What is wrong with that professor? Jeez.
Maybe this is the only thing close to a positive character recommendation he could find these days…
Reading through the pleading at the link posted in #1599 … on page 40 of the PDF there’s an interesting note from the pretrial services’ log about Jaye Ranacourt inquiring on 12/14/15 about the possibility of Labrie moving to NJ while his appeal is pending.
Shouldn’t she know that there are residency restrictions and that PTS wouldn’t be the one to make that determination? I think it’s interesting she called. Given how Labrie supposedly has some magnetic personal quality that he exploited while at SPS, I’m wondering if Ranacourt has fallen under his spell just as the professor comparing him to Joan of Arc apparently did.
ETA: on page 41 of the PDF there’s a note that Labrie asked for permission to go to DC for “defense related matters.” What on earth? This kid takes an inch and turns it into a mile!
Also, on page 64, partially redacted but I think the word before “Library Privileges Office” is a capital H, as in Harvard. I had guessed the unnamed “library in Boston” he was using was one of Harvard’s.
From the unnamed professor’s letter. “One of the reasons why this project is so appropriate for you is because the corpus of materials you will have to deal with is relatively small…”
Hmm. A small amount of materials that Labrie had to travel to Boston to access in person. Boston, the same town where his girlfriend attended college. What an incredible stroke of luck that Labrie selected this topic.
^It’s the sense of entitlement that got him into this situation as well as all the missteps along the way including getting bail revoked.
Where are the rational people advising him to man up and play by the rules?
And we wonder why poor people say the system is rigged against them. People point out that Labrie wasn’t raised with a silver spoon but he is still incredibly privileged living a middle class lifestyle with an Ivy educated father and world class academic opportunities - and a defense that very few in this country can afford, although he finds that lacking now as well. You don’t see your average joe asking to have move to another state while on bail or asking for special treatment to travel 10 hours away for “defense related matters”.
Google “library privileges office” and see what crops up first. 
I have to assume that the letter from the professor was included to verify that he was in fact conducting research at a Boston library as he contended.
But the letter does much more damage, something that his lawyers seem to have a habit of either not comprehending or intentionally overlooking to keep this matter in the press. Of course keeping their names relevant and connected to a case that is making headlines is in their best interests.
To me the letter is just another illustration of Labrie following a path of refusing to take responsibility for his actions. Now God is involved and his actions were the result of some “preordained” sequence of events that were planned for his life so he would experience “malheur”. Labrie is now a “martyr” suffering for some greater purpose. This sort of thing will be very appealing to a narcissistic personality. As will the idea that with no undergraduate degree his “master thesis” will be so revered and applauded by Oxford that he will be awarded a PhD. I am sure his story is all over the Daily Mail in the UK.
Of course in all of this there is no mention of the victim or her family. It’s all about Owen and how his life will successfully unfold after the requisite suffering as God intended. I am no criminal lawyer but I think judges HATE this sort of thing. What they look for is the defendant to show some remorse for his or her actions, some indication that they have reflected and see the harm they have caused. Some acceptance of responsibility.
I just don’t see that he is anywhere close to even acknowledging the harm he caused. First it was her fault, then it was St. Paul’s fault for letting the culture develop and now a letter is submitted to court contending it was preordained by God. Ridiculous. I think this judge has had enough.
I sure hope so.
Maybe we wants to visit NJ so he can study at Princeton’s library, lol.
I think his best friend from St.Paul’s lives in NJ and they offered to have him live with them. Not sure what purpose that would serve.
I don’t think this is a professor. It sounds like someone who runs a Vanity Press, i.e., someone you pay to publish your book. His letter says
He suggests
He does admit that
It isn’t. You have to be accepted to Oxford first, and you have to work with a thesis adviser who is an expert in the general area. You submit a thesis proposal and get it approved BEFORE you start writing.And you meet with your thesis adviser along the way, getting guidance.
In other words, this ranks up there with a entering freshman going to Harvard College to “study divinity” to become an Episcopalian priest.
My hunch is this guy is just flattering Labrie so Labrie will pay him to “publish” his “thesis.” (Believe me, you don’t have to “publish” your master’s thesis to submit it for consideration for admission to a PhD program. Most master’s theses aren’t “published.” And just writing a 150-200 page book doesn’t make it a thesis.)
Oh, and the other part I love is the attorney’s complaint that someone at St. Paul’s School called Harvard to tell it about the charges before he was even convicted, so that’s the reason he didn’t want anyone to know where he was going to school.
“I think his best friend from St.Paul’s lives in NJ and they offered to have him live with them. Not sure what purpose that would serve.”
Actually, what is also strange is that it is not a friend of his from his time at St. Paul’s but a older young alum who graduated before Labrie became a student, heard about the case from friends, thought it unfair and he and his attorney mom took Labrie under their wings and into their home after he was charged and awaiting trial. Both son and mother wrote letters on his behalf as character references for his sentencing. Neither knew Labrie prior to his arrest in June 2014.
^^^^
Very odd.
I bet that older alum participated in the “senior salute” too.
^^ Exactly!
@doschicos, Regarding post #1599: I had to stop at “martyr-suffering,” or I thought I’d throw up.
EDIT: I see HarvestMoon1 has expounded on this aspect already.
Ugh!
This letter made me think about those matchbook covers that said ‘Draw Me - Art Test’.
^^ I wish that were true, but Owen addresses the person “Dear Professor.” Are there a lot of professors running vanity presses? Also, Owen is many things, but stupid he is not. No way a kid with a pair the size of his would accept publication in a vanity press, let alone that of his “thesis.” And how would such a thing allow him to enter PhD programs at Oxford anyhow?
Ok that is one strange “letter”. The guy sounds like a wacko, not a professor (I suppose there could be overlap).
I actually think the letter writer sounds psychotic. I mean that literally and sincerely. It reads like the writing of a mentally ill, psychotic person.
Out of curiosity, why was the “professor’s” name redacted? I find that a little strange, especially since IIRC the names of the people who wrote character references for Owen were not removed. Maybe I’m not remembering correctly.