[ cheers and applause ] this is "nightline." >> tonight, is this one's harvard-bound 19-year-old prep school student heading to prison? >> i didn't have sex with her. >> he told me that he had sex. >> now his future rests in the hands of the jury. what he could face if he's found guilty of sexually assaulting an underclass man. huge transformation. he's the voice behind one of the country's most popular radio shows. elvis duran's body was causing all kinds of problems until now. what he has to say about the celebrity friends he supported -- >> you look amazing! >> now returning the favor after his drastic weight loss. >> for him to have my back is awesome. miracle survivor. when a plane made an emergency landing on a crowded beach this kid's fourth of july got a lot less celebratory.

>> by thought nick died. >> tonight he's speaking out exclusively to us about why he's still smiling. >> i just want to thank them for i guess saving my life. first, the "nightline 5." >> shop for a cause. saturday at macy's. give $5 to the march of dimes and save an extra 30% all day on regular sale and clearance items. even most brands usually excluded. shop for a cause saturday at macy's. when salonpas began in japan in 1934 a single patch created the category of pain relief. 80 years later salonpas has evolved into a complete family of pain relievers perfect for back, muscle or joint pain.

salonpas for good evening. tonight the star prep school

student accused of rape. the jury must decide, was it a calculated sexual conquest? was it consensual? was there sex at all in the 19-year-old once considered one of the best and brightest in his class now facing the prospect of prison. here's abc's geo benitez. >> this someone saw how vulnerable a 15-year-old freshman was and took advantage of it. this someone was going to get what he wanted. >> reporter: tonight the fate of 19-year-old owen labrie is in the hands of a jury in a high-profile case of he said, she said, on the campus of one of the country's most elite prep schools. >> we started to kiss. just a little bit. anyway, she giggled, i giggled. >> reporter: it was a make or break decision to take the stand, testifying in his own defense, accused of raping a 15-year-old schoolmate last year. their encounter a so-called senior salute where a graduating senior spends time with a younger student, sometimes intimately.

>> why did you send her a senior salute on the eve of your leaving the high school? >> i wanted to ask her out. >> did you want to get together with her? >> yeah. >> reporter: with his accuser sitting in the front row watching him, labrie describes taking her to the school's math and science building, seen here in a st. paul's school promotional video, and laying down a blanket together. the situation got more intimate. >> did she indicate at any time that she was uncomfortable? >> no. >> reporter: labrie says they were kissing and rolling around but he had a change of heart and decided not to have sex with her. >> i thought to myself, you know, maybe we shouldn't do this. it hadn't been my intention going into the night to have sex. >> reporter: the prosecutor wasn't buying you want all these people here to believe that after all that time spent thinking about her and having foreplay, that you just stopped? >> i didn't just stop. we kissed more afterwards.

but i didn't have sex with her. >> reporter: labrie admits he bragged to friends that he did have sex with the girl. >> he told me that he had sex with [ muted ]. >> reporter: saying in one facebook message he used every trick in the book. >> it was a joke. but today it's a lie? >> yes, it is a lie. you know. i wanted to boast to my friends afterwards. >> reporter: a lie, he says, part of 119 facebook messages that he deleted from his account after police first contacted him. >> what's interesting here is the whole defense rests on the theory, the assertion, that owen labrie did not have sex, consensual or forced, with the girl. if that can be disproved the whole defense fails. >> reporter: his accuser, now 16, took the stand has it week giving her account of what happened the night she says ended in rape. we're disguising her voice due to the nature of the alleged crime. >> he took your pants off? right? >> yes, i did. >> you helped him do that, didn't you?

>> i lifted my hips up to make it easier for him, yes. >> reporter: labrie's accuser said she had initially turned down his invitation that night, then agreed on one condition. >> yes, only if it's our little secret. >> what did you mean by that, only if it's our little secret? >> i didn't want him boasting to his friends. >> reporter: so she went to meet him but says at the moment of truth that she wanted him to stop. >> i didn't kick or scream or -- really push. but i did say no. i said no three times. >> reporter: she broke down in court when challenged by labrie's attorney. >> why were you cloudy? >> i was raped. i was violated in so many ways. >> consent is always tricky in cases like this. but here you have a freshman girl and a senior boy. you have a young girl who's looking up to this boy, who

wants his attention, who sees him as somewhat socially superior to her. so is she really capable of giving consent when there's such a power differential between them? >> reporter: the details of the testimony, critical. raising questions not only about consent but about the culture at the $50,000 a year prep school they both attended. labrie there as a harvard-bound scholarship student. his friend taking the stand to describe what other students typically do during a senior salute. >> they would get together and they could, you know, spend some time together that could involve kissing or more than that sexually. but not necessarily. >> reporter: prosecutors alleging labrie told his friends he wanted to "slay his accuser." >> the word slay could mean anything between kissing and having sex, correct? >> yes. >> and you said you at least wanted to slay her, correct? >> yeah. as i mentioned.

