they moved in together, Clementi and Ravi spent time in their room chatting on their computers with friends about their tense living arrangements. Clementi said Ravi would not change his clothes in front of him. "He knows I’m gay and wow he changes his pants inside of his closet ... it’s the most awk thing you’ve ever seen," Clementi wrote in an instant messaging chat with a friend.

• While Ravi made fun of Clementi being gay, Clementi made fun of his roommate’s Indian heritage. "His (family) is sooo indian/ first gen americanish . . . just like . . . first son off to college . . . his rents defs owna dunkin (donuts)," Clementi wrote in an Aug. 28 chat with a friend the day he moved into the dorm.

• Ravi and Wei were the only ones watching when they turned on the webcam in Clementi’s room on Sept. 19, according to a transcript of Wei’s statement to investigators. They stopped watching the webcam, but then turned it on a second time with four other people in the room: Wei’s roommate and three female friends. Wei told police they turned off the computer immediately after seeing Clementi and his guest shirtless and kissing.

• On Sept. 21, Ravi attempted to use the webcam a second time but failed. Before the attempt, Ravi allegedly used other students’ computers to check the angle of the webcam, according to investigators’ testimony to the grand jury. One student living in the dorm said Ravi wanted the webcam pointed at Clementi’s bed. Another female student said Ravi used her computer to check the camera was operational.

• Clementi told a friend he was not too bothered when he first learned his roommate had briefly turned on the webcam and saw him kissing another man. "When I first read the tweet I defs felt violated/ But then/ When I remembered what actually happened ... / Idk (I don’t know) ... /Doesn’t seem soooo bad lol," Clementi wrote in a Sept. 20 chat with a friend. However, Clementi eventually reported the incident to Rutgers officials and requested a new room. He also learned Ravi allegedly tried to turn on the webcam a second time and send out a Twitter message to friends telling them when to watch.

The judge has set Sept. 9 for the next court date in the case.

Previous coverage:

• Attorney for ex-Rutgers student accused of spying on roommate files motion to dismiss indictment

• Friends of Dharun Ravi, Molly Wei support pair charged in Rutgers sex video case

• Stand Up: In Memory of Tyler Clementi

• Rutgers student Tyler Clementi's suicide spurs action across U.S.

