crime and punishment

Owen Labrie Asks for a New Trial

Owen Labrie
Owen Labrie Photo: AP Photo/Jim Cole

Owen Labrie — the prep-school boy who was sentenced to one year in jail for penetration of a minor, endangering the welfare of a child, and oral penetration of an underage girl — is seeking a new trial. He was found not guilty of felony sexual assault, although, when he was sentenced, the judge said, “This was not consensual.” He was also found guilty of using a computer to lure an underage girl.

Last month, Labrie was sentenced to a year in jail for violating parole after he gave an interview to Vice, which alerted law enforcement that he was violating his court-appointed curfew.

The motion he filed yesterday argues that his trial attorneys didn’t “put enough effort into fighting a computer-related felony that landed [Labrie] on the sex offender registry for life.”

In the motion, his attorney Jaye Rancourt wrote, “Presumably, the trial strategy was to challenge the aggravated felonious sexual assault charges, assuming that the computer offense [felony] would thereby be defeated. This was objectively unreasonable.”

Owen Labrie Wants a New Trial