i was fond of [ muted ]. i often talked about my affection with her with my friends. >> reporter: labrie was the only witness for the defense. but the cross examination of the school nurse, who the alleged victim visited two days after the rape, may have helped his case. >> she told you there had been an encounter? >> correct. >> you asked her specifically if it was consensual? >> i did. >> she told you, yes, it was consensual? >> she did. >> does it hurt the prosecution this young girl didn't tell anyone immediately there was a rape? it hurts very, very much. it hurts. the prosecution has to explain that away. >> reporter: another factor in this case, friendly messages sent right after the alleged rape. labrie writing, you're an angel. angel yourself. unwilling? >> the messages between them are arguably the most important evidence for the defense in this case.

the defense is basically saying, look at these messages. are you really going to convict beyond a reasonable doubt a guy who was exchanging messages like this with her? after the fact? >> reporter: labrie's attorney claims the girl made up the rape charge to protect herself when the high school rumors started. >> she had to make the decision whether it would be her reputation that was going to go into the toilet or owen's. and she took the easier choice. >> reporter: labrie faces nine criminal counts, three of them felony sexual assault charges, each carrying up to 20 years in prison. >> there are a lot of charges here. this is not a simple case. and you could end up with a real divide on that jury. >> reporter: in closing arguments today labrie's defense attorney placed blame on the faculty of the elite new hampshire school for turning a blind eye to the senior salute. >> the idea that you would wink

at a tradition that senior salute represents is shocking. it damages children. and in this case, it damaged both [ muted ] and owen. >> this isn't the school's fault. this isn't the fault of the culture that's at st. paul's school. it was the defendant who manipulated that culture to get what he wanted. >> reporter: after three and a half hours deliberating, still no verdict from the jury. they head right back to the courthouse in the morning. for "nightline," i'm geo benitez in concord, new hampshire. up next, where are you now, elvis door ran? over 100 pounds of him vanished. friends like justin bieber showing their support for the popular radio host after his massive weight loss. plus, the humble 12-year-old who survived being hit by a plane tells us why it's like totally no big deal.ha-ha!

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you know there are literally millions of morning zoo fans on

tune into elvis door ran for his take on hollywood. in the snarky world of morning radio shows he stands out as one of the nice guys. so stars like katy perry, justin bieber, are not just friends -- they're his cheerleaders at the end of a dramatic weight loss journey. here's my "nightline" coanchor dan harris. >> reporter: here's the thing about elvis door ran. he's a magnet for celebrities. here he is backstage last december at the jingle ball, rubbing shoulders with stars like taylor swift, iggy azalea, and pharell. as we reported these epcounters it struck us by almost any measure elvis was on top of the world. the host of the number one most popular top 40 morning radio show in america. >> happiest place on earth! >> reporter: a pop-in spot for the famous. >> mary j. blige! >> reporter: what none of those bold-faced names and none of his 7 million daily listeners knew was that the man who "the huffington post" called the most

important radio deejay in the country was deeply insecure about something. his weight. >> i'm not a glamorous person at all. when we are invited to glamorous events i just don't fit in. i feel so -- i feel really weird. it's uncomfortable. >> reporter: being overweight was not only exacerbating his innate shyness, it was endangering his health which is why as elvis revealed in this interview he made a major personal decision. >> sounded like you've made a decision to take a big step on the health front? >> yes, i've had several friends who have done it. i think i'm going to do it. the gastric sleeve. i've gotten to the point where i need to get weight off. because it's just not good for me. i just want to feel better about myself. i want to feel healthy. i want to be around for a thousand more years because life is actually fantastic. >> reporter: then in classic elvis style he turned the subject into a body joke. >> i haven't seen my penis --

