The lawyers, in a lengthy motion asking that all charges against their client be dropped, said they could not determine whether Clementi, 18, ever read the text.
Clementi jumped off the bridge to his death that night.
In the motion and supporting documents totaling nearly 700 pages, lawyers for Ravi, 19, of Plainsboro, asked a Middlesex County Court judge to throw out the bias intimidation and invasion of privacy charges against Ravi for a lack of evidence.
The defense attorneys also argued that the county prosecutor's office had failed to provide a grand jury with a complete picture of the case; had distorted statements that mitigated against their client's culpability; and had failed to adequately determine whether any of the grand jurors were prejudiced by the massive publicity surrounding the case.
"The news media picked up on the story, which became a worldwide beacon of discussion about gay youth suicides and 'cyber-bullying,' " attorneys Steven Altman and Philip Nettl wrote in their legal brief.
But, they contended, in most instances the media had the story wrong.
In a sweeping presentation of their version of the events that culminated with Clementi's suicide, the lawyers said their client was neither homophobic nor out to intimidate Clementi.
The legal brief included the apology the lawyers say Ravi sent by text to Clementi and other statements from Ravi and others that supported the defense position that he did not try to harass or intimidate Clementi, nor did he circulate Internet video of the sexual encounters.
In fact, the lawyers argued, despite the prosecution's contention, there was no video of sexual relations between Clementi and an individual identified only as "M.B."
