Concord
The court earlier this month upheld Owen Labrie’s felony conviction of using a computer to lure an underage student for sex, requiring him to register as a sex offender. The St. Paul’s School graduate also was convicted of three misdemeanor sexual assault charges and endangering the welfare of a child, also a misdemeanors. Labrie’s second appeal, scheduled for Wednesday, asks for a new trial, citing ineffective counsel.
Labrie, 23, of Tunbridge, served two months in jail for curfew violations in 2016. His lawyer said he’s complied with his bail conditions, which included a stringent curfew.
“Mr. Labrie has essentially been under house arrest for over two years,” his attorney, Jaye Rancourt, said in court documents. “He has been required to wear an ankle monitoring bracelet for approximately thirty months” totaling more than $6,000.
Rancourt said Labrie recently found a full-time job. “Between the notoriety of his case, his very strict bail conditions, and his home confinement in rural Vermont a great distance from many employment opportunities which, with travel time, could not be completed within the terms of his restrictive bail conditions, it had been very difficult for Mr. Labrie to find employment,” she said.
If his sentence is not suspended, Rancourt asked that Labrie be permitted to attend a work release program or home confinement.
Prosecutors want Labrie to serve the rest of his term, saying in court paperwork, that “the goals of sentencing have not been met.” They said they also contacted Chessy Prout’s family, which objected to the sentence proposal. Prout previously said she shed her anonymity and shared her story with the hope of empowering sexual assault survivors.
Both sides have asked a judge for a hearing.
Labrie was accused in 2014 of assaulting Prout as part of a “Senior Salute” competition among upperclassman seeking to have sex with younger students. Her parents sued in 2016, shortly after Labrie was convicted.