It does happen. There are a lot of candidates out there, but we have to exceed expectations and we have to do very well in iowa. But, you know, were already moving up. Were fifth in the Des Moines Register poll consistently, but we think it might be we might get twice as much as whats in there, three times as much. We think we can do much better than expected. We think we even have another chance of winning. What happens to the people who dont survive here in iowa . Where does their vote go when you get to New Hampshire in your judgment . You know, im not sure exactly what happens. There are going to be four or five people that, you know, are not going to do very well here. I dont think christie, kasich, fiorina going to do well in iowa. I think they move on because they think theyll do better in New Hampshire, but i think after New Hampshire and iowa there is a reshuffling of the deck. Theres a place called this is one of the most popular ones coming out of iowa. This is the one i support the crazy one. Whoever it is. Thank you all, senator paul, thank you. Well be back next week from New Hampshire. But we got coverage all day long today, tomorrow. Dont miss it. If its sunday, its meet the press. Night. She called me crying inconsolably, something awful had happened. The pain was huge for her, for our family. Its been excruciating. In this celebrated place, a shattering case. The prep school rape trial. A pretty freshman, a popular senior. He was handsome. Captain of the soccer team. Glasses. Looking like harry potter. What had happened that night . And who was telling the truth . Tonight an exclusive interviews, both sides break their silence. She just wanted to do what was right. He is an honest, kind, caring person. At the heart of it all, a secret. A facebook message. Every trick in the book. These boys were involved in a game. This was a game to them. You saw emotion in him, real emotion. It could be my son, it could be your son. Its just tragedy all the way around. Im lester holt. And this is dateline. Heres Natalie Morales with one spring night. Young dreams are nurtured, where young adults are taught to live meaningful lives and are sometimes groomed for greatness. But even in places of power and privilege, teens face the same temptations and dilemmas and one wrong choice can ruin it all. Part of a sick game and tradition. The case drew national scrutiny. She did say no and no should still mean no. There are two victims in this case, both the girl and my client, the boy. Reporter for more than a century and a half, st. Pauls school in concord, New Hampshire, has taught the lucky few in a rarefied world most people could only imagine. Has got this, i think, unparalleled record of where weve sent out alumni who have gone on to just achieve things to their highest ability. Reporter katie tarbox is a graduate of st. Pauls. Theyre really creating people who go on to be great leaders. Reporter ambassadors, industrialists, Pulitzer Prize winners and politicians. Like secretary of state john kerry. Owen labrie came to st. Pauls from a solidly middle class background. He won a full scholarship and took the school by storm. Soccer, crew, the School Newspaper and radio station. Its very, very smart kid, a lot smarter than i am. Reporter john, a friend of owen labries, also attended st. Pauls. I think owen is a natural born leader, as you can see through those roles that he was put in, the soccer captain and all that. Reporter by his senior year, he owned the place. But owen was moving on to bigger he spent the year applying to colleges, after several months of nailbiting, he caught the brass ring, a full ride to harvard. This is a kid who had everything going for him. Absolutely. Reporter what could go wrong . Well, as it turns out, plenty. Which brings us to one of st. Pauls newer traditions, the senior salute. Had you heard, when you were there, of the senior salute . The senior salute was just nothing that was a part of my life there. Ive spoken to alumni throughout the years. I mean, my best guess is that this began around five years ago. Reporter it was the kind of tradition that students only whispered about, but owen labrie knew all about the senior salute. Labrie said that it was something that most people on campus were aware of. Reporter Jamie Novograd has reported on the labrie case for the summer of 2014. He talked about it as an opportunity for a person who is leaving the school, who is graduating into a new experience, to connect with people that the student may have always been interested in. Reporter and the student owen labrie was interested in was a cute freshman girl who caught his eye at the start of his senior year. He had briefly dated her sister, also a senior, but now he singled out the 15yearold for a senior salute. Although he cast it in pretty benign and gentle terms. Reporter the invitation was in writing, and aside from the fact that it was an email, it had the chivalrous tone of another century. It read, while the sound of my name in your inbox makes me blush perhaps