'You are a very good liar': Prep school student smirks during rape case sentencing as judge gives him just one year in jail and releases him on bail to appeal... but he will have to register as a sex offender for life
- Owen Labrie, 20, faced a sentence of up to 11 years in prison for using a computer to lure a minor for sex
- He now will be required to register as a sex offender for life
- Victim said in videotaped statement played in court that Labrie 'made me feel like I didn’t belong on this planet…like I would be better off dead'
- Labrie's defense attorney argued his client has already been punished enough and should receive probation
- Prosecutors asked judge to sentence defendant to 3.5-7 years in prison for the felony count
- Labrie was found guilty in August of felony using a computer to lure a minor for sexual activity and three misdemeanor counts of sexual assault
- A jury acquitted him of felony rape charges in the assault on 15-year-old girl
By
Reuters and
Dailymail.com Reporter
Published: 06:00 EST, 29 October 2015 | Updated: 18:53 EST, 29 October 2015
17 shares
48
View comments
A former student at an elite New Hampshire prep school who was convicted of sexually assaulting an underage classmate was sentenced to one year in jail and five years of probation this afternoon.
Owen Labrie, 20, will serve his sentence in a house of corrections instead of a state prison because his crimes were misdemeanors and he was acquitted on all felony charges. He will also be required to register as a sex offender for life.
Labrie, an aspiring divinity student, could be seen crossing himself in a gesture of prayer as he waited for Merrimack County Superior Court Judge Larry Smukler to issue his sentence, which he did nearly three hours into the proceedings.
'You are a very good liar,' Smukler told Labrie according to
NBC News.
'I believe that you are not the angel as portrayed by your counsel, but neither are you the devil as portrayed by the prosecution.'
The judge said he reached the decision on Labrie's punishment with the victim in mind.
'This is a day of justice for the victim,' Smukler said. 'I have to recognize what you did to her when you committed the crime.'
Scroll down for video
+9
Punished: Owen Labrie, 20, pictured in court Thursday, was sentenced to one year in jail plus probation for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl
+9
Labrie was seen smiling as he spoke with his attorney during his sentencing on Thursday
+9
Merrimack County Superior Court Judge Larry Smukler issued Labrie's sentence nearly three hours into the hearing
The prep school grad will remain free while his lawyers appeal his conviction.
Labrie had been facing a sentence of up to 11 years in prison after a jury in August found him guilty of three misdemeanor counts of sexual assault for having sex with a 15-year-old girl and one felony count, using a computer to lure a minor for sexual activity. He was acquitted of the more serious charge of felony rape.
This is a day of justice for the victim. I have to recognize what you did to her when you committed the crime.
Judge Larry Smukler to Owen Labrie
At around 1.30pm, Labrie, dressed in a grey suit and tie, walked into a packed and hushed Merrimack County Superior Court accompanied by his defense team. His parents entered the courtroom earlier.
At the start of the punishment phase, prosecutors asked the judge to sentence the defendant to 3.5-7 years in prison for the felony count, as well as suspended sentences for the four misdemeanors, based upon completion of a sex offender program while incarcerated.
His attorney, J.W. Carney Jr asked the court to show his client leniency, saying in part: 'his life has been one of trauma trying to deal with these allegations and the emotion of this trial.'
In arguing for probation instead of a prison sentence, Carney insisted that the contact between the then-18-year-old Labrie and the 15-year-old girl was a 'consensual encounter between two teenagers.'
Labrie's mother, Denise Holland, wrote in a letter to Merrimack County Superior Court Judge Larry Smukler that her son ‘has been punished beyond a degree that anyone else could possibly understand, but I see it in the fear and sadness in once-bright and joyful eyes.’
She also said he son had become suicidal, writing; 'He expressed to more than one person that these detectives said they were going to take away "everything he had worked his whole life for," and that he "just wanted to die."'
Holland added that the family was 'deeply in debt' because of the trial, and said her son had been spending his time building a chapel on his father's property.
'His offering to God in lieu of being able to move forward with college and Divinity School at this time receives daily attention,' wrote Holland.
+9
He also smirked at one point while listening to someone speak during the sentencing
+9
Appealing to a higher power: Labrie made the sign of the cross and folded his hands in a gesture of prayer before learning his fate
The victim of the assault chose not to attend Labrie's sentencing but had her videotaped impact statement played in court, saying that she has spent the past year and a half living in fear 'of everything and everyone'.
The teenager also conveyed to the court that 'freedom and safety were taken away ' from her by Labrie's sexual offense against her.
‘What he did to me made me feel like I didn’t belong on this planet… like I would be better off dead,’ the victim said in her prepared statement.
The former St Paul's student spoke of the trauma she said she has endured in the aftermath of her encounter with Labrie.
What he did to me made me feel like I didn’t belong on this planet…like I would be better off dead.
Victim said of Owen Labrie in court statement
'Taking a shower, or getting dressed, I feel like no amount of cleaning or showering will make me feel clean again,' she said, adding that she now has to live with the stigma of being a sex assault victim.
She also took a shot at Labrie's attorney, saying it broke her heart to hear him say that she 'took the easy way out.'
'Who would want endless nausea and panic everyday for a year and a half?' she asked.
The court also heard from the victim's mother, who decried the bullying she said their entire family have been subjected to at the hands of her daughter's detractors, including having the girl's photo and home address shared on social media.
'It's our hope that other victims will find their voice and speak freely,' the woman stated.
in his testimony, the victim's father said that what Labrie has stolen from his daughter and their family 'we will never get back.'
+9
Prosecutor Catherine Ruffle asked the judge to sentence Labrie to 3.5-7 years in prison for the felony count
+9
Court audience members believed to be Labrie's family react to his sentencing Thursday
