"It was not a decision I made lightly, and although I did experience some negative reactions to my public disclosure, I have not once regretted my decision to come forward and own my story. "It's been two years now since the whole ordeal, and I feel ready to stand up and own what happened to me and make sure other people, other girls and boys, don't need to be ashamed either."įor Esquivel, however, the choice was right for her, despite the struggles that came along with it. "I want everyone to know that I am not afraid or ashamed anymore, and I never should have been," she told NBC anchor Savannah Guthrie on Today. Last week, Prout made the decision to reveal her identity on the Today show. Though the case gained national notoriety, Prout remained anonymous during proceedings against Labrie. Paul's ritual called the "Senior Salute," in which some senior students allegedly attempted to have sex with underclassmen before graduating. (He is now seeking a new trial based on claims that his lawyers did a poor job of representing him, and is also appealing his case with the New Hampshire Supreme Court.) The assault was part of a St. Labrie, now 20, was acquitted of a felony charge, but convicted of three counts of misdemeanor sexual assault for his crimes. Paul's, a New Hampshire boarding school, in 2014. Prout was a 15-year-old freshman when she reported being raped by then-senior Owen Labrie at St. However, there’s no denying the survivor’s experience caused us to look anew at the culture and environment.Two years after she was sexually assaulted on her high school campus, 17-year-old Chessy Prout is speaking out about her experience. In a statement to Today, the school said, in part: “We categorically deny that there ever existed at the School a culture or tradition of sexual assault. The school has denied the family’s allegations. Prout, who initially returned to St Paul’s for her sophomore year before transferring to a different school, said “nobody was talking about the issue … They weren’t trying to prevent it from happening to anyone else.” Prout and her family also spoke to Today about the civil suit they filed against the elite school in June, alleging that Labrie’s attack was the result of the school “fostering, permitting, and condoning a tradition of ritualized statutory rape”, according to the lawsuit. I have the right to say no,’” Prout said. “I want other people to feel empowered and just strong enough to be able to say: ‘I have the right to my body. Prout is working with Promoting Awareness Victim Empowerment, a nonprofit focused on sexual violence prevention, to launch a social media campaign, #IHaveTheRightTo. Labrie’s defense team denied that the two had sex. And the fact that he was still able to pull the wool over a group of people’s eyes bothered me a lot and just disgusted me in some way.”Īfter the trial, Labrie had been free while appealing against his conviction before a judge sent him to jail for violating the conditions of his bail. “That frustrated me a lot because he definitely did do it knowingly. “They said that they didn’t believe that he did it knowingly,” she told Today. Prout said she was frustrated by the jury’s decision not to convict Labrie on three aggravated rape charges. Labrie, now 20, was found not guilty of a felony rape charge, although a jury did find him guilty of misdemeanor sexual assault. Prout said on Today that she and her family had been willing to accept a letter from apology from Labrie before proceeding with the criminal charges. She said she became “frozen” out of fear when Labrie began to assault her. Prout gave emotional testimony during the August 2015 trial about the assault. Prosecutors said Labrie raped Prout in a tradition known as the “ senior salute”, a game of sexual conquest in a which a seniors try to have sex with underclassmen before graduation. Prout was a 15-year-old freshman at New Hampshire’s St Paul’s school when her fellow student, then senior Owen Labrie, asked her on a date. Prout, 17, spoke about the assault in an interview with NBC’s Today show that aired on Tuesday. The Guardian does not usually identify victims of sexual assault, but Prout has spoken publicly about her experience.
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