more than it should, theres something i want to share with you and my evenings left to do it are growing fewer by the evening. I want to invite you to come steps and to bask in the nicest view millville ever had to offer. She turned him down on the advice of her sister, suggesting hed been a little too popular with the girls, including some other third formers or freshmen. Owen, although i would like to climb those hidden steps with you, id have to decline. I would like to climb that, not the list of third formers that have spent quality time with you. So owen asked a friend to intercede with the girl, and shortly after that, he got another email from her. This one in french. Saying she would meet him, but it would have to be their little secret. They met on the night of may 30th, 2014. It was just after 9 00. They enter the math and sciences building, they climb up the steps, they go to the roof. Reporter and there, as he had promised her, was a spectacular view. Lights were twinkling, he had a key to an annex on the roof. Reporter they kiss, that much is certain. But after that, their stories diverge. According to owen, they made out for a while, and then they left separately. But the young girl told a different story. As she left the building, she runs into a friend of hers, and she says that she told the individual, i think i just had sex with owen labrie. Reporter two days later st. Pauls was celebrating its graduation. Owen was honored with the rectors award for selfless devotion to school activity. But while owen was savoring his award and imagining his brilliant future, the 15yearold girl was asking a school nurse for the morningafter pill. The nurse asked her whether the sex had been nonconsensual. And the girl told the nurse that the sex had been consensual. The girls friends could tell something was wrong. Her resident adviser heard her crying and told her to call her parents. Her mother spoke with dateline in an exclusive interview, but asked us not to show her face to protect her daughters identity. Ill never forget it. It was at midnight. And she called me crying inconsolably, and she said something awful had happened. And i said i would be there in the morning and we would get through it together. Reporter what she couldnt have known then was that this very private exchange would throw her daughter into the glare of the spotlight and a very ugly, very public battle that would change her life and the life of owen labrie perhaps forever. When we come back she was in shock, kind of owens senior salute, an invitation or a competition . There was a lot of underaged girls being targeted, not just her. What did happen in that darkened building on campus . That would quickly become a question for police. The more you sweat degrees Motionsense Technology keeps you fresh with every move. It has unique microcapsules that contain fragrances. Friction breaks the capsules. Releasing bursts of freshness all day. Whether youre meeting a deadline. Grabbing a bite. Or heading out for the night. Motionsense, protection to keep you moving. Degree, it wont let you down. Man sternly where do you think youre going . Mr. Mucus to work, with you. Its taco tuesday. Man youre not coming. I took mucinex to help get rid of my mucusy congestion. Im go od all day. [announcer ] mucinex keeps working. Not 4, not 6, but 12 hours. Recently weve noticed some ads created by these two birds, inviting you to stay away from the streak free shine of windex. Well dear windex users these ads are false. Sfx squeaks from Window Cleaning clean glass is better than dirty glass. Dont stand for dirty. Use windex. cell phone rings where are you . Well the squirrels are back in the attic. Mom . Your dad wont call an exterminator. He says its personal this time. If youre a mom, you call at the worst time. Its what you do. If you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. R its what you do. Where are you . R its very loud there. Are you taking at zumba class . Try the superior hold. Of fixodent plus adhesives. They help your denture hold strong more like natural teeth. And you can eat even tough food. Fixodent. Strong more like natural teeth. Today you can do everything in just one click, even keep your toilet clean and fresh. Introducing lysol click gel. Click it in to enjoy clean freshness with every flush. Lysol. Start healthing. Yeah, click olay total effects a skin transformation that rivals the leading Department Store moisturizer. Revives skin to fight 7 signs of aging. With olay, you age less, so you can be ageless. Reporter the dust had just settled from Graduation Day at st. Pauls school. Senior owen labrie had already headed home, but the 15yearold girl he invited to that still at school and in tears. On monday night after graduation, she called her mother, and what she was about to say would break her mothers heart and rock the school to its foundation. Was she emotional when she called you . Yes. She was inconsolable. She said that something awful had happened. Reporter the girl told her mother that she