Later, the court also heard from several key witnesses in the case, as the prosecutor sought to show that the girl had been forced against her will to have sexual intercourse with the then-18 year defendant two days before he graduated from the St. Paul’s School here in Concord.
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She describes the initial friendly and flattering exchanges she had with Labrie, who “invited” her to join him in the Senior Salute.
In a series of letters over the past year to students and parents of St. Paul’s School, Rector Michael Hirschfeld says the school has re-examined campus culture to see how the “Senior Salute” was allowed to develop.
“A school ritual in which older students proposition younger ones for as much intimacy as they can get away with: a kiss, touching, or more.”
The Associated Press generally doesnt identify people who say they are the victims of sexual assault.
“I was raped. I was violated in so many ways”, the teen said during the third day of 19-year-old Owen Labrie’s trial on charges including raping a person under the age of 16, the legal age of consent in New Hampshire.
“A “yes” or “no” answer would not do that justice”, she said.
Carney questioned her for barely a half hour before court closed for the day.
The messages after the encounter were similarly shielded, Carney said, with the girl calling Labrie an angel and writing “hahaha” in messages.
Set on a leafy, shaded campus on the hem of New Hampshire’s capital city, St. Paul’s looks more college than high school. “I didn’t want to believe this was happening to me”.
She declined at first but then changed her mind. In response to mandatory questions, the teen said that her encounter had been “consensual” but also appeared “anxious” and “teary-eyed”, Marcelli testified. The girl says it was rape, even if she didn’t kick or scream or otherwise make it clear that she wasn’t okay with it.
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“I’m thinking how naive of myself, and I never should have left my room that night”, she said “I felt like I was out of my body….” But as the encounter escalated, she said – Labrie pressing her to the ground, his head moving down her stomach – she froze, unsure of what more she could do without offending him or coming off as “bitchy”. In this case, the accuser said her friends told her she should be flattered by a senior’s attention, and that was part of why she agreed to meet him in a secluded location despite initially rebuffing his invitation. “That I couldn’t do anything else”, she told the jury tearing up. The “Senior Salute” is an annual competition among senior boys of who can have sex with the largest number of younger female students. Due to the trial, stories about the salute have emerged, with some saying the tradition is actually about “winning” by taking the virginity of a freshman girl. “That a senior had thought that this girl was pretty enough, interesting enough to be the focus of a senior salute”, Carney said in court. “She is thankful she went through the criminal process, and regardless of the results, she knows that … she has stood up for herself, she has spoken her truth”. The alleged victim will continue her testimony on Wednesday. The trial is scheduled to last roughly one week. He was a prefect at St. Paul’s and had been accepted to Harvard, where he planned to study theology.
