NHL
live
Updated 12m ago
LONDON, Ont. — Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Dillon Dubé, Alex Formenton and Cal Foote were found not guilty in the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial on Thursday.
All five members of Canada’s 2018 world junior hockey team were charged with sexual assault in connection to an alleged incident in June 2018 in which a woman known publicly as E.M. — her identity is protected by a publication ban — said she was sexually assaulted over the span of several hours in a London, Ont., hotel room. The players were in town for a Hockey Canada event celebrating their victory at the World Junior championships earlier that year.
Carroccia delivered her decision on Thursday, nearly six weeks after legal arguments concluded, and seven years after the alleged assault was first reported to London police.
Carroccia said that she did not find E.M.’s evidence “credible or reliable,” in explaining her reasoning.
“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 earlier in the day.
GO FURTHER
All 5 players found not guilty in Hockey Canada sexual assault trial
LONDON, Ont. — As part of a statement outside the courthouse, Crown attorney Meghan Cunningham says they will “carefully review Justice Carroccia’s decision.” As the case is still within the appeal period “we have no further comments to make about the decision at this time.”
The Crown would have 30 days to appeal the decision, should they choose.
GO FURTHER
All 5 players found not guilty in Hockey Canada sexual assault trial
Advertisement
LONDON, Ont. — Outside the courtroom, the scene is quiet. A group of supporters of E.M. and survivors of sexual assault are expected to return this evening.
For now, what had been several dozen protestors this morning has dwindled to single digits. One held a sign reading “Thank you for your courage.”
GO FURTHER
All 5 players found not guilty in Hockey Canada sexual assault trial
LONDON, Ont. — During her testimony, E.M. said that over the course of the night in question, she was pressured to perform a number of sexual acts with the players, including oral sex with Michael McLeod, Carter Hart and Dillon Dubé and vaginal sex with Alex Formenton. She also said she was slapped on the buttocks and that Cal Foote did the splits over her and grazed his genitals in her face.
The Crown argued that E.M. did not voluntarily consent to any of the specific sexual activity and that once men began arriving in the room, E.M. found herself in a “highly stressful” and “unpredictable” situation that caused her to feel fear. Naked, drunk and in a room of what she said were eight to 10 men who were strangers to her, E.M. described feeling vulnerable and unsure of what would happen if she did not do what they wanted. She detailed going on “autopilot” — dissociating as a trauma response to get through the night.
The defense’s case centered around E.M.’s credibility, which all five legal teams repeatedly questioned and sought to undermine. Attorneys for the accused argued that E.M. was the instigator of the group sex, urging McLeod to invite his teammates back to the hotel room for a “wild night.”
The Crown has not yet indicated if it plans to appeal the judge’s ruling.
LONDON, Ont. — Michael McLeod was the first defendant to exit the courtroom.
“Last time, Mikey,” said one of his loved ones.
“Woo! Let’s get the hell out of here,” said another. Then, they stepped on the 14th-floor elevators and headed down.
GO FURTHER
All 5 players found not guilty in Hockey Canada sexual assault trial
LONDON, Ont. — All five players have now officially been found not guilty of sexual assault. Justice Carroccia has told the accused they are free to go.
GO FURTHER
All 5 players found not guilty in Hockey Canada sexual assault trial
LONDON, Ont. — Michael McLeod has been found not guilty, Carroccia announced. McLeod was the only defendant charged with two crimes and had been portrayed by the prosecution as the ringleader for the events in the hotel room.
Carroccia also characterized the various descriptions of the series of sexual interactions between McLeod and E.M. — which included consensual sex earlier in the night — as "confusing."
Carroccia noted McLeod's shifting stories on the nature of a text he sent to his teammates ahead of their arrival in the room, but said it was not enough to make her disbelieve the other relevant portions of his story. She also found that he did not encourage anyone to commit sexual assault, again noting E.M.'s stated lack of memories over whether she actually told him to invite other players to the room. That charge was dismissed.
GO FURTHER
One night in London: Allegations of sexual assault and a reckoning for Hockey Canada
Advertisement
LONDON, Ont. — Dillon Dubé has been found not guilty, Carroccia announced.
