LONDON, Ont. — The trial of 5 former NHLers who’ve been accused of group sexual assault begins Tuesday. This is what to learn about it:
In Might 2022, a TSN report revealed that Hockey Canada had settled a civil lawsuit with a girl in London after she alleged she was sexually assaulted by eight males, together with members of the 2018 Canadian males’s world junior group, following an occasion honouring the group in June 2018. An investigation by the London Police Service was launched in the summertime of 2018 and closed in February 2019, with investigators concluding that there was inadequate proof to put fees. After widespread scrutiny of Hockey Canada’s dealing with of the scenario, London police reopened its investigation in July 2022, laying fees in January 2024.
The identify of the girl on the centre of the 2018 allegations is topic to a publication ban. She is referred to in unredacted courtroom paperwork as “E.M.” She is anticipated to testify.
Michael McLeod has been charged with two counts of sexual assault, together with one regarding aiding within the offence. Charged with one depend every of sexual assault are Dillon Dube, Cal Foote, Alex Formenton and Carter Hart. All 5 are former NHLers. Legal professionals for the gamers have mentioned their purchasers are harmless. McLeod and Dube performed most lately within the KHL in Russia.
It’s doable the gamers testify through the trial, in addition to gamers on the 2018 world juniors group who weren’t charged and are at present within the NHL or elsewhere.
Lead counsel for the gamers is a who’s who of big-name Ontario legal professionals: Dube: Lisa Carnelos; Foote: Julianna Greenspan; Formenton: Daniel Brown; Hart: Megan Savard; McLeod: David Humphrey.
Humphrey has represented NHL gamers beforehand, having been Ryan O’Reilly’s lawyer when O’Reilly, then a member of the Buffalo Sabres, was arrested in 2015 in London for impaired driving. The fees have been ultimately dropped. Humphrey additionally represented former Los Angeles King Mike Richards when he was arrested in 2015 in Manitoba for allegedly making an attempt to carry oxycodone throughout the U.S.-Canada border. These fees have been stayed, which means they have been successfully dismissed.
Lead assistant crown lawyer is Meaghan Cunningham, a veteran prosecutor based mostly out of Ottawa with London roots who’s the chair of the sexual violence advisory board for the province of Ontario. The complexity of this case requires that multiple crown lawyer be concerned, so aiding Cunningham is London-based assistant crown Heather Donkers.
The decide presiding over the pre-trial hearings, which wrapped up this week, was Justice Bruce Thomas. The trial decide can be Superior Court docket Justice Maria Carroccia of Windsor, Ont., who was known as to the bar in 1989. She has been a decide since June 3, 2020.
Danielle Robitaille was the lead investigator employed by Hockey Canada in 2018, shortly after the alleged incident, to interview key folks concerned and ship a report with suggestions. Her investigation shadowed and, to a sure extent, crossed over with that of the London Police Service. Robitaille is now a companion of Toronto-based Henein Hutchison Robitaille, whose founding companion, Marie Henein, was Jian Ghomeshi’s lead counsel in a high-profile sexual assault case in 2016.
Det. Stephen Newton performed the primary investigation for the London Police Service, which was closed in January 2019 with out fees being laid. Newton retired in Might 2024. Det. Lyndsay Ryan performed the second investigation that resulted in fees being laid in January 2024. It isn’t frequent in Canadian felony legislation for a similar incident to be investigated twice.
The trial will happen in Superior Court docket within the getting old Ontario Court docket of Justice constructing in downtown London, a brutalist-style construction identified for its wonky escalators and frequent elevator breakdowns. Safety can be tight. The courtroom itself was utilized in 2009 for the Bandidos homicide trial, wherein six gang members have been accused of murdering eight associates, which is why it’s outfitted with six prisoner packing containers. The accused within the 2018 world juniors case will sit on the adjoining tables with their legal professionals, and never within the prisoner packing containers.
The gamers selected a jury trial, overseen by the decide. Not like the way it’s generally seen on American TV reveals, members of the jury can entry their telephones and dwell common lives till they’re sequestered, or excused to come back to a verdict. As soon as they’re sequestered, they won’t have entry to their telephones or information in any kind till they attain a verdict. It’s doable some witnesses seem through video conferencing and never in particular person.
Number of the 12 members of the jury is scheduled to start Tuesday, the method of which is anticipated to final about two days. Not like within the States, jury choice sometimes doesn’t take lengthy in Canada. On this case, it will likely be largely restricted to the decide questioning potential jurors about their impartiality, particularly given the eye these fees have obtained on this nation. Jurors are paid $40 a day beginning with the eleventh day of a trial, and $100 a day beginning with the fiftieth day of the trial.
Together with jury choice, the trial is anticipated to take between 5 to eight weeks. The Ghomeshi case, which concerned a number of accusations towards one accused however is mostly thought of the closest comparable within the Canadian justice system, lasted one courtroom date wanting eight weeks. If the trial does take eight weeks, it might imply a ruling would come seven years after the alleged incident.
The decision, as is usually the case in sexual assault trials, will most probably come right down to consent. Beneath Canadian legislation, consent can’t be granted if somebody is inebriated or unconscious. A conviction for sexual assault carries a jail sentence of as much as 10 years, in keeping with the Canadian Felony Code. First-time offenders usually tend to be sentenced to about two years.
