This is a very jaded and admittedly cynical view of boys’ high school sports and the bro culture, but I wonder if the accused’s soccer teammates and their parents were the chief donors to his defense fund?
I personally think a fundraising request for help paying criminal defense legal bills is tacky under any circumstance.
I also think the reporter who tweeted the victim’s name should be sanctioned.
Why is it tacky? Would it be tacky for people to fundraise for an indigent person accused of a crime that would send him or her to prison and ruin their life? I don’t see anything tacky about a legal defense fund. Tacky is a cash bar at a wedding, not defending oneself against serious legal charges.
See post #68 for the link - article about his fundraising letter.
Maybe the girl is very wealthy (2 sibs at this 55k/year school). We know the accused is from a broken home with middle class roots at best. Could have been some David v Goliath pity going on there, especially as he was “popular” according to the girl.
However, its also possible that supporters of the school have contributed heavily - seems to me the school would have a big interest in seeing a “not guilty” verdict here, as this would minimize their exposure somewhat.
Many fundraising requests rub me the wrong way - so I don’t donate, but I can still have an opinion on them.
In this case the defendant seems to have gone through at least 2 changes in counsel. That cannot come inexpensively. Obviously, he is not required to hire expensive attorneys – it is his choice. The other option is a public defender at no cost to him – not doing without counsel.
What strikes me as unseemly is that he would distribute his fundraising letter to faculty and students, thus effectively forcing them to choose between 2 St. Paul’s students, both of whom are presumably stakeholders in the institution. Even if the jury finds him not guilty of rape, he is clearly guilty of gross lapses in judgment and violation of school rules and damage to the role of prefect. If honor and service at St. Paul’s really mean something to the community, I would think his actions (from the initial email to the alleged victim soliciting sexual intimacy to what he told police about the tradition of the “senior salute” at SPS) would be seen as offensive by many constituents.
I would think those 2 things alone should be embarrassing enough to make an honorable man think twice about asking others to help him defend himself. He really seems shameless to me, and the claim that he was planning to go to divinity school strikes me as incredibly self-serving. Obviously others see it differently.
^^^^ Neither the accuser nor the accused are at the school anymore. He graduated and she left, so seems to me he had nothing to lose by asking for money. If he got enough $$ to afford these lawysers, then someone must be supporting his position. Again, it really could be the school itself lurking behind the wall of supportive alumni. If this boy is guilty of rape, then a rape occurred at the school and that’s even harder to live down than the horrifying Senior Salute tradition, which is bad enough.
His fundraising effort directed toward students and faculty was just another way to play off the power that he had apparently so successfully accumulated over his career at SPS- exercising his power to win over hearts minds and wallets at her expense just as he had used his power to lure her 15 year old underage self into an (illegal) intimate encounter. He was an athletic, Harvard bound prefect, and he held some serious social clout (he won the rectory award at graduation) and I agree with you @GnocchiB he is the epitome of shameless and self serving.
Have we established that the encounter was illegal if she consented? I have seen conflicting reports that in NH, possibly consensual sex between 15/18 could be just a misdemeanor. I would think that’s a pretty important point for the parties to nail down, one way or the other.
Edit: of course, a misdemeanor constitutes illegal activity also (just with far less penalties). This is probably why he is arguing that they didn’t have sex at all. Still, I would like to know about the “close in age” defense in NH.
I wish courts had less desire to go into the nitty gritty of people’s thought processes. I want to know, just how sever was her tear?
Link to NY Times report on trial -
Attorney is described as “J.W. Carney Jr. — the lead defense lawyer for Owen Labrie” – which indicates the defendant has more than one lawyer working on his defense.
It sounds like Mr. Carney’s cross examination was rough and sarcastic. In print, it comes across as bullying. Bad optics for the defense. I wonder how the jury felt about it.
^^^
Re: the above NY Times link – a picture is worth a thousand words.
@HarvestMoon1, curious: what do you read into that picture?
Shame.
Carney does sound like a bully in the NYT story. All the news pictures of Owen show him looking down or away. He’s really looking guilty.
I read one account that said one of the jurors (a male) fell asleep today during testimony. SMH.
A CBS news piece had the audio of some of the cross-ex from today and it’s hard to listen to the accuser break down. (They are not showing her face).
I wonder if the defendant is going to think about taking a plea now. I don’t think court is in session tomorrow so he has the whole weekend to think about it.
@GnocchiB - boy, I don’t know. Opinion seems to be very divided on his guilt or innocence. Which is probably exactly what he wants (prosecution needs to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt). I’m sure the lawyers there are trying to carefully read the jury to see where they stand. One fell asleep today: is his mind already made up then? Or was he just bored/had a long night last night? One would think that with such emotional testimony, it would be pretty hard to fall asleep.
@prospect1 "I read one account that said one of the jurors (a male) fell asleep today during testimony. SMH. "
Shouldn’t a juror who falls asleep be replaced? I guess it shows that juror thinks the defendant is not guilty.
What does SMH mean?
SMH = “shaking my head.” As in, this shocks me that a juror would do this in open court. I sure would want him replaced, from either side.
Shaking My Head