Report: Five accused 2018 Canada world junior players will have trial by jury for sexual assault case

As reported Wednesday by The Globe and Mail’s Robyn Doolittle, the five players from Canada’s 2018 world junior team charged with sexual assault will have a trial by jury. Michael McLeod, Cal Foote, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton and Dillon Dube will be tried together as a group.

As reported by TSN’s Rick Westhead, “It will be several months at least before a trial date is scheduled.”

“Earlier this week, all five players selected a trial by jury, and they are confident that jurors drawn from the community will decide this case fairly and impartially after hearing all the evidence and testimony,” the legal representation of the accused players wrote Doolittle in a joint statement.

Despite the fact the players will be tried as a group, not all five face identical charges. Whereas Foote, Hart, Formenton and Dube each face one count of sexual assault, McLeod is charged with two counts – one for his own actions and two for aiding someone else in a sexual assault.

As accounted by Detective Sgt. Katherine Dann during a Feb. 5 press conference from London Police, on June 18, 2018, the accused were in London, Ont., to celebrate their 2018 World Junior gold medal win with their teammates. After the Hockey Canada event, members of the team kept the celebration going, and some attended Jack’s, a bar in downtown London, where they met the victim. In the early morning hours of June 19, she went to the Delta London Armouries Hotel with one of the accused. The other four accused attended the same hotel – “and this is where the offense took place,” Dann said. “Later that morning, our service received a phone call from an individual related to the victim in this matter, seeking advice regarding a sexual assault.”

Each of the five accused players was an active NHLer this season aside from Formenton, who was playing in the KHL. All five took leaves of absence from their respective teams within days of London Police calling for their surrender in late January.

As explained by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman during the all-star weekend, there will be no immediate disciplinary action handed out to the five accused players, no movement to suspend them without pay, pending the results of the legal proceedings. The players will be paid the balance of their contracts while on leave, and Bettman said he “would be surprised” if they ended up playing during the process.