What jurors didn’t hear in the Jacob Hoggard sex-assault trial | Canada News Media
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What jurors didn’t hear in the Jacob Hoggard sex-assault trial

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Jurors have begun their deliberations in the sexual assault trial of Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard, lead singer of the band Hedley. Here is some of the information they were barred from hearing during trial in order to protect their impartiality.

Hoggard facing a new charge

Hoggard was charged in March with sexual assault causing bodily harm against another complainant in an incident alleged to have taken place in Kirkland Lake, Ont., on July 25, 2016.

The case was briefly before a court in nearby Haileybury, Ont., last Thursday and is set to return on Aug. 4.

Hoggard’s lawyer, Megan Savard, said Tuesday her client is innocent and denies the new allegation, and that he will plead not guilty. She declined to comment further as the case is before the courts.

The identity of the complainant in that case is also protected under a publication ban.

Hedley played the Kirkland Lake Homecoming festival on June 24, 2016.

Online allegations surrounding Hoggard

Neither lawyers nor witnesses in the trial could allude in front of the jury to various anonymous allegations about Hoggard that emerged online before his arrest in 2018.

In the second week of trial, defence lawyers asked the court to declare a mistrial after the second complainant briefly referenced other allegations.

The complainant testified that she decided to report her encounter with Hoggard to police after seeing an article online regarding an investigation into allegations of sexual assault involving the singer. She was immediately cut off by prosecutors before she could elaborate.

In the absence of the jury, defence lawyer Savard argued the complainant’s words had caused irreparable damage.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Gillian Roberts found the second complainant’s brief answer would not “fatally wound” the trial if jurors were given a proper corrective instruction.

She then told jurors there was no evidence of allegations outside those of the two complainants, adding they “must not speculate” on the matter.

The allegations that circulated online in 2018 have not been verified by The Canadian Press, nor have they been tested in court.

Former Hedley drummer gave police masturbation video

Prosecutors sought to call Hedley’s former drummer, Chris Crippin, to testify that Hoggard at one point sent him a video of himself masturbating in an airplane bathroom.

In pre-trial motions heard last year, Crippin – who was fired from the band in 2016 – said he did not consent to receiving the video, but kept it and eventually turned it in to police.

Crippin also said Hoggard, with whom he was on bad terms, had shared details of his sexual encounters with women. The drummer alleged that at one point, he suggested Hoggard was into degradation, and the singer agreed. However, he said there was no indication that any of the acts Hoggard described were not consensual.

Roberts ruled his evidence inadmissible. The judge said that if jurors concluded Hoggard sent the video knowing Crippin did not want to receive it, there was a risk they would find the musician is “the kind of person prepared to inflict his sexuality on others, regardless of their wishes,” which would have a “significant” prejudicial effect.

Roberts also found the degradation comment carried a “real risk” that jurors would infer Hoggard is more likely to commit sexual assault because he likes to degrade women.

A description of the masturbation video was included in an agreed statement of facts that was presented during trial, but there was no mention of how police obtained it.

Both complainants testified during trial that Hoggard sent them a video of himself masturbating.

Crippin’s account has not been tested in court.

Evidence of grooming 

Prosecutors were barred from using what the judge deemed“highly prejudicial labels” such as grooming, luring and possession of child pornography in front of the jury while discussing Hoggard’s interactions with the teenage complainant.

Before trial, the defence sought to have some aspects of the teenage complainant’s expected evidence excluded from trial, including that she exchanged messages with Hoggard in which he “cultivated a trusting romantic relationship” and that they exchanged sexual messages and nude photos.

Defence lawyers argued that evidence could be misused by jurors to infer that Hoggard is more likely to have committed sexual assault.

The Crown said Hoggard’s interactions with both complainants leading up to the alleged sexual assaults were “essential to the narrative” of how they came to be in his hotel room.

The judge ruled the evidence admissible but said jurors couldn’t be told that the teen complainant’s young age made her allegations more serious or that some of those alleged interactions, if true, would also be crimes.

The defence was also given permission to cross-examine the complainants on any evidence related to the texts raised by the Crown without bringing a separate application – a part of the ruling that came under scrutiny when the defence sought to cross-examine the second complainant on the content of some of those texts mid-trial.

