Concord
However, Owen Labrie’s fight for a new trial is not yet over; he still has one more appeal pending before the state’s highest court, which has scheduled oral arguments in that case for Nov. 28.
Labrie, 23, of Tunbridge, appealed his lone felony conviction of “certain uses of computer services prohibited,” which carries a mandatory penalty of lifetime registration as a sex offender. Prosecutors said Labrie used a computer to invite the girl on a “Senior Salute,” a game of sexual conquest in which senior boys compete for intimate encounters with younger pupils.
During oral arguments before the Supreme Court in mid-September, attorneys offered conflicting accounts of Labrie’s intentions at the time he sent the girl a “salute” invitation. Defense attorney JayeRancourt argued that Labrie was not trying to “deceive, manipulate or exploit” the girl, and that the internet is simply how young people communicate. But Senior Assistant Attorney General Sean Locke said the string of messages from Labrie show he intended to do more than just take the girl out on a date.
Following a two-week trial in August 2015, a Merrimack County jury also convicted Labrie of statutory rape and endangering the welfare of a child, both misdemeanors. Although jurors found Labrie guilty of the computer-use charge, they acquitted him of felony-level sexual assault.
In Labrie’s second Supreme Court appeal, he is arguing that his high-profile defense team — led by famed Boston attorney J.W. Carney — was ineffective at defending him against the computer-use charge. Labrie has long held that the statute was misapplied to his case.
A lower court judge previously denied Labrie’s bid for a new trial based on ineffective assistance of counsel in April 2017. Merrimack County Superior Court Judge Larry Smukler ruled after a multi-day evidentiary hearing that Labrie had “highly experienced and prepared defense attorneys who, overall, made reasonable strategic and tactical decisions throughout the trial.”