Alleged victim testifies for third day in NH prep school rape trial

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A lawyer for a recent graduate of an elite New Hampshire prep school accused of rape has begun cross-examining the accuser, asking whether she told her close friend in graphic details which sex acts she was prepared to engage in.

A girl accusing a former prep school student of rape sobbed on the stand while wrapping up her emotional testimony.

Labrie has pleaded not guilty to three felony sexual assault charges, which each carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. She acknowledged helping Labrie remove her shirt and trousers and said she didn’t protest because she didn’t want to be offensive.

Defense attorney J.W. Carney cross examined the 16-year-old girl Thursday who claims a St. Paul’s School senior sexually assaulted her during graduation week 2014.

“I said, ‘No, no, no, keep it up here, ‘” said the girl, according to the New York Times. At the time, she told a detective she was “excited to have attention” from Labrie and didn’t know “whether to be proud or happy” over their encounter.

Carney is a prominent defense attorney from Boston whose clients have included notorious Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger, terror plotter Tarek Mehanna, and Brookline abortion clinic killer John C. Salvi III.

Carney questioned her for barely a half hour before court closed for the day.

“He pulled her bra down, he bit her breast and it was painful”, she said.

She leads an organization that helps fight sexual violence and is a spokesperson for the alleged victim’s family.

The alleged victim told jurors that Labrie invited her to a remote part of a building on campus, then threw himself upon her. Asked if she was laughing during the encounter, she said “only once or twice” and described it as nervous laughter. The judge in the case has ordered that the names of minors testifying not be made public. Right after the incident that night, she testified that Labrie told her “that was fun”, which she went on to tell the jury that Labrie must be a “very clueless person”.

“I was feeling violated”.

Once Carney completed his questioning, the girl left the stand in tears and quickly exited the courtroom.

“That’s not lying”, she said.

Labrie is accused of participating in a practice at the school known as Senior Salute, when seniors attempt to romance or have intercourse with underclassmen.

Labrie, 19, is also expected to testify during the trial, held a short distance from the St. Paul’s campus.

She testified she felt “frozen” when he became aggressive and she initially felt like the sex assault was her fault for not kicking or screaming or trying to push him off. The “Senior Salute” is an annual competition among senior boys of who can have sex with the largest number of younger female students.