Defence sought to have the cases tried separately

Hoggard’s lawyers twice sought to have the case split into separate trials, arguing the evidence expected from the teenage complainant could affect the jury’s assessment of the evidence regarding the second complainant.

In an initial application in 2020, the defence argued the “bad character evidence” related to the allegations involving the teen complainant could make jurors more inclined to punish the singer because he seems to be a “bad person.”

Roberts found that while jurors might “think very ill” of Hoggard if they believed he groped the teen and sent her explicit texts, they would not assume he is a rapist based on that evidence.

“I am satisfied that the jury will understand that what happened in each hotel room is the focus of the trial,” the judge wrote in her ruling.

She also found that the existence of a viable similar fact application – a process through which the Crown argues jurors should be able to consider similarities in the two complainants’ accounts – supported a joint trial.

The defence again sought to sever the two cases in February, arguing the similar fact application was no longer viable since Hoggard planned to testify and “acknowledge that particular acts described by both complainants were part of his sexual repertoire at the time of the allegations.”

Roberts found Hoggard’s planned testimony would not undermine the viability of the similar fact application and upheld her initial decision to hold a joint trial, with the similar fact application to be heard later.

Similarities between the two complainants’ accounts

The Crown had to make an application before it could urge the jury to consider the similarities between the two complainants’ accounts as a pattern of behaviour.

In the application, which took place after prosecutors presented their evidence but before the defence began to do so, Crown attorney Jill Witkin noted both accounts include sexual acts that are far from generic, as well as several contextual similarities in how Hoggard communicated with the complainants before and after the encounters.

Witkin argued jurors should be allowed to consider how improbable it is that two women who have never spoken would have concocted such similar allegations.

Savard argued that there was a reasonable, innocent explanation for the similarities, namely that many of those acts – such as spitting, slapping, name-calling and urination – were part of Hoggard’s sexual repertoire. As a result, she said, the similarities are no longer significant and should not be given weight.

The judge ruled that jurors should be allowed to consider similarities and differences between the allegations, and it should be up to them to decide whether they show “such a distinctive pattern of conduct” that it would “defy coincidence.”

Texts and call between Hoggard and the complainants

The admissibility of certain text messages between Hoggard and the complainants was ruled on before the trial, but the issue unexpectedly re-emerged as the defence cross-examined the second complainant.

The Crown was given permission before trial to introduce some evidence related to text messages between Hoggard and the two complainants. The Crown said the defence would be allowed to cross-examine the complainants on any evidence prosecutors brought related to the messages without making a separate application that would otherwise be required by law, and the judge agreed.

Some of the messages Hoggard exchanged with the younger complainant were shown to the court, but the Crown did not show any of the messages he exchanged with the second complainant. The second complainant testified, however, that some messages were of a sexual nature.

In the middle of cross-examining the second complainant, the defence sought to introduce a recording of a phone call she had with Hoggard shortly after their encounter and to question her on the contents of specific sexual texts.

Under law, evidence of a complainant’s past sexual history, which can include sexual texts, is inadmissible unless there is an application to show it will only be used for limited, specific purposes. Such evidence cannot be used to suggest a complainant was more likely to consent or should not be believed – what is commonly known as the “twin myths.”

As well, in 2018, the federal government changed the rules surrounding the use of private records related to a complainant but in the possession of the accused – including texts, letters or photos – in sexual assault trials. The new rules require the defence to apply in advance to introduce such materials, and grant complainants the right to participate in that hearing.

The Crown argued the call constitutes a private record, because it was a private conversation recorded without the complainant’s knowledge.

Witkin said the defence should have brought an application earlier to determine whether the call could be used, and waiting until mid-trial effectively forces the complainant to choose between exercising her right to participate in a hearing or wrapping up her testimony, since witnesses are not allowed to discuss their evidence with anyone once cross-examination begins.

The defence said it only decided to use the call the previous day based on the second complainant’s answers during cross-examination, and therefore could not have made an application earlier.

Roberts ruled the complainant had no reasonable expectation of privacy when it came to the call, meaning it could be used without first holding a hearing. But she said it would also be in the interest of justice to allow the complainant to hear the recording privately before it was played for the jury.

As for the texts, Savard said she wanted to ask the second complainant four questions related to specific words and phrases allegedly used in those messages, arguing it was important to establish a narrative and explain why Hoggard felt comfortable initiating certain acts.

