Mon, June 02, 2025
Judge soon to determine solo verdict in Canadian hockey sexual assault case after expelling jury
Judge, Justice Maria Carroccia, expelled the jury involved in a Canadian hockey sexual assault case due to a complaint about the defence attorneys’ behaviour, and will soon determine the verdict alone, as reported by The Guardian.
Canadian ice hockey players Michael McLeod, Dillon Dube, Carter Hart, Cal Foote and Alex Formenton were all charged with sexual assault in 2024 for allegedly abusing a then-20-year-old woman in a hotel room. The assault allegedly occurred in London, Ontario, during a Hockey Canada gala and celebration of their world junior championship. Michael McLeod has an additional charge of “being a party to the offence of sexual assault.”
The prosecution argue that the woman involved was drunk and scared and that the accused hockey players took advantage of this, meaning she did not voluntarily provide consent. Additionally, according to ESPN, she was threatened with golf clubs, and before she was finally able to leave, she reportedly was coerced into making videos in which she stated everything that happened was consensual.
Conversely, after cross-examining the woman for many days, the defence attorneys argue that she actively participated in the sexual acts and even initiated them as she desired a “wild night,” and all five players plead their innocence.
In one of the latest updates, Justice Maria Carroccia, the judge managing the trial, expelled the jury involved in the case due to a complaint that defence attorneys were mocking some of the jurors. One of the jurors voiced that several jury members felt like they were being mocked by Daniel Brown and Hilary Dudding, the lawyers representing one of the accused hockey players, as they entered the courtroom each day. Naturally, both lawyers denied the allegations.
Despite not witnessing this for herself, Carroccia determined that the jurors’ negative opinion of the defence lawyers could possibly impact their bias, and decided it was best to expel the jury as a whole. She will now determine the verdict of the case on her own.
London police closed its initial investigation into the incident without charges in 2019. Hockey Canada closed its own investigation in 2020 as, according to The Guardian, the woman involved did not wish to cooperate. However, the case was reinvigorated by an uproar surrounding the settlement reached by Hockey Canada and the woman involved in 2022.
Furthermore, according to ESPN, in February 2024, Chief Thai Truong of the London Police Service’s Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Section referenced a discovery of new evidence for reopening the investigation.
Truong said there were “insufficient grounds” after the first investigation. He then apologised to the woman involved that it “took so long to reach this point” and said she had fully cooperated with police from the start of their inquiries.
As of today, the Crown and defence have finished presenting evidence, and the trial is nearing completion, as reported by The Athletic.
