Prep school graduate seeks new trial after sex assault conviction
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire’s Supreme Court heard biting criticism of an elite prep school graduate’s star-studded legal team Wednesday as his lawyer argued he deserved a new trial following his conviction for using a computer to lure an underage student for sex.
Owen Labrie, 23, of Tunbridge, Vermont, was acquitted in 2015 of raping a 15-year-old classmate as part of “Senior Salute,” a game of sexual conquest, at St. Paul’s School. But he was found guilty of a felony computer charge and several misdemeanor counts of sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child.
The computer law says no one shall knowingly use a computer online service “to seduce, solicit, lure, or entice a child” to commit sexual assault.
Christopher Johnson, a lawyer for Labrie, argued Wednesday that his trial lawyers were ineffective for a slew of reasons, including failing to mount a defense against the computer charge or effectively communicate that Labrie had no intention of having sex with Chessy Prout when he sent her the messages.
The lead trial lawyer, J.W. Carney Jr., is a wellknown defense attorney whose clients included the late Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger.
“A defense attorney obligation is to have a strategy and execute that strategy reasonably,” Johnson told the court. “These lawyers, as shown in their post-conviction testimony, recognized the mental state was the place where they wanted to stake their defense. The problem was they totally failed to execute that theory.”
Two years ago, Prout spoke publicly about the assault for the first time. Prout, now 20, has since become an advocate for sexual assault survivors and co-wrote a memoir, “I Have The Right To: A High School Survivor’s Story of Sexual Assault, Justice, and Hope,” with Boston Globe journalist Jenn Abelson.
Assistant Attorney General Sean Locke told the court that Labrie’s trial lawyers did a good job, since their client was found not guilty on the charges of rape that would have carried a prison sentence of 30 years to 60 years.