The judge asked for written submissions on the issue, saying the stakes were “too high” and she did not want cross-examination to turn into “an inquiry into (the second complainant’s) general preferences.”

“I’m quite uncomfortable with this,” Roberts said. “Doing this on the fly is exactly what the legislation is trying to avoid.”

Roberts chastised Savard for not raising the issue before trial, saying the evidence the defence sought to raise in cross-examination went beyond what the Crown had brought and therefore required a separate application.

Savard argued she believed the pre-trial ruling gave her permission to cross-examine on anything related to the texts.

The trial was halted for a day to make time for legal arguments. The judge acknowledged her pre-trial ruling opened the door to some questioning on the texts, which she characterized as a mistake on her part. But she said there must be limits on what the complainant could be asked.

Roberts noted no records of the texts were preserved, and the questions proposed were based on Hoggard’s recollection of the messages.

In the arguments, the defence said the texts would instead be used to highlight the difference between Hoggard’s conversations – and relationships – with each complainant, as a counterpoint to the Crown’s emphasis on the similarities.

The Crown argued it could “only taint a jury” to hear the specifics of the messages. Witkin said that if the goal was to distinguish the two relationships, the defence could simply ask if they had “explicit discussions.”

Roberts ruled the defence could ask the second complainant if she had explicit conversations with Hoggard but could not include “gratuitous details.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 31, 2022.

 

Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press

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Justin Trudeau’s Announcing Cuts to Immigration Could Facilitate a Trump Win

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Outside of sports and a “Cold front coming down from Canada,” American news media only report on Canadian events that they believe are, or will be, influential to the US. Therefore, when Justin Trudeau’s announcement, having finally read the room, that Canada will be reducing the number of permanent residents admitted by more than 20 percent and temporary residents like skilled workers and college students will be cut by more than half made news south of the border, I knew the American media felt Trudeau’s about-face on immigration was newsworthy because many Americans would relate to Trudeau realizing Canada was accepting more immigrants than it could manage and are hoping their next POTUS will follow Trudeau’s playbook.

Canada, with lots of space and lacking convenient geographical ways for illegal immigrants to enter the country, though still many do, has a global reputation for being incredibly accepting of immigrants. On the surface, Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver appear to be multicultural havens. However, as the saying goes, “Too much of a good thing is never good,” resulting in a sharp rise in anti-immigrant sentiment, which you can almost taste in the air. A growing number of Canadians, regardless of their political affiliation, are blaming recent immigrants for causing the housing affordability crises, inflation, rise in crime and unemployment/stagnant wages.

Throughout history, populations have engulfed themselves in a tribal frenzy, a psychological state where people identify strongly with their own group, often leading to a ‘us versus them’ mentality. This has led to quick shifts from complacency to panic and finger-pointing at groups outside their tribe, a phenomenon that is not unique to any particular culture or time period.

My take on why the American news media found Trudeau’s blatantly obvious attempt to save his political career, balancing appeasement between the pitchfork crowd, who want a halt to immigration until Canada gets its house in order, and immigrant voters, who traditionally vote Liberal, newsworthy; the American news media, as do I, believe immigration fatigue is why Kamala Harris is going to lose on November 5th.

Because they frequently get the outcome wrong, I don’t take polls seriously. According to polls in 2014, Tim Hudak’s Progressive Conservatives and Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals were in a dead heat in Ontario, yet Wynne won with more than twice as many seats. In the 2018 Quebec election, most polls had the Coalition Avenir Québec with a 1-to-5-point lead over the governing Liberals. The result: The Coalition Avenir Québec enjoyed a landslide victory, winning 74 of 125 seats. Then there’s how the 2016 US election polls showing Donald Trump didn’t have a chance of winning against Hillary Clinton were ridiculously way off, highlighting the importance of the election day poll and, applicable in this election as it was in 2016, not to discount ‘shy Trump supporters;’ voters who support Trump but are hesitant to express their views publicly due to social or political pressure.

