If it was their new hometown how would the neighbors know anything about the victim?
Maybe they were trying to get info, maybe the motivation was to harass the victim and her family.
Yes, it’s not fair to blame Labrie for that part of it.
No live feed now, but according to tweets, Carney says the jury found this was consensual sex. Not exactly true, but he’s right that judge shouldn’t sentence as if Labrie had been found guilty of rape. (The victim impact statements all describe it as rape.) He claims Labrie was “thunderstruck” by allegation he forced her to have sex. Not true, completely consensual. (Um… Carney forget the part where Labrie said there wasn’t any sex?) He apparently submitted a gazillion letters saying how wonderful Labrie is. More talk about the ridiculous chapel.
Carney saying how lost Labrie was because he was “poor.” Says this all happened because St. Paul’s mislead him.
I can’t help but wonder how long it will take this family to heal from this. How long it will take the victim to enjoy a happy, healthy sex life with no fear.
Labrie should be in jail that long. It will be far, far longer than 6 months.
I am really impressed by this judge…
He was sentenced to a year in jail with probation.
So very sad - we know Owen and his family and are just stunned. My younger son played soccer with him (pre SPS days).
I feel bad for his family, as well. And I question this lifetime-registered-sex-offender sentence. But I don’t really think it’s “sad” what happened to him. From his FB and text/email comments, it’s clear he has issues with women.
It’s very hard to reconcile those texts with someone who aspired to Harvard divinity school.
I meant the whole situation is just terribly sad. I feel terrible for the victim and her family and also for Owen’s mom and dad. They are devastated. We are all in shock. My son hasn’t been friendly with Owen for several years but at least at the time, he’s the last kid you’d have thought would be involved in something like this. I’m just reading his FB comments - they are sickening.
Interesting that Labrie didn’t address the court or offer any sort of apology to the victim or acceptance of wrongdoing. He certainly wasn’t afraid to take the stand at trial when he lied about what actually happened that night to try to clear himself.
I guess he’s more of a psychopath than I thought.
Had he taken the plea deal offered to his 2nd lawyer (the one before Carney), he would have served 30 days and not had to register, and this would be in his (if not the victim’s) rear view mirror by now.
Did anyone pick up on the fact that the prosecutor mentioned that the state had not yet decided whether to prosecute Labrie and/or his mom for destroying evidence during the investigation?
I have some sympathy for his folks, although his mom is lucky she hasn’t been charged with obstructing justice. (just read your post above @GnocchiB and I had not picked up on that as my feed kept cutting out.) Horrible for any parent to deal with. My greatest sympathy and concern, in addition to immense respect, goes to the victim and her family. Even more so after hearing their statements today and learning in more detail how horrible their last 18 months have been.
As far as the defendant is concerned, I think he got off easy. He can ask to be removed from the sexual offender registry in 15 years so it is by no means a guaranteed life sentence.
Pyschopath was the word that kept coming to mind for me as well.
Does anyone know where I can hear/read their statements?
Local legal analyst is saying that Labrie is free on bail pending appeal and appeal could take as long as 18 months.
Also, that IF he did wind up in prison after appeal that he could get 1/3 off for good behavior so he would only do 8 months.
Were those texts made public before the sentencing report that was linked upthread? I had not read those before today. Hard to imagine any lawyer or defendant talking about divinity school and building chapels with those texts floating around. They really leave no doubt about what was going here and the general nature of this individual.
Boston.com streamed a small portion of the victim’s statement earlier today. One thing that confused me is that she said she was back on campus after the incident and was talking about how she was harassed by the hockey team. Did she return to St. Paul’s for any amount of time after the incident?
For right now though, he doesn’t have to go to prison while appeal is pending. I really, sincerely was impressed by the judge. These are some of his observations; they aren’t in chronological order.
Reminded Carney that the jury did NOT find this was consensual. Said jury only said it wasn’t beyond a reasonable doubt that the victim managed to convey her lack of consent effectively. (EXACTLY.) Said sex was not consensual in his opinion.
Said he took the conviction for endangering welfare of child seriously. The law exists for a reason. She was in over her head.
He said that Labrie showed no remorse. He didn’t say a word about the victim or her family; only talked about himself and family as victims. This has had enormous impact on victim and her family. Said while he acknowledges the victim suffered during the trial, especially cross-examination, Labrie was entitled to a defense and the sentence should not be affected by that. (Totally agree.)
