Hockey Canada trial verdict: Five junior team players found not guilty in 2018 encounter

Five players have been found not guilty of sexual assault in a case involving members of the 2018 Canada world junior hockey team. Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia delivered the verdict to Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube and Callan Foote in a London, Ontario, courtroom Thursday.

Carroccia stated that she didn’t find the victim’s evidence to be “credible or reliable” upon reading the verdicts.

“Having found that I cannot rely upon the evidence of E.M. and then considering the evidence in this trial as a whole, I conclude that the Crown cannot meet its onus on any of the counts before me,” Carroccia said. 

McLeod, Hart, Formenton, Dube, and Foote had all pleaded not guilty to sexual assault related to an incident that took place in a London, Ontario, hotel room on July 19, 2018. The five players were in London at the time of the alleged sexual assault for a gala and golf tournament commemorating the team’s victory at the 2018 World Junior Championships. 

McLeod was the only defendant charged with two crimes and was found not guilty of both charges. He was also charged with “being a party to the offense.”

Carroccia categorized the various accounts of the encounters between McLeod and the victim as “confusing.” The judge did mention McLeod’s shifting stories, but didn’t believe that it was enough not to believe portions of his account of the night’s events. 

McLeod was portrayed as the “architect” by prosecutors throughout the trial.

During the trial, it was revealed that McLeod met the victim at a London bar earlier in the night before inviting her back to his hotel room. Prosecutors alleged that McLeod brought several of his friends to the room in order to perform sexual acts with the victim without her consent.

The woman testified that she didn’t voluntarily give consent to the sexual acts that took place in the hotel room. Meanwhile, the defense team argued that the woman voluntarily participated in the sexual acts and created a false narrative about what transpired throughout the trial.

Lawyers representing McLeod, Hart, Formenton, and Dube argued that the woman had given her consent to sexual acts, while Foote’s lawyer stated that he was clothed while doing splits over her body during the alleged assault.

Two other members of the team, Brett Howden and Tyler Steenbergen, testified that the woman asked the group if anyone would have sex with her. In total, nine witnesses testified during the six-week trial with the majority of them giving their accounts remotely. 

The trial began in April and was heard by a jury. However, Carroccia discharged the panel on two occasions and eventually switched to a lone judge to avoid having to start the trial over again.