Trial of high-profile hockey players sees video of accused, complainant at bar
Heat, technical glitches disrupt proceedings
Article content
So, it’s been hot.
The judge knows it. The jury knows it. So do the hockey players in their suits, the lawyers in their gowns and the court staff in their required uniforms.
Recommended Videos
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Trial of high-profile hockey players sees video of accused, complainant at bar Back to video
tap here to see other videos from our team.
“You may have noticed, it’s a little hot in here,” Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia said Tuesday afternoon to the jury at the sexual assault trial of five members of the Team Canada world junior hockey squad that won gold in 2018.
“All of us has noticed, too.”
The heat has been on in courtroom 21 on the 14th floor of the London courthouse. But it has nothing to do with the evidence and everything to do with an aging London facility with its ongoing public elevator problems, daily IT issues and, especially this week, a heating-and-cooling system that is more hot than cold even though it’s 26 C outside.
It was so hot, the computer equipment needed to present evidence was overheating.
There are a lot of people in the room, too. The tiny public gallery is full of media and onlookers. The five accused each have two lawyers, filling up all the tables on one side of the room. And the jury box is packed with 14 people who are supposed to be able to put all their focus on the evidence.
It’s a lot of hot, stale air. After valiant attempts by the Crown to present evidence to the jury Tuesday, everyone threw in their sweaty towels by mid-afternoon and crossed their fingers the jury can come back Wednesday once a technician and an IT expert do their magic and turn on the air conditioning.
The whole court day had been interrupted with various issues, all of them related to technology not the legal arguments.
The jury started late in the morning because, as the judge told the jury at the end of the day, there was an Ontario government-wide glitch in the internet.
Then, when assistant Crown attorney Heather Donkers continued to present video and photo evidence from Jack’s Bar through the testimony of the Crown’s first witness, London police Det. Tiffany Waque, there were computer glitches and shutdowns.
There was a long break mid-morning. The judge called an early lunch. After lunch, there were more problems.
The courtroom where the trial is being held is fitted with all kinds of technology that is supposed to make it easier to present evidence at trials. But Carroccia told the jury the machines were “overheating” and “when Ms. Donkers was trying to show the video, it kept shutting off.”
So, the trial hasn’t been off to a fast start. Michael McLeod, 27, Alex Formenton, 25, Cal Foote, 26, Dillon Dube, 26 and Carter Hart, 26, have all pleaded not guilty to sexual assault. McLeod also has pleaded not guilty to a second charge of sexual assault for being a party to the offence.
The complainant was 20 on June 19, 2018, when the team was in London for a Hockey Canada gala to celebrate the team’s success. They later went to the Richmond Row bar where they met a woman, who alleges she was sexually assaulted by several members of the team in McLeod and Formenton’s hotel room at the Delta Armouries.
Waque’s evidence was intended to be a visual timeline of the entire night. The jury has seen the woman arriving at the bar with a female friend and the team showing up en masse. The woman could be seen meeting McLeod, with whom, the jury heard, she returned to the hotel later for consensual sex.
But before that, the team was in party mode. Some of the videos were from surveillance cameras inside the bar. Others, as described in an agreed statement of facts that is an exhibit at the trial, came from McLeod’s phone and player Drake Batherson’s phone.
In one video, several of the players are dancing and belting out the words to Pursuit of Happiness by Kid Cudi. Another shows them yelling out Chris Brown’s Yeah 3x.
There were other images in the security video of the woman with McLeod, who wore a beige ball cap backward, and talking to other players while they order drinks and imbibe. A Jack’s social media post showed a photo of some enthusiastic players, including McLeod, clearly having a good time.
Beside McLeod and with the players in the photo is the top of the complainant’s head.
Another man, who appeared to be older than the players, was identified as “a team sponsor” who was at the bar with the players.
A lot of the security video is blurry and without the Crown’s use of a red circle and arrows on the screen, it was difficult to pick up the people involved in the case. The strobing lights on the dance floor could be a distraction while trying to pick out the woman and all the players bopping to the music.
The security footage was filmed at different intervals, starting at about 11:20 p.m. until 2:30 a.m.
The trial, as long as the technical issues are solved, is expected to continue Wednesday.
