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 Owen Labrie, 19, has pleaded not guilty to charges of sexually
assaulting the girl at St. Paul's School in Concord in May 2014.
Testifying for the first time since the trial began last week,
Labrie said he had a "playful, affectionate" relationship with the
girl and that he believed she was a willing participant in the
encounter.
"Fumbling to put the condom on, I thought to myself, 'Maybe we
shouldn't do this,'" he said. "It wouldn't have been a good move, to
have sex with this girl."
Defense attorney J.W. Carney asked Labrie, "Was there anything
whatsoever to indicate this was something [the girl] did not want to
do?"
"No," Labrie replied.
 The girl rushed out of the courtroom during Labrie's testimony.
Labrie faces three felony assault charges, which each carry a
sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
His accuser, now 16, testified last week that she had expected to
kiss Labrie when she accepted his invitation but had not been ready
for his aggressive approach. She said Labrie raped her but that she
did not immediately report the attack because she did not want to
spoil her older sister's graduation weekend.
"I was raped. I was violated in so many ways," she said.
Prosecutor Joseph Cherniske questioned the truthfulness of Labrie's
account, citing email and Facebook messages in which a friend asked
how he had persuaded the girl to have sex with him.
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"Your response was, 'I pulled every trick in the book,'" Cherniske
said, quoting a message Labrie wrote.
Labrie said he had lied to friends.
"I wanted to boast to my friends afterward. I misled them," he said.
Several of Labrie's friends testified he had told them he had sex
with the girl.
The trial has cast a spotlight on a school tradition known as the
"senior salute." It involves graduating students extending
invitations to get together with younger students, often for sexual
purposes, several students testified during the trial.
St. Paul's, whose alumni include powerful U.S. business and
political leaders such as Secretary of State John Kerry, has said
"senior salute" does not reflect its values.
(Writing by Scott Malone; Editing by Bill Trott and Mohammad
Zargham)
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