UPDATE: The popular senior accused of raping a freshman at an elite American prep school has been cleared of felony rape but convicted of misdemeanour sex offences.

Owen Labrie, 19, was accused of forcing himself on the girl in a dark and noisy mechanical room at St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire in May 2014, just two days before he graduated.

He wept upon hearing the verdict in court on Friday.

Mr Labrie, who was bound for Harvard, was acquitted of the most serious charges against him — three counts of felony rape, each punishable by 10 to 20 years in prison — but was found guilty of three counts of misdemeanour sexual assault and other offenses.

Each count carries up to a year behind bars. Mr Labrie could get as much as 11 years in prison at sentencing Oct. 29. He will also have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

The 159-year-old boarding school has long been a training ground for politicians, Nobel laureates, corporate executives and other members of the country’s elite. Alumni include Secretary of State John Kerry. Students pay $53,810 a year in tuition, room and board.

Mr Labrie, an aspiring minister, testified that he stopped short of intercourse because he suddenly decided “it wouldn’t have been a good choice for me.”

In his testimony, Mr Labrie acknowledged bragging to friends that he had intercourse with the girl, but he said that was a lie told to impress them. He also admitted deleting 119 Facebook messages, including one in which he boasted that he “pulled every trick in the book” to have sex with her.

The girl, now 16, said she willingly went with Mr Labrie after he invited her to take part in “Senior Salute”, a tradition she said she knew about. But she said she was prepared for kissing at most.

Mr Labrie had keys to a restricted rooftop area in the math and science building where the then 15-year-old freshman and the then 18-year-old senior met at 9pm. Prosecutors in the rape trial case against Mr Labrie said schoolboys had passed the key around for mates who sought out privacy.

The “Senior Salute” tradition involves seniors competing to engage in sexual activities with as many younger students as possible.

The girl’s older sister, a student at St. Paul’s, had dated Mr Labrie briefly before the incident.

The girl had initially turned down Mr Labrie’s advances, describing his invitation in court as “written so sickly”.

But when he responded to an email, partly in French, she immediately warmed to him and the pair began engaging in a series of playful messages.

In her response, which was read to jurors in court, she agreed to meet Labrie, saying “only if it’s our little secret”.

“What a golden change of heart,” was Mr Labrie’s response.

The investigation began after the complainant’s mother raised the alleged assault with a school counsellor, who contacted police.

HER SIDE OF THE STORY

“I was raped,” the complainant, a petite student, her ash blonde hair pulled back from her face, tearfully told a packed courtroom. “I was violated in so many ways”.

The complainant said she thought “it would be cool” to go out with “one of the most popular boys” at the elite prep school. She believed the meeting would simply entail “just a hook up” — kissing, making out, but no sex.

After the rooftop meeting, the complainant told the court Mr Labrie took her into a dark maintenance room.

Prosecutor Joe Cherniske said Mr Labrie chose the dark space “where no one would hear a 15-year-old girl say no”.

They kissed, but things quickly got heated and he began to grope her, even biting her chest and repeatedly attempting to remove her underwear.

“I said, ‘No, no, no, keep it up here’,” the complainant said, making a signal that reached above her waist. “I tried to be as polite as possible.”

The complainant claims he spat on her and called her a tease in French when she moved her bra strap back.

“At one point, I was in so much pain that I jerked backwards,” she said.

“I feel like I had objected as much as I felt I could at the time. And other than that I felt so powerless.”

Yet Mr Labrie continued, “scraping” inside her body with his hands. Soon after, he penetrated her. “It had to be his penis,” she said.

“I felt like I was frozen.”

J. W. Carney Jr., Mr. Labrie’s lead defense lawyer later argued, “it may have been painful because apparently in preparation for her meeting with Owen, she had decided to shave her vaginal area.”

HIS SIDE OF THE STORY

Mr Labrie confirmed he put on a condom during the incident, but claims that he experienced a “moment of divine inspiration” and stopped himself from making any further advances. He left, with the condom still attached.

Testifying on Thursday, Mr Labrie said he met the complainant in the August before his senior year, in 2013. They were “friendly” and “flirty”. He danced with her at school dances.

“We went up the stairs ... We went into the attic ... We went onto the roof ... I thought it was a really beautiful view,” he testified in court.

“We stood there for a minute, trying to soak it all in ... I thought (she) was having a great time.”

When the pair went inside to explore science machines, they were holding hands, he said.

“It was a little romantic ... We were just having fun.

“We kissed sort of against the wall ... After a few minutes I reached into my backpack and took out the blanket.

“We started to hold each other ... We took our shirts off ... We chatted the way we had before. Empty flirtations or giggles. I thought she was having a great time.

“I was very fond of her. She had her hands on my back and she would move them up and down, pull me closer.”

During foreplay, where Mr Labrie testified he kissed the complainant’s breasts, “She would say something like ‘Oh, Owen’.”

But, when asked if he was aggressively kissing her breasts, he replied, “I may have, I may have been a little carried away.

“She pulled at my belt buckle. I tried to undo her shorts. I was aroused. I had an erection, and there was a point when I was on top of her. I thought to myself, ‘We’re going to have sex’.”

When Mr Labrie put on a condom, “I was standing over the blanket, looking down at (her), and I thought to myself, ‘maybe we shouldn’t do this’.”

Mr Labrie’s lawyers deny any sexual intercourse took place, arguing the encounter was consensual.

