Shraman Mitra
When a 15-year-old student at St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire, received a proposition about a ‘senior salute’ from Owen Labrie, she believed the whole incident to be harmless fun. However, after meeting up with Owen, the student claimed the senior took her to a dark mechanical room and raped her mercilessly. ‘Dateline: One Spring Night’ follows the incident and even chronicles the police investigation that followed.
Who Is Owen Labrie?
A resident of Tunbridge, Vermont, Owen Labrie was a senior at St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire. People who knew him mentioned that Owen was living the student’s dream as he had fantastic grades and was even the school’s soccer captain. Moreover, while he received an award for his contribution to the school, Owen was also accepted into Harvard University shortly before the sexual assault incident. Meanwhile, the show mentioned that although Owen was pretty popular with the girls, he had a reputation for being a playboy. On top of it, he also looked forward to the ‘senior salute,’ an unspoken condition under which a graduating student could proposition a junior for sex. Yet, little did his friends know that the situation would turn dark.
According to the show, the only person Owen wanted to proposition for a senior salute was the 15-year-old victim, and he talked about using every trick in the book to seduce her. However, sources mentioned that he had previously dated her older sister, who advised the 15-year-old to reject the senior salute proposal. Yet, Owen was not one to back down, and he even asked his friends to get his message across to the girl. Eventually, the 15-year-old accepted the request and even met Owen on the afternoon of May 30, 2014. However, while the junior initially believed that the senior salute meant a make-out session, Owen took her into a pitch-dark electrical room before forcing himself on her.
Although the victim was terrified of the situation, she chose not to reveal the truth immediately as her elder sister was graduating that same week. Yet, once her mother learned of the incident, she immediately took her daughter for a check-up at the hospital and informed the school authorities, who called the police. Incidentally, apart from the victim identifying Owen as her assaulter, the police also recovered the underwear she was wearing on the day of the rape. A quick DNA test on the underwear revealed Owen Labrie’s semen, and the senior was arrested and charged with rape.
Owen Labrie is Spending Time With Family Post-Release
Upon his arrest, Owen Labrie admitted to meeting and making out with the 15-year-old on May 30 but claimed there was no penetration. He also insisted that the victim never asked him to stop and stated how she even texted him on Facebook after the ordeal. In the meantime, a few of Owen’s friends approached authorities and claimed they knew how badly Owen wanted to sleep with the victim. They also revealed that in the days following the incident, Owen had boasted about finally having sex with the 15-year-old, although he had denied engaging in sexual intercourse when questioned by authorities.
When produced in court, Owen refused to acknowledge his involvement in the rape and insisted on his innocence. He even pleaded not guilty to the charges against him and believed his lawyers could get him out of the situation. However, the prosecution had other plans as they called several of Owen’s friends to the stand, where they testified how he had talked about having sex with the victim. On top of it, the prosecution also asked the 15-year-old to testify so that the jury could hear a first-hand version of the incident.
Eventually, after considering the evidence, the jury convicted Owen on one felony count of using a computer to lure a minor, one count of endangering the welfare of a child, and three charges of misdemeanor sexual assault. However, he was acquitted of the rape charges. As a result, he was sentenced to 12 months in prison, followed by five years of probation in 2015. On top of it, he even had to register as a sex offender. Owen immediately appealed his sentence, and the judge suspended it, allowing him to remain under house arrest at his mother’s house.
However, in 2016, he was found guilty of violating the curfew and was sent to jail for two months. In the months that followed, Owen kept petitioning the court for a new trial, but all his pleas were turned down. Yet, he was serving the remaining ten months of his sentence behind bars when he was released for good behavior on June 24, 2019. Even after his release, Owen was unable to attend Harvard as the university had already rescinded its offer. Hence, it seems like Owen is currently spending his days with his family in Tunbridge, Vermont.
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