Nearly two months in a New Hampshire jail may have taught Owen Labrie a lesson about obeying the conditions of his release, the state’s top court said Thursday as it ordered a judge to reconsider whether Labrie should be granted bail.
The New Hampshire Supreme Court’s order follows a March decision by a Merrimack County judge to revoke Labrie’s bail for repeatedly violating his curfew. Labrie was free while he appealed his conviction for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl at St. Paul’s School in Concord, N.H., in 2014.
Merrimack Superior Court Judge Larry Smukler ordered Labrie to begin serving his one-year sentence, but Labrie’s lawyers challenged his decision.
The state’s Supreme Court said the lower court was within its rights to revoke bail, but should consider whether it could come up with reasonable conditions of release “now that the court’s revocation order has been in effect for sufficient time to presumably impress upon the defendant the importance of strictly complying with all bail conditions.’’
The Superior Court can decide whether to hold another hearing on the matter, the order stated.
In a split verdict in August, a jury convicted Labrie of misdemeanor allegations that he had sex with the first-year student, who was below the age of consent. He was also convicted of a felony count of using computer services to lure a minor, but acquitted of felony rape charges.
Prosecutors said Labrie and the 15-year-old arranged to meet as part of a tradition known as the “senior salute,’’ in which graduating students sought encounters with younger ones.
Labrie is appealing his conviction, and had been released on bail until prosecutors — alerted by a media report that Labrie had visited the Boston area — alleged that he had broken his court-imposed curfew multiple times.
Prosecutors alleged that they found at least seven instances where Labrie was not at his mother’s home as required every day between 5 p.m. and 8 a.m.
Labrie said he was traveling to the Boston area to meet with lawyers, visit professors, and pursue academic research.
Andy Rosen can be reached at andrew.rosen@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter at @andyrosen.