The prosecution, she said, did not adequately establish that Dubé's slap of E.M.'s buttocks was sexual assault.
"I cannot separate the slap from my broader findings," Carroccia said.
Regarding the oral sex between Dubé and E.M., Carroccia did not find reasonable doubt that the contact was non-consensual.
GO FURTHER
All 5 players found not guilty in Hockey Canada sexual assault trial
LONDON, Ont. — Cal Foote has been found not guilty, Carroccia announced.
In her decision, Carroccia said she would have to be "satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt" that Foote, by doing splits in E.M.'s face, applied reckless, sexual force. She was not saying that she did not believe the act to be sexual in nature.
Carter Hart testified that Foote was fully clothed when he did the splits. E.M. testified that he was naked.
GO FURTHER
All 5 players found not guilty in Hockey Canada sexual assault trial
LONDON, Ont. — Alex Formenton has been found not guilty, Carroccia announced.
In her decision, Carroccia said that she was "not satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt" that E.M. had sex with Formenton out of fear.
GO FURTHER
One night in London: Allegations of sexual assault and a reckoning for Hockey Canada
LONDON, Ont. — Carter Hart has been found not guilty. He was the first defendant to hear his verdict.
Justice Carroccia said she was unable to find reasonable doubt that E.M. did not consent to their sexual contact.
Before announcing her decision, Carroccia said that by acting in a sexual manner, masturbating and asking men to have sex with her, E.M. established a willingness to engage in sexual activity.
Carroccia also called Hart and E.M.'s sexual contact brief and said it was ended by him, and that she accepted the evidence that he provided.
LONDON, Ont. — Carroccia has said that, in her analysis, E.M. is not a reliable witness.
"I conclude that I cannot rely on (her testimony)," she said.
She is now reading assessments of the charges against the defendants.
GO FURTHER
E.M. fights back in contentious cross-examination during Hockey Canada trial
Advertisement
LONDON, Ont. — One of the prosecution's main allegations was that the players used a group chat to collude and concoct a false story that negatively portrayed E.M.
"I disagree with this," Carroccia said. She later added that she believed that the group text was an honest portrayal of the players' perception of the night.
GO FURTHER
Players in group chat strategized how to respond to Hockey Canada investigation
LONDON, Ont. — Carroccia, in her analysis, said that E.M.'s intoxication was a factor in assessing her reliability and made a point in noting how much more alcohol she'd consumed that night than, in her own assessment, was normal for her.
Carroccia also said that E.M. was observed on video walking and dancing without difficulty and speaking without slurring her words. She said that runs counter to E.M.'s own assessment of her level of intoxication.
"In my view, the plaintiff exaggerated her intoxication," Carroccia said.
GO FURTHER
With testimony concluded, Hockey Canada sexual assault trial nears completion
LONDON, Ont. — Justice Carroccia highlighted opportunities in which, in her analysis, E.M. could've effectively ended the night if she wished.
One was when she left the bar with Michael McLeod. Other opportunities, in Carroccia's analysis, came in the hotel room.
GO FURTHER
‘It was all just a joke to them’: E.M. testifies in Hockey Canada trial
LONDON, Ont. — Justice Carroccia continues to present what, in her analysis, are inconsistencies in E.M.'s earlier statements and things she said at trial and inconsistencies between her description of events and video taken of those events.
One example Carrocia gave: E.M. said that Michael McLeod guided her hand to his crotch on the bar dance floor, while the video showed that she placed her hand on McLeod's crotch herself.
GO FURTHER
At Hockey Canada trial, E.M. faces questions over timeline, alcohol consumption
LONDON, Ont. — Justice Carroccia is now getting into her analysis. Says there were "troubling" aspects to the manner in which E.M. gave evidence. She referenced a probe made by Dan Brown — attorney for Alex Formenton — into E.M.'s weight.
She had previously testified that she was 120 pounds on the night of the alleged incident, but Brown said that according to her medical records, she was 138 pounds. He said she had access to those medical records and questioned why she didn’t tell the jury her actual weight.