had been raped. Her assailant, she said, was none other than the accomplished and popular soccer captain owen labrie. The girl had kept her story to herself that whole weekend the family was together for her older sisters graduation. It took her a few days to have the guts perhaps to call you, is that what it was . Or maybe she was still processing what had happened . Im not surprised how she reacted because she we were all there for our daughters graduation. Been waiting for this moment for four years. Grandma is well taken care of and, you know, she did what she needed to do that weekend to get through the weekend. She was in shock, kind of shocked and in disbelief herself. Reporter laura dunn is a victims rights advocate and attorney who had been working with the 15yearold and her family. And when did she really start to process that this wasnt something that she had wanted . She definitely knew it was wrong right away, but her family was in town celebrating, and she had a lot of fear of what that would do to that weekend, what that would take from her sister. Reporter the mother raced to her daughters side and wasted no time in getting her daughter to the hospital. There nurses conducted a rape test. The mother called st. Pauls and the School Called the police. It was tuesday, june 3rd. And the investigation began. Reporter the underwear the girl wore that night showed the presence of semen. Only been with owen labrie. She also told them to owen and his friends the senior salute was a competition to see who could hook up with the most girls. There was a lot of underaged girls being targeted, not just her. Reporter the girl told police she actually knew about it, and she thought it was a daring thing to do. But not dangerous. Because part of the senior salute is supposed to be some type of privilege and kind of interesting experience and so she thought it was safe to go. Reporter with her mother present, police asked the girl to show them the machine room where she says it happened. Can you take me back to that moment and what you saw. She couldnt make it to the stairs. She got almost to the top of the stairs and they opened the door and she collapsed. She couldnt move. You know, it was a horrible show someone unless you have awful cruel intentions. Reporter owen first spoke to police on june 11th from maine. He didnt just deny raping the girl. He denied they had intercourse at all. Did he ever tell you about what happened on that night . Yeah, we spoke at length about what had happened there and he always stuck by his story. Reporter he maintained he didnt have sex with the young girl. Yes. Reporter he said the same thing when he met with police in concord the next day. But by then, police had gained access to owens online activities. His own emails and social media posts weeks and months before the incident suggested he was eager to score with a girl. There was one friend who wrote labrie appearing to joke about how young this girl was. They spoke rather breezily about women in general, about sex, about things having to do with particular girl. Reporter armed with the girls allegations and owens social media posts, Police Arrested him on july 16th. He was charged with aggravated felonious Sexual Assault, misdemeanor Sexual Assault and using a computer to lure a victim to a crime. Over the next few months, he was offered plea deals, but he turned them down. By the end of the summer, harvard had quietly withdrawn its offer. St. Pauls took back its award. Like a house of cards, his life had fallen apart. But so had hers, and with the trial looming, soon everyone would know the secret about st. Pauls. Coming up how did that feel to you . Really painful. One teenager on the witness stand and another at the defense table. Really young . This was a game to them. Reporter on august 18th, 2015, owen labrie walked into an unusual kind of school reunion. His family was there, so were some former classmates. But so, too, were television cameras. The one time model students trial on felony rape had become a national story. If convicted, he faced up to 60 years in prison. Its probably not the face of when you think of a Sexual Assault. Reporter Prosecutor Catherine Ruffle had a clear message for the jury this case is about owen labries sexually assaulting a 15yearold girl. Reporter your first witness was the accuser. Why . In my experience, juries are very anxious to hear the story, and its important for them to connect to the victim and hear do you see owen in the courtroom yes, i do. Im sorry. Reporter you wont be able to see the girl. Were not identifying her and are disguising her voice. But her mom painted a picture of her daughter for us. Shes an athlete, a musician, a scholar, a great allaround human being that did nothing to deserve this. Reporter how difficult was it for her to be able to face and deal with what she would have to deal with in a trial . She never once said, i regret speaking up, never once. Even in some of the darkest hours where, you know, the pain was huge for her, for our