My distrust in polls aside, polls indicate Harris is leading by a few points. One would think that Trump’s many over-the-top shenanigans, which would be entertaining were he not the POTUS or again seeking the Oval Office, would have him far down in the polls. Trump is toe-to-toe with Harris in the polls because his approach to the economy—middle-class Americans are nostalgic for the relatively strong economic performance during Trump’s first three years in office—and immigration, which Americans are hyper-focused on right now, appeals to many Americans. In his quest to win votes, Trump is doing what anyone seeking political office needs to do: telling the people what they want to hear, strategically using populism—populism that serves your best interests is good populism—to evoke emotional responses. Harris isn’t doing herself any favours, nor moving voters, by going the “But, but… the orange man is bad!” route, while Trump cultivates support from “weird” marginal voting groups.

To Harris’s credit, things could have fallen apart when Biden abruptly stepped aside. Instead, Harris quickly clinched the nomination and had a strong first few weeks, erasing the deficit Biden had given her. The Democratic convention was a success, as was her acceptance speech. Her performance at the September 10th debate with Donald Trump was first-rate.

Harris’ Achilles heel is she’s now making promises she could have made and implemented while VP, making immigration and the economy Harris’ liabilities, especially since she’s been sitting next to Biden, watching the US turn into the circus it has become. These liabilities, basically her only liabilities, negate her stance on abortion, democracy, healthcare, a long-winning issue for Democrats, and Trump’s character. All Harris has offered voters is “feel-good vibes” over substance. In contrast, Trump offers the tangible political tornado (read: steamroll the problems Americans are facing) many Americans seek. With Trump, there’s no doubt that change, admittedly in a messy fashion, will happen. If enough Americans believe the changes he’ll implement will benefit them and their country…

The case against Harris on immigration, at a time when there’s a huge global backlash to immigration, even as the American news media are pointing out, in famously immigrant-friendly Canada, is relatively straightforward: During the first three years of the Biden-Harris administration, illegal Southern border crossings increased significantly.

The words illegal immigration, to put it mildly, irks most Americans. On the legal immigration front, according to Forbes, most billion-dollar startups were founded by immigrants. Google, Microsoft, and Oracle, to name three, have immigrants as CEOs. Immigrants, with tech skills and an entrepreneurial thirst, have kept America leading the world. I like to think that Americans and Canadians understand the best immigration policy is to strategically let enough of these immigrants in who’ll increase GDP and tax base and not rely on social programs. In other words, Americans and Canadians, and arguably citizens of European countries, expect their governments to be more strategic about immigration.

The days of the words on a bronze plaque mounted inside the Statue of Liberty pedestal’s lower level, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…” are no longer tolerated. Americans only want immigrants who’ll benefit America.

Does Trump demagogue the immigration issue with xenophobic and racist tropes, many of which are outright lies, such as claiming Haitian immigrants in Ohio are abducting and eating pets? Absolutely. However, such unhinged talk signals to Americans who are worried about the steady influx of illegal immigrants into their country that Trump can handle immigration so that it’s beneficial to the country as opposed to being an issue of economic stress.

In many ways, if polls are to be believed, Harris is paying the price for Biden and her lax policies early in their term. Yes, stimulus spending quickly rebuilt the job market, but at the cost of higher inflation. Loosen border policies at a time when anti-immigrant sentiment was increasing was a gross miscalculation, much like Trudeau’s immigration quota increase, and Biden indulging himself in running for re-election should never have happened.

If Trump wins, Democrats will proclaim that everyone is sexist, racist and misogynous, not to mention a likely White Supremacist, and for good measure, they’ll beat the “voter suppression” button. If Harris wins, Trump supporters will repeat voter fraud—since July, Elon Musk has tweeted on Twitter at least 22 times about voters being “imported” from abroad—being widespread.

Regardless of who wins tomorrow, Americans need to cool down; and give the divisive rhetoric a long overdue break. The right to an opinion belongs to everyone. Someone whose opinion differs from yours is not by default sexist, racist, a fascist or anything else; they simply disagree with you. Americans adopting the respectful mindset to agree to disagree would be the best thing they could do for the United States of America.

______________________________________________________________

 

Nick Kossovan, a self-described connoisseur of human psychology, writes about what’s

on his mind from Toronto. You can follow Nick on Twitter and Instagram @NKossovan.

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Former athletes lean on each other to lead Canada’s luge, bobsled teams

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CALGARY – Sam Edney and Jesse Lumsden sat on a bench on Parliament Hill during an athlete celebration after the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.