“Maybe you were trying to leave the jury with the impression that you were much smaller than you were to emphasize the size difference between yourself and the players,” Brown said at the time.
E.M. said she told the court what she had estimated at the time, not what was in the medical records.
“So you just said what you said at the time,” Brown said. “Rather than telling us the truth.”
GO FURTHER
Defense cites ‘reliability concerns’ of E.M. as closing arguments begin at Hockey Canada trial
Advertisement
All five members of the 2018 national junior team who were charged went on to play in the NHL over the five-plus years between when the alleged assault occurred and when they took leaves of absence from their respective teams after being told to surrender to police in January 2024. All of their NHL contracts have since expired.
Formenton, 25, was a former star with the Ontario Hockey League’s London Knights before being drafted in 2017 by the Ottawa Senators. He was playing in Switzerland after failing to reach an agreement on a new contract with the Senators in December 2022. In November, Formenton filed a $20.5 million lawsuit against his former representatives alleging negligence, breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty.
Hart was arguably the biggest star on the 2018 world junior team and had long been viewed as a franchise NHL goaltender. He was the No. 1 goalie for the Philadelphia Flyers when the team announced Hart would be taking an indefinite leave of absence, citing personal reasons.
Dubé was the captain of the 2018 world junior team and had established himself as a full-time member of the Calgary Flames. In August, he signed a one-year contract with Dinamo Minsk in the Kontinental Hockey League.
Cal Foote, 26, is the son of Vancouver Canucks coach Adam Foote. He had been a fringe NHL player over the course of his career and spent the majority of the 2023-24 season in the minor leagues before taking a leave of absence.
McLeod, 27, was in his fifth season with the New Jersey Devils and, like Dubé, has played the 2024-25 season in the KHL while awaiting trial. According to Detective Sgt. Katherine Dann of the London Police Service, the second charge against McLeod stems from the same incident in June 2018.
“The one charge he was laid with is in relation to his own actions and the party to the offense charge is in relation to aiding someone else and committing the offense,” Dann said at a news conference in February 2024.
The trial of five members from Canada’s 2018 world junior hockey team charged with sexual assault began April 22 in London, Ont.
Alex Formenton, Carter Hart, Dillon Dubé, Michael McLeod and Cal Foote have all been charged with sexual assault in connection to an alleged incident following a Hockey Canada fundraising event in 2018. The five players were charged with one count of sexual assault, with McLeod facing a second charge of sexual assault for “being a party to the offense.”
The allegations became public in late May 2022, when it was reported that Hockey Canada settled a lawsuit with a woman — referred to as E.M. in previously filed court documents — who said she was sexually assaulted by several members of the 2018 national junior team.
In E.M.’s initial lawsuit claim, she said that eight players assaulted her over several hours in a London hotel room. She said she met the group of players at a local bar the night of the alleged incident and had willingly left with one player. She said she engaged in consensual sex with that player, but that he invited several of his teammates into the hotel room without her knowledge or consent.
E.M. said she did not consent to any of the sexual contact or acts that followed, during which she said she was spat on, slapped on the buttocks, laughed at and degraded. According to her initial claim, the woman said she spent part of the night crying in the bathroom and despite wanting to leave, was coaxed by multiple players to remain in the hotel room. She noted that several of them had golf clubs in the room and that she felt physically intimidated and unable to leave.
No charges were laid after the initial London police investigation, which was closed in February 2019. However, news of the settlement sparked such public outrage that it prompted parliamentary hearings with the Canadian federal government, and London police reopened the case.
According to police, new evidence was gathered and additional interviews were conducted after the investigation resumed in 2022. The charges were announced by London police in February 2024.
Before the break, Carroccia also discussed the W(D) test, which helps weigh testimony of the accused (the players, in this case). The judge said she must go through the following reasoning:
According to the criminal law notebook (a resource shared by a defense lawyer not involved in the case), the purpose of the W(D) test is to ensure that the triers of fact understand that the verdict "should not be based on a choice between the accused’s and Crown’s evidence, but on whether, based on the whole of the evidence, they are left with a reasonable doubt as to the accused’s guilt."
Hockey News