family. Shes always stayed very strong. Reporter the girl knew labrie in passing, she testified, and had heard he had a reputation for hitting on female students. So when he sent her that email asking to meet, she turned him i thought he came in with the worst of intentions, as in to get me there to just kiss me. Reporter but she said she changed her mind after another student told her labrie was a good guy. And she admitted she was excited when they snuck up to the roof of the lindsey building. It was a beautiful view. I was thankful or lucky to be up there, i told myself. Reporter but that feeling disappeared, the girl said, when labrie led her into the machine room. It was virtually completely dark. It was a place where no one would have passed through, no one would have heard them, no one would have seen them. Reporter not a romantic place at all. Not a romantic place, no. What did you do when you went inside . He took me behind a concrete wall. And started to kiss me. Reporter the girl said she didnt mind that at first, but then she said labrie started touching her in places that made her. How did that feel to you . Really painful. Did you say anything to him when he did that . I didnt say anything. I felt like i was frozen. Reporter what did she mean by that . This is actually really common. A lot of people think fight or flight is the way to respond. But its fight, flight and freeze. Freeze is a hugely common one, especially in your young. So her testimony is very consistent with someone experiencing trauma of sexual violence. Reporter the girl said the incident was jumbled in her mind but she remembered there were moments she did ask labrie to stop. I said no three times. And i dont know in that moment, i dont know how i could have made it any more clear. Reporter but the girl testified labrie didnt listen so the jury had heard the girls story of assault. The prosecutor hoped her next witnesses would offer evidence to back it up. This e. R. Nurse told the jury shed observed a small abrasion on the girls genitals. Could that be consistent with an assault that had occurred several days earlier . Yes. Reporter this forensic expert compared dna found in the girls underwear from that night to a dna sample given by the defendant. To a reasonable degree of scientific certainty, they matched. Reporter detective julie curtain was the first one to take the girls statement. She also interviewed owen labrie. He gave me all the reasons why he said he he wouldnt have done this, because of her age, his age and his position. Reporter but thats not what labrie told his roommate and other Close Friends in the hours and days after the incident. And the prosecutor called some of them to the stand. He eventually told me that, in his words, that he had boned reporter whats more, the prosecutor told the jury labrie had been planning to have sex what evidence did you have for that . His own words and his messages and exchanges with his friends. Reporter four months before the incident, labrie told his friend, malcolm, in a facebook message, that he wanted to hook up with this girl more than anyone else in the school. Then what do you answer . I say, ha ha, are you kidding me, bro . And what does he respond to you . He says, total babe. And your next message . Isnt she a tessa. Reporter labrie decided to do something about his crush and actively targeted her. Owen and another classmate they thought would be potential senior salute invitations that they would extend. And her name was the only name on that list that was in capital letters. Reporter Tucker Marchese was a friend who helped put that list together. He read an email labrie sent him. Welcome to an eight week exercise in debauchery, a probing exploration of the innermost meanings of the word sleazebag. Reporter why did you want the jury to hear that . Because it showed the intent. It showed the purpose. It showed the motivation. And it showed that these boys were involved in a game. This was a game to them. Reporter there was one more facebook conversation between labrie and his friend that the prosecutor wanted the jury to hear. An exchange labrie had deleted from his computer when he found out he was being investigated. How did it go from no to bone . Whats that mean . How did it go from my previous understanding that they were not going to hang out to understanding of them having sex. Then whats he say . Just pulled every trick in the book. We thought that was very telling that he would respond in the way that he did because it confirmed what she had reported to us, that she did say no. Reporter the prosecution rested its case. And the young man they said had preyed upon his schoolmate, had stolen her innocence, knew his turn had come. He was ready to take the stand and tell a very different story. Coming up i was raped. A witness at the breaking point. A new portrait of owen, his accuser and what happened that spring night. She would be like on top of me a little bit, wed roll over and giggle or something. Post office. They have businesses to