Judge blocked underage sex claim from New Hampshire trial: documents

By Ted Siefer

(Reuters) - A former New Hampshire prep school student convicted of luring an underage classmate into a sexual encounter had a roommate from a prominent family who was alleged to have committed a similar act, but a judge blocked that disclosure from court, documents show.

The 2015 trial of Owen Labrie cast a harsh light on the culture of St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, particularly a tradition known as "senior salute," in which seniors are said to proposition younger students for romantic or sexual encounters.

Labrie, now 20, was cleared of felony rape but convicted of the felony crime of using a computer to arrange a sexual encounter with a minor and misdemeanor sexual assault because the girl was 15, below the age of consent, and he was 18.

Trial transcripts unsealed on Tuesday show that Labrie's attorney, J.W. Carney, had wanted Labrie's roommate - an important trial witness - to testify about a purported sexual encounter that he had with a 15-year-old fellow student, but was blocked from doing so by Judge Larry Smukler.

Carney claimed that the girl's mother wanted Concord Police to investigate a claim that Labrie's roommate Andrew Thomson had a sexual relationship with her daughter but instead a deal was reached in which Thomson agreed to stay off campus.

Thomson was never the subject of a criminal prosecution and his lawyer denied any wrongdoing. He also said any assertion of preferential treatment was unfounded.

"Andrew did not engage in any inappropriate sexual conduct during his time at SPS and there is no allegation that he did," attorney James Rosenberg said in a statement.

But Carney said Thomson's family ties may have played a role. Thomson is the son of Lucy Hodder, an attorney who is the former legal counsel to New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan.

Carney said Hodder's position, including her role as a former trustee of St. Paul’s School, resulted in her son being treated differently than Labrie for the same conduct, "consensual sex with a first-year student."

Carney no longer represents Labrie, who is being held in a New Hampshire jail after his bail was revoked in March for curfew violations. He is appealing his conviction.

Thomson, who was Labrie’s roommate for three years, testified during the trial that Labrie told him that he had sex with the 15-year-old student, contrary to Labrie’s insistence that he stopped short of having sex with her.

(Reporting by Ted Siefer in Lowell, Massachusetts; Editing by Bernard Orr and Alistair Bell)