Owen Labrie’s trial attorney tried to show evidence that his roommate at St. Paul’s School was also having sex with an underage student but, unlike Labrie, was never prosecuted, according to a transcript newly released by the state Supreme Court.
The attorney, J.W. Carney, suggested in a bench conference with Judge Larry Smukler that Labrie’s roommate, Andrew Thomson, was engaging in similarly illicit relations with a 15-year-old girl, and that the school handled it internally.
“The girl’s mother checked (Thomson’s) e-mails and Facebook, and believed that this witness had had sex with the girl,” Carney said, according to the transcript. “She wanted there to be an investigation by the Concord police. Ultimately the matter was resolved whereby if this witness agreed to stay away from the campus for three years while the first year student completed her studies, that would be the (impetus).”
Thomson is the son of Lucy Hodder, Gov. Maggie Hassan’s former legal counsel and a member of St. Paul’s board of trustees. Carney went on to imply that Thomson was essentially given a pass because of Hodder’s connections.
“So this matter, if it’s just consensual sex with a first year student, gets handled with his agreeing to stay away from the campus, in contrast to my client who has, you know, powerful connections to make to the school or to the community,” he said.
While the trial last summer focused on a specific encounter on May 30, 2014, it also centered on a then-growing tradition among seniors at the school, in which they competed for dates with underclassman, sometimes including sex. The school knew of the practice, called the senior salute, as early as 2013.
The development comes at a potentially important moment for St. Paul’s. Lawyers for the family of Labrie’s victim have been weighing a lawsuit since the trial ended in August, and have said that they ultimately want new reforms put in place at the school to ensure the future safety of minors.
Steve Silverman, one of the attorneys for the family, said Tuesday that the claims against Thomson are “additional evidence of an irresponsible administration.”
Smukler ultimately barred Carney’s line of questioning from trial, agreeing with prosecutors that it lacked relevance.
On Tuesday, Thomson’s lawyer, Jim Rosenberg, called the accusations “unfounded.”
“Andrew did not engage in any inappropriate sexual conduct during his time at SPS and there is no allegation that he did,” Rosenberg wrote in an email, adding that Carney’s remarks seemed to be entirely tactical.
“Andrew and his family share the sadness of all of those that have been caught up in this matter and their hearts go out to the St. Paul’s School students and families for what they have been through during this ordeal,” Rosenberg said.
Neither Thomson nor Hodder responded directly when asked to comment. St. Paul’s issued a brief written statement, denying that it ever made an agreement with Thomson “for him to stay off campus for three years.”
Merrimack County Attorney Scott Murray said police and prosecutors in Concord “thoroughly investigated the case” and “were presented with no evidence which would have supported sexual assault allegations against other individuals.”
Thomson, now a sophomore at Brown University, testified that Labrie boasted to him about his encounter with the 15-year-old girl at the center of the trial last summer (she was not the same girl with which Thomson purportedly had a relationship). The legal age of consent in New Hampshire is 16.
“He eventually told me that, in his words, that he ‘boned’ her,” Thomson told Assistant County Attorney Joe Cherniske.
On cross-examination, according to the transcript, Carney began to question Thomson about the freshman with whom he had been exchanging online messages. But Cherniske objected, and asked for both sides to approach the bench.
“I don’t know why this witness’s engaging with girls on campus has anything to do with why we’re here,” Cherniske said.
“Your Honor,” Carney replied, “it’s being offered to show them potential bias and prejudice of the witness in the favor of the Concord police.”
Carney explained that Thomson had agreed to cooperate with police early on, and would have had incentive because his alleged conduct “would have been the same crime that (Labrie) here is charged with.”
“He knew he was in the same situation,” Carney said, “and he knew that the mother of the alleged girl had wanted to begin an investigation because of this.”
Thomson was one of four former friends who testified about Labrie’s comments on and behavior toward female students in the spring of 2014, when he was a senior at the prep school and had just been admitted to Harvard. Labrie’s online messages to them were often ridden with crude, hypersexualized language.
Carney tried to place the remarks in context, insisting that Labrie’s behavior had been a product of his school environment. He showed similarly explicit notes from some of the friends who had testified, and said that one of them, a classmate named Tucker Marchese, had crafted a list with Labrie of 19 girls who, as Marchese put it, “we would enjoy getting to know better.”
After Labrie confided in him about the May 30 encounter, Marchese testified, he responded online, “I can’t believe you poked her, dude.”
But Carney stopped short of accusing any one student of engaging in the same illicit physical behavior.
Prosecutors tried last month to seal the transcript from the bench conference, but the Supreme Court said it has no legal grounds.
“Having reviewed the transcript and the parties’ memoranda, the court determines that there is no statute, administrative or court rule, or other compelling interest that requires that the portions of the case record that are the subject of the State’s motion be kept confidential,” the justices wrote in an order signed Friday.
Labrie, now 20, was convicted of statutory rape, endangering the welfare of a child and using a computer to lure the girl into their encounter, which she described as nonconsensual. He has appealed the convictions and separately petitioned for a new trial, claiming ineffective counsel.
Like Labrie, Thomson was an athlete at St. Paul’s and a prefect, or dorm leader, meaning he received training on the prevention and reporting of statutory rape. Carney did not specify when Thomson’s alleged relationship with the underclassman took place. Thomson turned 18 in September of 2013, the beginning of his senior year. He and Labrie had been roommates since their sophomore year.
Hodder joined the St. Paul’s board in 2012, and became Hassan’s legal counsel the next year. Before that, she was an assistant attorney general. A prominent legal figure in the state, she is now the director of health law and policy programs at the University of New Hampshire School of Law.
In a statement Tuesday afternoon, Hassan’s spokeswoman Ricki Eshman said the governor was just learning of the developments.
“While we were aware that Andrew Thomson was testifying in this case, the Governor had no knowledge of the defense attorney’s accusations prior to today’s reports and the testimony in question took place months after Lucy Hodder left the office,” Eshman said.
(Jeremy Blackman can be reached at 369-3319, jblackman@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @JBlackmanCM.)