Having just represented Canada in their sliding sports — Lumsden in bobsled and Edney in luge — the two men pondered their futures together.

“There was actually one moment about, are we going to keep going? Talking about, what are each of us going to do? What’s the next four years look like?” Edney recalled a decade later.

“I do remember talking about that now. That was a big moment,” Lumsden said.

As the two men were sounding boards for each other as athletes, they are again as high-performance directors of their respective sliding sports.

Edney, an Olympic relay silver medallist in 2018 and the first Canadian man to win a World Cup gold medal, became Luge Canada’s HPD upon his retirement the following year.

Lumsden, a world and World Cup bobsled champion who raced his third Olympic Games in 2018, leaned on his sliding compatriot when he returned from five years of working in the financial sector to become HPD at Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton in July.

“The first person I called when BCS reached out to me about the role that I’m in now is Sam,” Lumsden said recently at Calgary’s WinSport, where they spent much of their competitive careers and now have offices.

“It’s been four months. I was squatting in the luge offices for the first two months beside him.

“We had all these ideas about we’re going to have weekly coffees and workouts Tuesday and Thursday and in the four months now, we’ve had two coffees and zero workouts.”

Canada has won at least one sliding-sport Olympic medal in each of the last five Winter Games, but Edney and Lumsden face a challenge as team leaders that they didn’t as athletes.

WinSport’s sliding track, built for the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary and where Edney and Lumsden did hundreds of runs as athletes, has been closed since 2019 needing a $25-million renovation.

There is no sign that will happen. WinSport took the $10 million the provincial government offered for the sliding track and put the money toward a renovation of the Frank King Lodge used by recreational skiers and snowboarders.

Canada’s only other sliding track in the resort town of Whistler, B.C., has a fraction of Calgary’s population from which to recruit and develop athletes.

“The comparison is if you took half the ice rinks away in the country, hockey and figure skating would be disarray,” Edney said.

“It just changes the dynamic of the sports completely, in terms of we’re now scrambling to find ways to bring people to a location that’s not as easy to get to, or to live out of, or to train out of full time.

“We’re realizing how good we had it when Calgary’s (track) was here. It’s not going to be the end of us, but it’s definitely made it more difficult.”

Lumsden, a former CFL running back as well as an Olympian, returned to a national sport organization still recovering from internal upheaval that included the athlete-led ouster of the former president and CEO after the 2022 Winter Olympics, and Olympic champion pilot Kaillie Humphries suing the organization for her release to compete for the U.S. in 2019.

“NSOs like Luge Canada and Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton, they’re startups,” Lumsden said. “You have to think like a startup, operate like a startup, job stack, do more with less, especially in the current environment.

“I felt it was the right time for me to take my sporting experience and the skill set that I learned at Neo Financial and working with some of the most talented people in Canada and try to inject that into an NSO that is in a state of distress right now, and try to work with the great staff we have and the athletes we have to start to turn this thing around.”

Edney, 40, and Lumsden, 42, take comfort in each other holding the same roles in their sports.

“It goes both ways. I couldn’t have been more excited about who they hired,” Edney said. “When Jesse was coming in, I knew that we were going to be able to collaborate and work together and get things happening for our sports.”

Added Lumsden: “We’ve been friends for a long time, so I knew how he was going to do in his role and before taking the role, having the conversation with him, I felt a lot of comfort.

“I asked ‘are you going to be around for a long time?’ He said ‘yeah, I’m not going anywhere.’ I said ‘OK, good.'”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.



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Canada’s Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Routliffe pick up second win at WTA Finals

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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe remain undefeated in women’s doubles at the WTA Finals.

The 2023 U.S. Open champions, seeded second at the event, secured a 1-6, 7-6 (1), (11-9) super-tiebreak win over fourth-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in round-robin play on Tuesday.

The season-ending tournament features the WTA Tour’s top eight women’s doubles teams.

Dabrowski and Routliffe lost the first set in 22 minutes but levelled the match by breaking Errani’s serve three times in the second, including at 6-5. They clinched victory with Routliffe saving a match point on her serve and Dabrowski ending Errani’s final serve-and-volley attempt.

Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face fifth-seeded Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk on Thursday, where a win would secure a spot in the semifinals.

The final is scheduled for Saturday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 5, 2024.

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