Settlement reached in sexual assault case in St. Catherine

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A man accused of attacking a St. Catherine University student in her dormitory over several days reached a plea agreement with prosecutors Friday.

Keanu Avery Labatte, 20, was charged with five serious crimes last September, including three first-degree sexual offenses.

According to court documents, Labatte was visiting his girlfriend at university when he became “enraged” by messages on her phone. She told police that Labatte raped, strangled, beat, threatened and waterboarded her over the course of three days.

On Sunday, he let her go to the cafeteria to get something to eat, but she went to police, who noticed red, black and blue marks on her neck, documents say. Labatte was arrested in the dorm room.

A plea deal was reached on Friday, with Labatte pleading guilty to a single amended charge of second-degree sexual abuse. The other charges were dropped and his sentence is capped at seven and a half years.

The verdict is scheduled for November.