Five former NHL players and members of Hockey Canada's 2018 World Juniors championship team were found not guilty of sexual assault in a London, Ontario, courtroom Thursday, with the presiding judge stating, "I do not find the evidence of [the accuser] to be either credible or reliable." Dillon Dubé, Cal Foote, Michael McLeod, Alex Formenton, and Carter Hart had been accused of assaulting a 20-year-old woman in a hotel room while celebrating their tournament win on June 18, 2018.
"Having found that I cannot rely upon the evidence from [the accuser] and 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," Justice Maria Carroccia said.
The woman's allegations had been hushed up, and her lawsuit quietly settled by Hockey Canada not longer after the incident. A police investigation was closed in 2019, until public and governmental outcry finally led to the reopening of the investigation and the filing of charges in February 2024. Hart, the former Flyers goalie, was the only one of the defendants to testify at trial, and argued that the woman had consented to group sexual acts, which included oral and penetrative sex over a period of hours. On the stand, the accuser testified that she had been intimidated by the players in the hotel room into stating on video that the acts had been consensual, and in closing arguments prosecutors said she had no choice but to cooperate filming the video, so consent could not have been present.
Before announcing her not guilty verdict, Justice Carroccia offered a lengthy discussion of the evidence, and said, "In this case, I have found actual consent not vitiated by fear."
The trial was a judge-only affair, after two separate juries were dismissed over the course of the case. In the first incident, Justice Carroccia declared a mistrial when a juror alleged there had been improper communications between another juror and one of the defense attorneys. In the second incident, a juror gave a note to the judge reading, “Multiple jury members feel we are being judged and made fun of by [defense attorneys] Daniel Brown and Hilary Dudding. Every day when we enter the courtroom they observe us, whisper to each other and turn to each other and laugh as if they are discussing our appearance. This is unprofessional and unacceptable.”
Brown and Dudding denied the accusations, and argued that the jury was tainted and asked them to be dismissed. Carroccia agreed, saying "the fairness of this trial has been compromised," and proceeded with the trial by judge alone, to spare the accuser the trauma of having to recount her story all over again for a new jury.
The trial was already something of a circus by then, as chronicled by The Athletic's Katie Strang and Dan Robson. Increasing numbers of protestors had appeared outside the courthouse, causing defense attorneys to argue they were intimidating the defendants, and leading the judge to arrange for jurors to enter the courthouse by a private entrance. In a separate incident, a member of the public who was attending the trial was accused of recording proceedings with a pair of eyeglasses that can record video. The man, who said he was the director of an organization called False Allegations Canada, was arrested, with charges later being dismissed.
Even before the trial, the case illuminated hockey's insular and rancid culture, and especially the circle-the-wagons actions of Hockey Canada, that nation's governing body for amateurs. It led to government hearings, and a cleaning-house of Hockey Canada with the CEO and entire board resigning in disgrace, and something like a national reckoning—which, like so many similar reckonings before it, may or may not have a particularly long shelf life.