can you see my penis and describe it to me? it's down this somewhere. >> reporter: not long after elvis went under the knife. now eight months later "nightline" is coming back for a follow-up. >> how are you? >> i'm great. nice to see you. >> you too. >> you look amazing. >> reporter: he's lost 105 pounds, going from 265 to 160. the weight came off quickly. look at his dramatic transformation during the first four months post-surgery. >> how do you feel? >> awesome. >> really? >> i've got energy, i'm ready to mow the yard with my teeth. i will, too. find me a yard. >> last time we put in a comment about you not being able to see your -- >> back then i couldn't see my private parts. and now -- you can't miss them. >> reporter: he says his pop star friends have taken notice. >> whoa! really? what did you do? katy perry on the red carpet was

like, oh my god, how happy are you right now? i'm so happy for you. >> reporter: on our most recent visit to the studio the new skinnier elvis was still drawing the big names. >> oh! >> reporter: justin bieber stopping by for an interview that will air on the show tomorrow morning. >> elvis to have my back has been awesome. known him quite a long time now. since my voice was way up here. just to have his support and his love and his team to just welcome me with open arms every time has been awesome. >> reporter: bieber's recent hit "where are you now" one of this summer's anthems. where are you now that i need you >> justin bieber is a talented guy. he went through a year or several years of this really negative publicity where we really took our eye off the ball, as far as how talented he really is. he's got a lot of great music left in him. >> reporter: back to elvis' weight. it was here in the studio that elvis realized he had a serious problem. dr. oz was on the show.

>> he took my blood pressure on our show. about went to a break. he looked at me as if he'd seen a ghost. he said, "i really want to take you to the hospital right now, your blood pressure is beyond what a human being should have." he said, "you've got to lose weight." i said, "i've tried." and he said, "you need to consider orts options." >> reporter: elvis underwent the gastric sleeve, where 85% of the stomach is taken out. >> you've said several times, this is not the easy way out. what do you mean by that? >> going through the procedure is a lot of needles, a lot of blood work, a lot of testing. it's a lot. and then after the procedure, you have to totally reteach yourself how to eat. i would not recommend this for anyone unless they truly had to save their life by doing it. serious ly seriously. >> do you think you saved your life? >> i definitely did. barring a piano falling down the window walking down the street, i think i've added years to my life.

i'm going to be with you longer, dan. >> reporter: we head into his closet where all the clothes are new except these pants. >> howdy do! >> whoa. >> i know. it was a great tux, too. >> reporter: but this new life is not without its challenges. >> do you miss being able to pig out? >> i miss being able to pig out, sometimes, absolutely. you get the munchies, want to eat a plate of chicken parm and spaghetti, you can't do it anymore. you can have a little bit. it tastes good but you want more. >> reporter: there is, he says, one upside. >> i'm a cheap drunk now. i can just have one cocktail and get a little buzzy. >> reporter: in keeping with the spirit of his radio show where elvis first publicly revealed his sexuality, his boyfriend alex is a zookeeper, he's been very open with listeners about this health journey. >> consider this. look into and it see if it's right for you. talk to a surgeon and go, here, get rid of this, i feel like i'm dying, i don't feel good about myself. don't be ashamed of it.

we have many things to be ashamed of, this is not one of them. >> now you have this energy, this feeling of you're in a new chapter. any other big plans on your mind? >> i want to host "nightline." >> what? >> reporter: seriously, he promises me he's happy doing his radio show. >> life is great. life tastes great. the colors are more colorful than ever before. i pray this happens for anyone and everyone, no matter how you find a way to do it, do it. find a way. >> bravo. amen. >> reporter: for "nightline," safe in my job for now at least, this is dan harris in new york. up next, the adorable way this 12-year-old's friends are showing their support after he survived an emergency plane landing that hit him on the head. prep trauma unit 5. what've we got? bp 64/40 sterilize sites.

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thirst for the extraordinary. ahhh perrier!

when you think of all the places a small plane could make an emergency landing, a crowded beach on the fourth of july is not one of them. for one 12-year-old boy you're about to meet, the holiday turned nearly deadly. but tonight the survivor himself tells abc's kayna whitworth the ordeal was no sweat. >> reporter: for the first time since this plane crashed into a crowded beach on july fourth, 12-year-old nicholas baer, who was hit in the head, is speaking out. >> what was the last thing you remember? just walking in the water? >> yeah. >> and then? >> i don't know, i guess the plane just came down. >> reporter: the single-engine plane towing an advertising

banner tumbled across the beach,