The Crown declined to file an appeal within the 30-day window provided by the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General. Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia found Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube and Cal Foote not guilty of sexual assault in a 2018 London, Ont., hotel-room incident. The complainant was identified as E.M. under a publication ban. Carroccia ruled E.M.'s evidence was neither reliable nor credible and concluded the Crown failed to prove lack of consent. The eight-week trial saw two juries discharged, extensive evidence review, and defense lawyers called the ruling a vindication and exoneration.
Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia found Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube and Cal Foote not guilty of sexual assaulting a woman in a London, Ont., hotel room in 2018. The team and hockey officials were in the city to celebrate Canada's world junior gold medal won months earlier. Carroccia ruled that E.M.'s evidence was neither reliable nor credible, and the Crown failed to prove she didn't consent to the sexual activity she said occurred against her consent.
Mounds of evidence recounted Carroccia's decisions marked the end of a trial that saw two juries being discharged, and took many twists and turns in attracting interest from around the world. In reaching her decisions, she spent hours recounting all of the evidence heard at the trial, focusing on memory gaps and discrepancies between E.M.'s evidence this year and her civil lawsuit against Hockey Canada in 2022.
Collection
[
|
...
]