It wasn’t a “hate crime” it was a bias crime, meaning he acted out of some bias in invading the other guy’s privacy. That’s true, he did seem interested, whatever you want to call it, in the fact the guy was in his room with another guy.
The judge, however, said the legislature meant for bias crimes to apply to assault type crimes, and so he didn’t order imprisonment there. The prison time is for lying to police, witness tampering, etc.
In the end the judge was tough but fair in that he did not sentence based on the subsequent suicide, which this defendant didn’t intend and wasn’t charged with.
According to the article Ravi was convicted on two second-degree bias intimidation charges. I don’t even know what that is, but, as I perceive it being enforced, it arguably violates the equal protection clause.
One of many things that irritate me (in addition to the “hate crime” BS) is that the cops can, and do, lie to suspects all the time, but it’s illegal to lie to them. The lesson here is clear: Never talk to the cops w/o your attorney present.