St. Paul's sexual assault scandal

[LoveTrains]

Have we talked about this yet?! I am day three of reading NYT article about it.

Most recent update here:


www.nytimes.com/2015/08/21/us/st-paul-school-rape-case-owen-labrie.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0

[tres3]

I had a friend in college who left St. Paul's after his freshman year because he was "hazed".. I suspect it was more than being "hazed".

[LoveTrains]

Aug 20, 2015 20:07:51 GMT -5 tres3 said:

I had a friend in college who left St. Paul's after his freshman year because he was "hazed".. I suspect it was more than being "hazed".

Oh I am sure....I have heard some rumors about what has gone on at that school. I think the bro/rape culture is strong there. 

[nikki25]

I saw a bit on GMA yesterday morning. I know little about the case besides what was stated on GMA but the text messages she sent after the alleged assault are going to be a big issue in the case I have to imagine. Again, I only heard Dan Abrams speaking about that the only evidence they truly have is the victim, nothing else. Not that a rape case needs corroborating evidence but in lieu of outside evidence it doesn't help her case that she is texting him directly after the incident 'LOLing about what occurred and how she was so silly to leave her earring, etc.

I am curious to see how it plays out but if that is the entire case I would not be surprised by a not guilty verdict.

[expatpumpkin]

I know it's not fair to generalize, but THIS is one of the reasons my hypothetical daughter will go to an all-girls boarding school (as I did). I do not want her dealing with this BS at 15. College is hard enough. Sorry, not sorry if this is a close-minded and unpopular opinion. We all have our fears.

[sugarbear]

Aug 20, 2015 22:02:02 GMT -5 expatpumpkin said:

I know it's not fair to generalize, but THIS is one of then reasons my hypothetical daughter will go to an all-girls boarding school (as I did). I do not want her dealing with this BS at 15. College is hard enough. Sorry, not sorry if this is a close-minded and unpopular opinion. We all have our fears.

You do know that most all-girls schools have a connection to an all-boys school, right? 

[expatpumpkin]

Aug 20, 2015 22:16:52 GMT -5 sugarbear said:

Aug 20, 2015 22:02:02 GMT -5 expatpumpkin said:

I know it's not fair to generalize, but THIS is one of then reasons my hypothetical daughter will go to an all-girls boarding school (as I did). I do not want her dealing with this BS at 15. College is hard enough. Sorry, not sorry if this is a close-minded and unpopular opinion. We all have our fears.

You do know that most all-girls schools have a connection to an all-boys school, right? 

Yes, mine did and it was two hours away.  So sexual hazing was just not an issue we dealt with daily.

But of course, when I say my daughter will go to "an" all-girls school, I mean my alma mater

But even if the brother-sister schools are near each other, that's not the same as sharing a campus and taking classes together.

[tres3]

Aug 20, 2015 22:02:02 GMT -5 expatpumpkin said:

I know it's not fair to generalize, but THIS is one of the reasons my hypothetical daughter will go to an all-girls boarding school (as I did). I do not want her dealing with this BS at 15. College is hard enough. Sorry, not sorry if this is a close-minded and unpopular opinion. We all have our fears.

I went to all girls boarding too and I agree.

I want my boys to go to all boys boarding if they go. 

[tres3]

Aug 20, 2015 22:16:52 GMT -5 sugarbear said:

Aug 20, 2015 22:02:02 GMT -5 expatpumpkin said:

I know it's not fair to generalize, but THIS is one of then reasons my hypothetical daughter will go to an all-girls boarding school (as I did). I do not want her dealing with this BS at 15. College is hard enough. Sorry, not sorry if this is a close-minded and unpopular opinion. We all have our fears.

You do know that most all-girls schools have a connection to an all-boys school, right? 

It isn't the same though when boys are on the same campus vs a bus ride away.

Did anyone read "Prep"? 

[tacosforlife]

Aug 21, 2015 5:59:55 GMT -5 tres3 said:

Aug 20, 2015 22:16:52 GMT -5 sugarbear said:

You do know that most all-girls schools have a connection to an all-boys school, right? 

It isn't the same though when boys are on the same campus vs a bus ride away.

Did anyone read "Prep"? 

Prep is one of my favorite books ever.

[jeaniebueller]

I don't know what I think of this case.

[IIOY]

Let me preface my comment by saying that I've read a grand total of three articles about this case - two today and one yesterday. Consequently, my knowledge is limited and I'm open to correction. However, I would not at all be surprised if she was trying to be breezy and go-along, get-along about all of this despite being horribly victimized.  Frankly that behavior strikes me as entirely consistent with an environment that places so much emphasis on a strong social hierarchy and underage girls' fuckability.

[eddy]

Aug 21, 2015 8:15:49 GMT -5 IIOY said:

Let me preface my comment by saying that I've read a grand total of three articles about this case - two today and one yesterday. Consequently, my knowledge is limited and I'm open to correction. However, I would not at all be surprised if she was trying to be breezy and go-along, get-along about all of this despite being horribly victimized.  Frankly that behavior strikes me as entirely consistent with an environment that places so much emphasis on a strong social hierarchy and underage girls' fuckability.

This was exactly my thought. She was 15 at the time. In those early days I bet she didn't have time to process what had happened.

[jeaniebueller]

Bump because he testified yesterday.

www.cnn.com/2015/08/26/us/new-hampshire-prep-scandal/index.html


Concord, New Hampshire (CNN)—Speaking in a calm and assured tone, the graduate of a prestigious New England prep school on trial for rape testified Wednesday that he put on a condom but didn't have sex with a female fellow student because it "didn't feel like the right move."