Judge said his family may be victims “but you’re not a victim.” He wasn’t taking Labrie’s lack of remorse into account for sentencing though because he’d rather have Labrie be honest and not feign remorse he doesn’t feel. Maybe he’ll get to that point some day. Obviously isn’t there yet.
Said from his observations, Labrie is a leader, not a follower. (Translation for me was he didn’t buy the whole Labrie was mislead by the culture of St. Paul’s violin concerto.)
Also said Labrie has to undergo another psycho evaluation as to whether he is a continuing threat. He’s not forming any judgment now as to what the outcome of that will be. It’s not his area of expertise. He did say he didn’t find Labrie’s statements to the first shrink, before trial “credible.” He has no doubt that Labrie is very smart, prepares well for tests and prepares his answers. Sort of said whoever does the analysis should be made aware of that.
Also said he didn’t buy the “my life is ruined” bit. He said for both Labrie and the victim this is a “detour.” You’re both young and you can recover from this.
Made a point of saying the publicity had no effect on the sentence. Labrie was getting what he would have gotten without the headlines.
As I said, I was really impressed by the judge.
I’ll bet the local lawyer he fired is sitting there thinking “Owen, if you had only listened to me,”
Yes, I did pick up that prosecutor said that while they were aware of deleted emails, they didn’t know whether they were deleted after Labrie became aware of investigation. (If before, not criminal; after, criminal.) Said that investigation was still open and there may be further charges. I saw this as saying if this kid doesn’t get prison time, we’ll try again. Just my opinion. If I were Mom, though, I’d be worried. That is, if Labrie told the truth and she was the one who orchestrated deletions.
To answer question above:
Did she return to St. Paul’s for any amount of time after the incident?
Yes, the incident happened graduation weekend. She returned to St. Paul’s in the fall. According to the witness statements, his friends, especially the hockey team, engaged in an orchestrated campaign of harassment. She was scared for her physical safety, and withdrew.
Her older sister named one of his friends–one who testified–attends Dartmouth College. She apparently attends another college nearby. He started hanging out at her college. Went to an event for St. Paul’s alumni at HER college. Sat outside her dorm. (This is the same person who changed his testimony from what he told police.)
I agree with @jonri: I applaud the judge. I think he imposed a fair sentence that took into account the crimes of which Labrie was convicted, the pain suffered by the victim and her family, and the youth and promise of both parties. In so doing, I think a message has been sent to all boys, and encouragement to speak out should be felt by all victims.
I am pleased that the school has come under fire for all this. Makes me sincerely wonder if Labrie/this victim were the first time this has happened, or if this is merely the first time a victim actually took it public. Kudos to this victim; and I truly hope that she feels vindicated. I also hope that she will be left alone by the bullies. Whether or not you think she properly communicated her “no” to Labrie, SHE WAS ONLY 15 YEARS OLD. Sheesh.
And still, the optimist in me truly hopes that Labrie can one day turn his life around and become a productive and contributing member of society. I think he can.
Deleted emails are fairly easily recoverable, and probably most were obtained from the recipients, anyway. Some of them testified. Only a vindictive prosecutor would waste the State’s time and money going after the mother in this case.
Oh, @prospect1 Your post reminds me of a few things.
First, the judge noted that most statutory rape cases involve two young people who think they are in love. The parents are behind the charges. He’s even had the “victim” marry the person after the conviction. That’s not the case here. You didn’t invite her “to try to get to know her, as one of your friends testified.” (That’s not an exact quote, but very close.) You made no effort to get to know her or even to know if she was “on board” with what you wanted.
Second, in either the victim’s statement or her sister’s–can’t remember which–there was a reference to “other victims” who were too scared to come forward, especially after they saw what happened to the victim. Clear implication was either Labrie or his buddies had done the same to others. Of course, that’s total hearsay.
@MidwestDad3 I agree. As I said before, I saw it as the prosecutor saying that if this kid only gets probation, we’re going to try again. It MAY also be a way of saying while he’s out with the appeal pending, we don’t want him staying with Mom.
The Facebook deletions could very well be a case of Mom seeing them and saying, “Owen, you idiot, what were you thinking putting such nastiness on your page for all the world to see?! Making these posts was rotten and disrespectful. You will take them down NOW.”