“He said some students want to take the virginity of younger students, but he said that’s not what he was doing,” Concord Police Detective Julie Curtin said during the fifth day of the trial.

Mr Carney, argued in court that the complainant accepted Mr Labrie’s invitation to the “senior salute”.

Mr Carney will submit that there is evidence contradicting the complainant’s testimony.

For example, after the alleged rape and looking for emergency contraception, the complainant went to a medical facility at the school in search of emergency contraception. When asked if the encounter was consensual, she told a nurse, “yes”.

On Thursday, he said the complainant’s reply, to Labrie that the meeting would be “our little secret” were critical to the case.

After the alleged rape, Mr Labrie went to a concert and returned to his dorm where “people were high-fiving him and congratulating him for, the word he used, was ‘boning’, the accuser,” Detective Curtin said.

Mr Labrie admitted he told friends he had sex, but was embarrassed about how the encounter had ended and didn’t want to explain.

“I wanted to look good. I wanted people to think it went great,” Mr Labrie explained.

“It was easier for me to just go yeah and change the subject ... Then try to talk to them about what actually happened.”

THE DNA

On Tuesday state criminalist Kevin G. McMahon told the court male DNA was found on the underwear the complainant wore the night of the alleged encounter. It matched Labrie’s profile.

Neither test on vaginal or cervical samples found signs of sperm, but that wasn’t unusual days after an assault, he said.

On Thursday, Prosecutor Joe Cherniske confirmed semen found inside the complainant’s underwear “is without question, Owen Labrie’s.”

Asked if at any time he put his fingers, tongue or penis under the underwear of the complainant, Labrie’s answers were simple: “No, no and no”.

But he did confirm the presence of pre-ejaculate on his boxers.

THE LIST

In court, Deputy County Attorney Catherine Ruffle claimed Labrie had been planning the encounter for months as part of the end of year salute. Ms Ruffle alleged Labrie had shared a list of 19 girls’ names he had intended on “slaying”.

In court, the co-creator of the list, Tucker Marchese, said, “we were without homework and decided to create a list of girls ... we would enjoy getting to know better”.

The complainant’s name, according to the witness, was written in caps.

An email subject to another witness read in court began with: “The coming months of Slaypril and Slay”.

“Thank you for enrolling,” Labrie wrote. “Welcome to an 8-week exercise in debauchery.”

Facebook messages dating back to January 2014 were read in court: “Who do you want to pork, more than anyone bro?” Mr Labrie replied with the complainant’s name.

THE ‘SLAYMASTER’ AND THE SECRET MAP

One name stood out among a corridor lined with former student predecessors in a hall at St. Paul’s: a name the classmates referred to as the “Slaymaster”.

Ms Ruffle said in court Labrie would often rub the name out of respect.

During interviews with police, Mr Labrie said he had engaged in the “secret salute” tradition and tried to “score”. He would later testify that to “score” was to “date”.

He described “sexual scoreboards” where boys shared their conquests on a secret dorm wall and online. The dean of students would later describe a “map of relationships on campus” on the wall of a dorm basement.

WHAT THE FRIENDS HAVE TO SAY

A number of Mr Labrie’s schoolmates took to the stand on Monday.

A St Paul’s student, who has not been identified due to the fact he is a minor, said Mr Labrie told him during a private conversation that the pair had had sex.

But later, in a group setting, Mr Labrie denied the encounter.

“He played it off as if he didn’t have sex with her. When we asked, he kind of, you know, said no but nodded his head yes.”

Mr Labrie’s roommate of three years, Andrew Thomas, also testified that Mr Labrie told him the pair had had sex. He confirmed Mr Labrie told him he had a “crush” on the 15-year-old and believe she was a virgin at the time.

The student who helped convince the complainant into the senior salute with Labrie told the court he confirmed they had sex, but wanted to keep it quiet.

A STAR STUDENT

Mr Labrie was popular among the students and staff at the prestigious boarding school, who earned himself a place after securing a scholarship. He was a sports star (he was the captain of the soccer team and rowed), had a radio show on campus, worked as the editor of the school newspaper and was an appointed student leader. He had planned to study theology and become a minister at Harvard before his arrest last summer.

“I had straight A’s,” Mr Labrie said on the stand.

THE SCHOOL RESPONDS

Last week, the head of St. Pauls, Michael G. Hirschfeld, wrote a letter to students and parents regarding the trial.

It reads:

“As the Labrie trial begins, you may read or hear allegations surrounding those involved in the situation, as well as about the School.

“These are, indeed, allegations and not proven facts, and the judicial system will weigh them and determine how this case is ultimately resolved. We will move past this as a School community, stronger, united, and committed, as always, to ensuring our students’ safety and wellbeing. “Allegations about our culture are not emblematic of our school or our values, our rules, or the people that represent our student body, alumni, faculty, and staff.”

“St. Paul’s School has policies in place to ensure that our students are safe, secure, and treated equitably. Our faculty and staff do their utmost to enforce these policies and to guide our students concerning challenging topics.

“At St. Paul’s, breaches of School policies, or the trust upon which they are founded, are addressed swiftly and judiciously. All School discipline strives to address the failings of the individual and serve as a platform for deeper learning for the community.

“We do not tolerate conduct that is at odds with our commitment to a safe and welcoming environment for everyone in the St. Paul’s School community. Current allegations about our culture are not emblematic of our School or our values, our rules, or the people who represent our student body, alumni, faculty, and staff.”

— youngma@news.com.au