Meanwhile, parents at St Paul's support rape culture
Chessie Prout is the beautiful, courageous and remarkably
strong girl who was sexually assaulted by Owen Labrie
"I want everyone to know that I am not afraid or ashamed anymore, and I never should have been,'' Chessy Prout, 17, told Savannah Guthrie in an exclusive interview.
Prout was 15 years old when she says she was coerced by the then-18-year-old senior to have sex in a secluded room on St. Paul's School in New Hampshire in May 2014.
Prout discussed where she stands a year after she took the stand against Labrie.
Owen Labrie was allowed to return to Tunbridge, Vermont, despite having previously violated his curfew.
"I hope he learns, I hope he gets help," she said. "And that's all I can ever hope for in any sort of process like this. Because if he doesn't learn, he will do it to another young woman."
Labrie, now 20, was convicted in August 2015 on three counts of misdemeanor sexual assault, felony illegal use of computer services and misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a child. He was acquitted on three counts of felony sexual assault.
Prosecutors tied the assault to the "Senior Salute," a competition in which seniors at the school sought to have sex with underclassmen. He was sentenced to a year behind bars and probation.
Labrie was sentenced to one year in county jail, however, was initially free on curfew while an appeal of the verdict was pending. He was taken into custody after he was found violating that curfew, but was freed again on bail and given a GPS monitor.
He is also registered as a sex offender in New Hampshire during the appeal process.
"It's been two years now since the whole ordeal, and I feel ready to stand up and own what happened to me and make sure other people, other girls and boys, don't need to be ashamed, either,'' Prout said.
She added that the trial could have been avoided with an apology letter and personal responsibility.
Instead, she said she had to take the stand, testifying for three days. She said the trial helped her move forward with the pursuit of justice.
Though she said she's moving forward, she still feels the impact of the assault.
She said, "A question that was asked on the stand was 'Why were you so hazy during that time period" and I looked at the defense attorney in disbelief and said I was raped. I was just trying to go smoothly and not try to cause any waves."
This phenomenon has occurred before where friendly texts occur between a man and the women he assaulted. It is what got Canadian radio star Jian Ghomeshi off after physically assaulting 3 young women during sex. It seems obvious to me that a girl would be in shock after being raped and certainly not able to think clearly and rationally. I did a story just this morning on NHL player Sheldon Kennedy who was sexually abused by his junior coach. He said he felt like a zombie.
Prout's parents, Alex and Susan, have filed a civil suit against St. Paul's School for failing to protect their daughter. The school denies the allegations.
His attorney, Jaye Rancourt, sat down with necn on Tuesday after the interview, revealing Labrie watched Prout's television debut.
"He didn't have much to say about it," she said.
Rancourt said Labrie is more focused on his motion for a new trial.
"We will be successful. He'll get a new trial and at a new trial, the full truth of what occurred will be revealed at that trial," Rancourt said confidently.
On June 15, 2016, A judge in Concord, New Hampshire denied Labrie's previous motion for a new trial.
St. Paul's School issued this statement to "Today":
"As was the case when the survivor was a student here and subsequently, the School admires her courage and condemns unkind behavior toward her. We feel deeply for her and her family. We have always placed the safety and well-being of our students first and are confident that the environment and culture of the school have supported that. We categorically deny that there ever existed at the School a culture or tradition of sexual assault. However, there's no denying the survivors experience caused us to look anew at the culture and environment. This fresh look has brought about positive changes at the School."
Prout also told Guthrie she's taking a stand for sexual assault survivors and is participating in the social media campaign #IHaveARightTo.
Parents support rape culture at St Paul's
The Boston Globe reports documents filed in a New Hampshire federal court Thursday allege that Joshua Abram, described as a "prominent SPS parent" in the filings, contributed $10,000 and solicited more donations from other parents and alumni.
Astonishing! Abram and the other jerks who contributed to the fund have virtually declared Chessie the perpetrator and Labrie the victim. Many extraordinary people may have attended that school, but I'm not impressed with any of them.
The money allegedly helped graduate Owen Labrie pay for prominent attorney J.W. Carney, who represented notorious Boston gangster James "Whitey" Bulger.
Labrie was ultimately sentenced to a year in prison for misdemeanor sexual assault and a felony use of a computer to lure a minor. He allegedly participated in an upperclassmen competition to have sex with female students before graduation.
Prosecutors said the rape was part of Senior Salute, which Labrie described to detectives as a competition in which graduating seniors tried to have sex with underclassmen and kept score on a wall behind a set of washing machines.
Chessie's interview with Savannah Guthrie can be viewed here.
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