run. They have passions to pursue. How do they avoid trips stamps. Com mail letters, ship packages, all the services of the post office right on your computer. Get a 4 week trial, plus 100 in extras including postage and a digital scale. Go to stamps. Com tv and never go to the post office again. Are you tired of hazardous glass made so clear by sfx slide show windex that you dont even know its there . Sfx slide show smudge it with the new smudge stick even clear glass gets visibly smudged in a snap. Sfx smudge sounds against glass get it now and say no to spotless clear windex glass. Here in the city, parking is hard to find. Seems like everyone drives. And those who do should switch to geico because you could save hundreds on car insurance. Valet parking. X evening, sir. Hello heres the keys. 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I was violated. He was very clear that he was putting the credibility of the girl in question. You try not to lie as much as possible. I try not to. Sometimes i guess youre unsuccessful. No. Reporter carney argued owens accuser went willingly into that darkened mechanical room where she gave every sign that she wanted to make out. Statements to police. He couldnt know that i was uncomfortable because i was laughing. Are those your words . Those are my words, yes. Reporter and continuing in the sentence i was trying to be cool. Right . Yes. Calm, cool and collected. Reporter he insisted that the witness, in her own words to police, had described a hookup with owen labrie that she found titillating. So you did like the attention from him when he was taking off your pants . Right . No, i said i was excited. Okay. You were excited when he took off your pants. Is that more accurate . Yes, and the word excited has many different definitions to me. Crossexamining a young girl is one of the most difficult things that a criminal defense lawyer has to do. And when the person who is not being truthful is a young girl, you have to show that to the jury. Yourself, to tell a lie, that justifies it, doesnt it . No, it does not. Reporter to the defense there was no proof of rape, no proof of a crime, no proof even that the two had sexual intercourse. Owens friend had testified that he had bragged about having sex with the accuser. But they also admitted that owen might have been chest thumping to impress them. In your experience as a high school student, maybe someone would Say Something happened when it really didnt. Its possible. Reporter why would he do that . One of the most unfortunate things that came out at this trial is the culture at st. Pauls school. He wanted to be accepted by his classmates, and so when his friends asked him if he had actually had sex with the complainant, he was all too lie that he did have sex with her. Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you will reporter to better explain to it the jury, the defense called its one and only witness to the stand. My name is owen labrie. Reporter he started by explaining the culture at st. Pauls prep. And how crude talk about girls and sex was what all the guys did. Kids at school, especially when talking about girls, would use pretty much exclusively slang. For example, hookup, score, slay . Were these types of words used daily at st. Pauls high school . Yes. Reporter all harmless fun, he said. Like the schools senior salute ritual. He did not see it as a sleazy chance to score with younger girls. My understanding of the senior salute was an invitation sent toward the end of the school year either from an older asking to hang out before the older student graduated. Reporter this was owens chance to explain in calm, measured tones, the sequence of events that unfolded as he saw them. He said he only wanted, in those final hours at this school he so respected, to show a younger classmate something special. Its one of the tallest buildings on campus. So at night you look out, you can see all the dorms lit up. Reporter eventually they left the roof and together, he said, wandered into that darkened mechanical room. They started kissing. Clothes came off. A blanket was thrown down. After a few minutes, you know, on the blanket, you know, she would be like on top of me a little bit, maybe like one leg between mine and wed roll over and, you know, giggle or something. We took our shirts off. Reporter followed by their shorts. Still, he insisted they managed her bra never came off. Did she recoil in any way at this point . Or draw back . No. Reporter he admitted things got out of hand quickly. At some point he decided to protect them both. I was going to have sex with this girl, so i stood up and i walked over to my shorts, which were by the wall, and i reached into my shorts and i took out my wallet and i looked in my wallet and i took out a condom. Reporter but then, he insists,y had had a moment of clarity. He said he stood up and put a stop to it all. It wouldnt have been a good move to have sex with this girl. You know. And there were two nights left at school. It wouldnt have been a good