Jim Cole / AP
Two months after being found guilty of three charges of misdemeanor sexual assault and one felony charge, Owen Labrie, the New Hampshire prep school graduate, will appear in court Thursday for sentencing.
In August, Labrie, 20, stood trial for allegedly luring a freshman student to the top of a math and science building at the elite St. Paul’s School in May 2014 and raping her. The incident happened during a decades-long tradition St. Paul’s known as the “senior salute,” whereby male and female students invite underclassmen out on dates.
The teen was found not guilty of the three most serious sexual assault charges – all felonies – filed against him by the 15-year-old girl who accused him of rape.
However, Labrie was found guilty of a felony count of using “computer services” — namely, emails and Facebook messages — to lure the girl, who was under 16, the age of consent, into a sexual assault. This felony conviction could mean that Labrie will have to be on the state’s sex offender registry for life. The charge also carries a possible sentence of three and half to seven years in jail.
He was also found guilty of three charges of misdemeanor sexual assault, one misdemeanor charge of using a computer to endanger a child, and one misdemeanor charge of endangering the welfare of a child. The misdemeanor sexual assault charges could carry a year in prison.
In a sentencing motion, his attorney, J.W. Carney, recommended probation and community for service for his client, saying, “his punishment to date has been enormous.”
Owen Labrie and his attorney J.W. Carney
Jim Cole / AP
Carney maintained that the felony charge of using a computer to contact the girl should not be applied to a situation like this. He appealed, but a trial judge upheld the original conviction.
“If he had merely called the 15-year-old on the telephone or spoken to her in person, there would be no additional crime,” Carney said, according to the Associated Press. “Yet because he prearranged the encounter through email and Facebook, he will be subjected to the scrutiny and humiliation of sex offender registration for the rest of his life.”
The two-week trial called the “senior salute” tradition at the school — which boasts Pulitzer Prize winners, U.S. Ambassadors, and Secretary of State John Kerry as alumni — into question.
Prosecutors claimed during the trial that the tradition had morphed into a sexual contest with boys competing with each other for how many girls they can sleep with.
Prosecutor Catherine Ruffle said Labrie specifically targeted the girl and much of the trial focused on consent and whether the accuser was a willing participant of the tradition. A number of emails and Facebook message exchanges were presented by Carney, who said the girl, now 16, knew what she was doing.
During her testimony, the girl graphically described how their sexual encounter quickly escalated. She said that after he ripped her bra off, he tried to remove her underwear and that she said “no.” The teen testified that Labrie ignored her and proceeded to rape her.
Labrie maintained throughout the trial that the two students never had sex. While the two kissed, removed clothing, and put on a condom, Labrie said he had a moment of clarity and realized he should not have sex with the girl.
After about seven hours of deliberations, the jury – nine men and three women – reached their verdict, indicating that they believe Labrie was guilty of having sex with an underage girl, but they didn’t believe the accuser’s claim that it was not consensual.
LINK: Owen Labrie Found Not Guilty Of Felony Sex Assault At St. Paul’s School
LINK: Owen Labrie Testifies In Rape Trial: “I Thought She Was Having A Great Time”
LINK: Teen Who Says She Was Raped At New Hampshire Prep School Was Worried About Coming Off As “Bitchy”
LINK: New Hampshire Rape Trial Calls Into Question Elite School’s Tradition Of Sexual Competition
from BuzzFeed - USNews http://ift.tt/1jTCYJV
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