Owen Labrie, the former prep school student who was found guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old freshman girl, is challenging his conviction at a four-day hearing beginning Tuesday morning. Watch the hearing live in the player above while court is in session.
Labrie was convicted of statutory rape and endangering the welfare of a child for engaging in sexual activity with an underage girl. Both of those charges are misdemeanors. Labrie was acquitted of a felony sexual assault charge, but was convicted of a felony for soliciting sex from a minor over a computer. That felony resulted in Labrie having to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. His attorney for the trial, J.W. Carney, then tried and failed to get that conviction thrown out, arguing that the felony statute was not meant to target young kids acting consensually at their school, and should not have applied to Labrie’s situation.
Labrie now has a new attorney, who is trying to prove that Labrie had ineffective assistance of counsel for the trial because Carney waited too long to challenge the felony conviction and didn’t push for a more thorough jury instruction on that particular charge. Labrie is now seeking a new trial.