With his accuser watching in the courtroom, 19-year-old Owen Labrie described the encounter last year with the now-16-year-old girl as consensual.

Labrie said that the two sneaked into an attic room in a St. Paul's School academic building a few days before graduation and together spread a flannel blanket Labrie brought with him.

Sweatshirts, shirts and later pants were removed, he testified, but all of their underwear stayed on.

When a defense attorney asked about their demeanor, Labrie testified they were both giggling and smiling and that the girl held him in an affectionate way.

"I thought she was having a great time," he said.



He said that he may have gotten carried away at times, leading to bruises she reported on her breasts. They were both aroused, he said, so he went to put a condom on, but soon stopped himself.

"I thought I was going to have sex with this girl," he said, but after getting the condom, he testified, he changed his mind.

"It wouldn't have been a good move to have sex with this girl," he told the court. "It would not have been a good choice for me to make."

The liaison awkwardly ended after a few more brief kisses and Labrie hurried to a choir concert, he said.

The young woman testified last week that Labrie penetrated her with his fingers before raping her.

"I was raped!" she said on the stand when a defense lawyer suggested she had sent conflicting signals to the defendant.

Accuser in New Hampshire prep school rape trial breaks down

On Wednesday, the defense depicted Labrie as a great student, on a full scholarship, who wanted to attend Harvard, take divinity classes and perhaps become a minister.

The prosecution repeatedly questioned him about telling friends after the encounter that he had sex with the girl, who was 15 at the time.

He was bragging and lying, Labrie told the court.

He also said for the first time that his boxers were damp and he may have had ejaculated on them before he put on a condom. He didn't tell police about it, he said, because their questions focused on whether the two had sex.

On Tuesday, state criminalist Katie Swango said semen and sperm were found on the young woman's underwear. Further testing of sperm cells found on the underwear were inconclusive. However, some of the biological material found on the underwear matched Labrie's DNA, she said.

Another state criminalist, Kevin McMahon, said he examined a swab from the accuser's cervix and found no evidence of sperm.

Labrie's accuser didn't stay in the courtroom for entire testimony. As he was reading emails the two had exchanged, she stormed out of the courtroom, crying.

She returned when prosecutors questioned Labrie.

Labrie testified that the two knew each other through the girl's older sister, who Labrie dated for a very short time.

Prosecutors repeatedly asked the defendant about his use of the words "slay" or "pork" or "score" and the meaning they had in his conversations with male friends. Labrie testified they were terms used loosely that could mean a range of activities from kissing to sex.

He testified later that he always kept a condom in his wallet, something he did throughout high school.


The prosecution rests

The prosecution rested Tuesday. Labrie's lawyers begin their defense on Wednesday.

The trial has brought unwanted attention to the elite school, the alma mater of Secretary of State John Kerry and half a dozen congressmen.

A campus tradition known as the "Senior Salute" has come under fire for allegedly encouraging seniors to have sexual encounters -- ranging from kissing to intercourse -- with as many younger female students as possible.

Rape trial draws attention to St. Paul's prep school 'Senior Salute' tradition

Labrie first told Det. Julie Curtin the girl had the condom, then said it was his, the detective testified Tuesday. Labrie called the girl and her sister "angels," the detective said, and insisted he would never have had sex with her because of her age.

Curtin said Labrie became frustrated because detectives kept asking about the "Senior Salute." He said seniors took younger girls' virginity with a sense of pride and that younger girls were often proud to lose their virginity to seniors, Curtin said.

On the stand, the girl said she agreed to meet Labrie and accompany him to a machine room. When they kissed, she did not object, she testified. But soon he began to grope her. He bit her chest and tried to remove her underwear, she said.

"I said, 'No, no, no, keep it up here,'" she testified, signaling above her waist. "I tried to be as polite as possible."

Aaron Cooper and Boris Sanchez reported from New Hampshire and Steve Almasy wrote in Atlanta. CNN's Julia Talanova and Ralph Ellis contributed to this report.



















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[LoveTrains]

Aug 21, 2015 5:59:55 GMT -5 tres3 said:

Aug 20, 2015 22:16:52 GMT -5 sugarbear said:

You do know that most all-girls schools have a connection to an all-boys school, right? 

It isn't the same though when boys are on the same campus vs a bus ride away.

Did anyone read "Prep"? 

Yes of course I did, I read it right when it came out.

[LoveTrains]

Aug 21, 2015 8:15:49 GMT -5 IIOY said:

Let me preface my comment by saying that I've read a grand total of three articles about this case - two today and one yesterday. Consequently, my knowledge is limited and I'm open to correction. However, I would not at all be surprised if she was trying to be breezy and go-along, get-along about all of this despite being horribly victimized.  Frankly that behavior strikes me as entirely consistent with an environment that places so much emphasis on a strong social hierarchy and underage girls' fuckability.

This is exactly what I think happened. I am firmly convinced that this poor girl was raped and victimized and she was breezy about it because of all the social pressure. ETA: I am pretty familiar with the new england boarding/independent school scene and I can picture this happening at many other schools and its really sad. 

[anonymous]

Admittedly I am very sensitive to this topic right now, but I absolutely agree with IIOY. I hope he is punished to the fullest extent.

[chicatec]

"I said, 'No, no, no, keep it up here,'" she testified, signaling above her waist. "I tried to be as polite as possible."

This part of her testimony breaks my heart. She was worried that he would think she was being rude while he was raping her.