choice for me, to me. Reporter he said they got dressed, kissed and parted. Later in an email, he typed, youre an angel. And she responded, youre quite in the time after the encounter that night, both owen and the complainant were very affectionate toward each other. Indeed, at one point she noted that she had lost her earring, ha, ha, ha. And owen responded, ill go and look for it tomorrow and see if i can find it. This is not the interchange between a victim and her rapist. Reporter the defense told the court that it was only later when gossip spread on campus about their encounter that she panicked and cried rape. Cocounsel Sam Zaganjori why would she then bring all of this up and put herself through torture of a trial and all of the now harm that she has had to endure . On High School Campus, rumor travels very quickly. This was her reputation or owens reputation. Reporter owen labrie had his version of events. Thank you, mr. Labrie. Thats all i have. Reporter now, it was time for the prosecutor to question the defendant and a witness chair would soon turn into a hot seat for owen labrie. Coming up did you lie to him . Yes. Which story was the truth . And who would the jury believe . For the first time you saw emotion in him, real emotion. The verdict. When dateline continues. Starvation and frostbite. Today we make history. Bienvenidos welcome to the south pole if youre dora the explorer, you explore. Its what you do. What took you so long . 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Pauls were so different from each other. You have the opportunity reporter owen told the jury he hadnt even had sex with his 15yearold classmate. It wouldnt have been a good choice for me to make. Reporter but that story of selfrestraint which he had been telling to detectives and friends from the beginning was about to be tested publicly for the first time. The prosecutor went head to head crossexamination. You want all of these people here to believe that after all that time spent thinking about her and having foreplay that you just stopped . I didnt just stop. We kissed some more afterward, but i didnt have sex with her. Reporter so the prosecutor asked why labrie had told his friends something entirely different. Did you lie to them . Yes. Do you have a problem lying . Yeah, you know, i really, you know, i wish i hadnt. It is easy for you to lie . No. Reporter then what could explain why he had deleted more than 100 Facebook Messages from his computer, the prosecutor asked. They were incriminating, werent they . No. Reporter it would be up to the jury to decide who the real owen was. Rapist who had stolen the innocence of his 15yearold schoolmate. After two weeks of testimony the case was in their hands. Both families waited nervously. Michelle and her son john who had taken owen in after he was charged were at labries side. They say he was anxious but serene. Did he ever show anger at the things that were being said in court, that it wasnt according to his own version of the events of that night . Owen never really demonstrated anger to me. That was the amazing thing about it. Owen never once demonstrated any type of frustration or animosity towards the process, towards the people that were testifying. Reporter as for the accusers mother, she was just as amazed at her daughters resilience. Her. But being a pretty pure soul, she just wanted to do what was right all the way through. Reporter then after two days of deliberations, word came there was a verdict. Owen labrie stood with his attorneys as the jury filed in. How say you, madam foreperson, how do you find the Defendant Owen Labrie . Reporter labrie listened as the clerk read the first charge, that he had used a computer to lure his underage accuser into having sex. It was a felony crime with severe penalties. Guilty or not guilty . Guilty. Reporter with those words, labrie went from High School Graduate to felon and sex offender. The young man sobbed. For the first time in two weeks you saw emotion in him. Real emotion. Acquitted of the three other felonies he faced, the counts of forceable rape. You say, madam foreperson, that the Defendant Owen Labrie is not guilty . Yes. Reporter instead, the jury convicted him of misdemeanor Sexual Assault and endangering the welfare of a child. As the courtroom emptied, owen labrie reached for his mothers hand. He was granted bail until his sentencing. But his Defense Attorneys werent done fighting. In addition to possible prison time under the Communications Decency act, labries conviction for using a computer to contact his victim meant that he would automatically have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. This punishment is so unusual and cruel based on what owen did, that i think it should be overturned. Reporter so its punishment that does not fit the crime in absolutely correct. Reporter labries defense had a surprising ally perhaps in katie tarbox, the st. Pauls alum helped get the computer law passed 20 years ago after being sexually assaulted when she was 13 years old by a 