Owen Labrie sentenced to one year in jail in prep school assault case
A graduate of an elite New Hampshire prep school will spend one year in jail, not a state prison, for having sex with a younger classmate.
Owen Labrie, now 20, will get another psychosexual evaulation as well. He can remain out of jail pending appeal, the judge ruled.
He will also have to register as a sex offender, possibly for the rest of his life.
Labrie had just graduated from St. Paul’s School in June 2014 and was Harvard-bound when the then 18-year-old was arrested and charged with the rape of a 15-year-old girl at the school. In August, a jury convicted him of three misdemeanor sexual assault counts and a felony charge of using a computer to solicit her. He was acquitted of more serious felony aggravated rape charges.
Labrie had invited the girl on a Senior Salute, a tradition at the prep school in which seniors invite younger classmates to spend time together before graduation. After initially rebuffing his emailed advances, the girl eventually agreed to go meet with Labrie in a secluded room on campus.
When they got there, Labrie told the court that the two had a hot and heavy hookup, but not sex. The girl, however, told police that Labrie raped her.
Jurors didn’t believe Labrie, and convicted him of having sex with a minor. But they didn’t agree that what happened in that secluded room was rape.
Labrie’s attorneys had asked for probation, counseling and community service. Prosecutors had asked the judge for Labrie to be sent to state prison for up to seven years and undergo a Sex Offender Program evaluation.
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