Judge rules Owen Labrie must get a new lawyer for appeal
Owen Labrie will have to rely on new attorneys to appeal his conviction in the high-profile sexual assault case, a New Hampshire court ruled on Tuesday.
Jaye Rancourt, the attorney who has led Labrie’s appeal, cannot argue that he received ineffective counsel because she herself represented him in the original trial, Judge Larry M. Smukler ruled.
“She remained responsible to her client,” Smukler wrote in the decision that largely sided with prosecutors. “Because Attorney Rancourt retained her obligations as local counsel to the defendant and because she participated in certain aspects of the trial, she cannot seek to distance herself from the very same defense team she now claims was ineffective.”
Labrie, the St. Paul’s School graduate, was convicted in August of misdemeanor sexual assault and a felony charge of using a computer to lure a 15-year-old. He was found not guilty of more serious sexual assault charges.
Labrie has argued that his defense attorneys did not put enough effort into fighting the computer charge, which comes with a lifetime registry on the state’s sex offender list. He also argued that their defense strategy was “objectively unreasonable.”
Rancourt was originally part of Labrie’s legal team, but was excused from attending trial hearings. In comments to Boston.com last month, Rancourt said her ethical obligations to the case had been waived as well, meaning she would be allowed to participate in his appeal.
But New Hampshire Judge Larry M. Smukler directly disagreed in a judgment released on Tuesday, saying the court only granted her permission not to be in court every day. Smukler pointed out that Rancourt participated in jury selection, jury instructions, and still consulted with Labrie’s primary attorney J.W. Carney.
“The court understood that it was doing nothing more than relieving counsel of the need to attend the trial on a day-to-day basis,” Smukler ruled.
In addition, Rancourt “will likely to be a witness in the defendant’s claim of ineffective assistance” should the case go to trial, Smukler ruled. That would not be possible if she were his attorney.
Rancourt did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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