41yearold man she met online. She was shocked that law was being applied to the owen labrie case. The intent of that law was to punish pedophiles who were essentially going into like teen chat rooms posing as teenagers to lure vulnerable and innocent teenagers into situations that they didnt want to be lured in. Reporter some people have said that its not fair that owen now will have to register as a sexual offender. I dont know why anyone would think its unfair that an 18yearold young man who purposefully targeted a young underaged girl for sex would be in trouble now. Allow such behavior to be go unpunished. Reporter but in a hail harry motion filed at the courthouse, thats what the attorney asked the judge to consider, to spare him a lifetime as a registered sex offender. Coming up another dramatic moment for owen labrie and another dramatic message from the victim at the center. And i want justice. He was once a young man known for being the best of the best at st. Pauls school. Now owen labrie was convicted of a felony. This means he has to register how damaging is that to him . Its a Scarlet Letter and in his case for life. Reporter his defense had filed a motion asking the judge to set aside that felony conviction. The judge denied it. So as labrie sat in court for his sentencing yesterday, he faced the possibility of serious time behind bars. May it please the Court Reporter his defense attorney pleaded with the judge to spare a young man. Owens only crime here, he said, was that he acted like a teenaged boy. The inescapable conclusion that one draws from the jurys verdict is that this was a consensual encounter by two teenagers. Reporter but the prosecutor, catherine ruffle, reminded the judge that the jury had convicted owen labrie for preying on an underaged girl. Time in prison and treatment in a prison Sex Offender Program your honor, i ask you to take that into consideration because, again, that is such an important component for his successful rehabilitation. Reporter if that was your own son, an 18yearold who made a stupid mistake, a stupid mistake you can possibly make, does it seem fair that he will pay for that for the rest of his life . He had several opportunities to accept responsibility and enter into negotiated dispositions that would have called for something less. He opted not to do that. Reporter and then it was her turn to speak. The young victim, now 17, at the heart of all of this. Honorable judge reporter in a video statement she told the judge that she pitied labrie, but he deserved punishment as severe as the one he had imposed on her. Without just and right punishment, i really dont know how ill put one foot in front of the other. For the rest of my life. I want to be safe again. And i want justice. Reporter labrie seemed to brace himself just as the judge said he was ready to announce the sentence. I observe and believe that you are neither the angel that is portrayed by your counsel and the attached letters in your memorandum, nor the devil that is portrayed by the state. Reporter and with that, he imposed the sentence. Youre going to do a year in the house of corrections. And probation. Reporter a year in jail, probation and registration as a sex offender. And the judge was quick to add he didnt believe that the girl had given her consent. She was in over her head. And thats very clear. Reporter but instead of owen labries mother grabbed him and sobbed. After the court said he would go home for now pending an appeal. Im going to be handling the appeal for owen. Reporter his appeal lawyer says theres even a chance labrie will avoid jail altogether and clear his name as a registered sex offender. The best Case Scenario is that we win all of our issues on appeal, we come back to trial on the misdemeanors and we prevail there. Thats the best Case Scenario. Reporter the family friend now says he can think about his future, whatever it may be. And i think that he really is looking forward to this finally coming to an end for him so that he can move on with his life. Reporter as for the victim, her mother told us her daughter finally feels vindicated. I was very satisfied that the judge acknowledged the extreme actions had on my daughter. I hope that it signals to my daughter that this hasnt been in vain, that somebody hurt her. Reporter i know that she feels shes a voice now for others who may feel like they dont have that voice. Yes. And were very, very grateful to the authorities here in New Hampshire for treating her with the dignity and respect that they did from the very, very beginning. Reporter nbc news asked st. Pauls for comment on this case. It declined. But in an earlier statement, the school did say the following. The entire st. Pauls School Community has been deeply affected by this incident. It is our responsibility to ensure that our students live and Learn Together in a community that is built on respect, caring and support for one another. In the end, says victims advocate, laura dunn, the st. Pauls case can teach all of us a lesson. Case like this