I think over time the life time registering as a sex offender will change.
I wonder if the jury knew what the sentence guidelines would be for the computer charge. I wonder if, had they known the severe consequences of a guilty finding on that charge, they might have found not guilty on that charge. That's an extreme punishment for something teenagers do every day without felonious intent.
I’m going to presume that the jury members were unaware of the sentence ranges of the various charges.
I was on the jury of a homicide case. We had several choices, including premeditated murder, murder-by-association (I forget what the exact name of the charge was), and aggravated robbery.
Our defendant had been the driver in what began as a strong-arm robbery at a drug sale that turned into a double-homicide. The main perp planned to simply rob the people who thought they were going to be buying drugs from him… but after he did that, he decided to shoot them both in the back as they ran away, killing them.
Because our defendant had expected to get paid for driving – even though he did not know that the murders would take place – and since the murders were related to the robbery, we found him guilty of the aggravated robbery and the murder-by-association charges. We figured he would get 15-25 years… maybe 5-8 for the robbery and 10-20 or so for the “murders”, since clearly he hadn’t known that would happen.
It turned out that the “murder-by-association” charge carried 42 years – 21 years per victim. When the court lady told us that in the jury room after the verdict, 12 jaws hit the table. (we didn’t even ask about the robbery sentence…).
We felt badly, but based on the evidence – he was on tape clearly admitting to expect to get paid from the robbery – he expected to be paid for his part as the driver in a robbery, and because that robbery turned into a double-homicide… he was tied to the homicides.
So I suspect – just as the jury I was on, with the lesser murder charge – this jury did not believe the computer felony would be as serious as it turned out to be.
Perhaps someone with expertise in NH law could verify this, but it appears that although the registry is for life, a Tier II violator may be able to petition the NH Superior Court for release from the Sexual Offender Registry 15 years after being released from custody, and if denied, then another 5 years later. If this is the case, the defendant may have some semblance of a regular life back by the time he reaches age 40, although the felony conviction will always be there.
Can I just say that I feel sorry for both of these young people and wish for both their sakes that this encounter never happened? It just shouldn’t have happened. It breaks my heart and I can only imagine how I’d feel as their parents. This feels like watching something of Shakespearean tragedy proportions.
I’ve criticized Labrie extensively here for how he’s chosen to spin his character and achievements, but I have to agree with @Consolation that I see no evidence that the person in the courtroom didn’t just cut off his sunbleached hair, don traditional “preppy” attire, and add a pair of tortoiseshell frames. (I’m assuming he wore contact lenses.) I don’t see anything abnormal or nefarious at all in that regard.
If you look at the photograph of him posted in that Times article I linked to upthread, he clearly has red highlights. [It looks like they pulled that particular photo, so I’m removing the link, although there’s video here: http://nyti.ms/1LH0y7W ]
I’m not sure where this meme that he dyed his hair for the courtroom comes from. I had many classmates in high school (especially soccer players) whose hair would be bleached many shades from the sun. Come fall, they’d go back to their pasty-skinned, dark-haired selves. Or maybe he used to bleach his hair, but his current color looks natural to me.
Also, unrelated, that article has been updated and added to. I thought this answered some of the questions that have been raised here:
Another recent incident with online communications involved Rosie O’Donnell’s daughter. A man sent her a nude pic and was charged with knowingly distributing obscene images to a minor. He faces up to ten years in prison. Oddly through she was over the age of consent so they could have had sex, but he faces up to ten years in prison for the images he sent to her cellphone.
I saw a picture of Labrie taken shortly before the incident and his appearance was very similar to his courtroom appearance. It’s possible he had worked in the landscaping business with his father over the summer. I think the mugshot was taken in August.
If you search #owenlabrie on Twitter and look at the mugshot photo, you’ll see three very different variations. Maybe we aren’t all looking at the same one. Of course, there’s no way to know which one is accurate and which two have been touched up depending on your bias.
This. http://stopabusecampaign.com/st-pauls-rape-case-why-are-we-talking-about-a-childs-consent-to-sex/
This stuff makes me sick…15 year old girls shaving their private parts and stripping of their own volition and yet some keep talking about 15 year old girls like they were little children. Children don’t shave their private parts and undress for other teenagers and 15 year old girls aren’t children in this day and age. People are deaf, dumb and blind if they don’t think high school kids are having sex. Throw the book at the kid for whatever blows your hair back BUT sex with a minor because 15 year old girls today are NOT the same as 15 year olds were a couple decades ago.
On one of the reporter twitter accts I’m following, she posted this St. Paul School letter just sent to the school’s community. Makes me wish they had done all that they describe and promise long before this incident ever took place:
https://www.sps.edu/podium/push/default.aspx?s=36&i=105118&u=0
But as some dad stated up thread, this teenage sexual culture has existed for ions. I think it demands from parents, and also from boarding schools charged with supervising kids, a clearly stated expectation of behavior and an explanation of possible consequences, even if we think our kids (boys and girls) would never behave this way.
My husband recently gave me for my birthday a card with a New Yorker cartoon on it. It depicts a dad telling his two young boys who are engaged in play fighting: “Listen up and listen good, 'cause I’m only going to say this a million times.” And therein lies one of the big challenges of parenting (or boarding school supervising), you have to have the stamina and make the time to repeat the lessons, the talks a million times for them to stick. Or at least hope that they’ll stick. And of course, walk the walk yourself as an example.
@my3girls – the story in the link you provided is based on a misunderstanding of the charges. Consent was COMPLETELY relevant in the case because the statutory rape charge was a misdemeanor (because the accused was less than 4 years older than the minor) while the nonconsensual charge was a felony. So the article is just wrong. Whether the girl consented was the key issue to the felony charges.
Take a look at Boston.com and its article on the “nerd defense” if you want to see what appears to be a dramatic difference in his appearance in court.
I think his lawyers should have known that he would be convicted of the online communications felony. That one seems more cut and dried than the rest. Most likely what ever was offered as a deal would not have required being listed as a sex offender.
Thanks for posting the link to that letter from St. Paul’s, @RenaissanceMom. It’s pretty clear on whose side they come down on.
I wonder if they prepared a different version of letter for a different outcome? Would they have sent out that same letter if Labrie had been acquitted on all counts?
I don’t like that kind of parsing. Just because the Rector first heard of if in spring 2013 doesn’t mean it’s not a decades-old tradition.
Vis-a-vis the article that @my3girls shared in post #648 (which I think ironically does what it accuses the press-at-large of doing): its central premise is refuted this NYTimes article just posted, which states:
“But at its core, the case was about an intimate encounter between a 15-year-old girl and an 18-year-old acquaintance, and whether she consented as it escalated.”
Yep, SPSchool completely and utterly threw Labrie under the bus in that letter (ironically, the kid they bestowed upon a top character award). But if they’ve engaged in all this introspection in the past year and hired outside consultants to study their culture and make recommendations for changes to be implemented, etc, doesn’t that suggest that on some level they failed both Labrie and the accuser?
^^^^ yes, SPS is guilty of failing to properly supervise these teenagers.