Brett Howden, defense attorney clash during pointed cross-examination

New York Times

4 days ago

LONDON, Ont. – During cross-examination on Tuesday, Brett Howden was accused by the defense of minimizing his interactions with the complainant in the hours before the alleged incident at the center of the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial and lying about a phone call he said he had with a teammate about the matter.
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In a pointed back and forth, Julianna Greenspan, attorney for Cal Foote, suggested that Howden, now a member of the NHL's Vegas Golden Knights, purposely withheld information from investigators to avoid further scrutiny of his own actions.
Dillon Dubé, Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton and Foote are each accused of sexually assaulting a woman in the early hours of June 19, 2018, after a Hockey Canada gala in London, Ont., where team members gathered to celebrate their 2018 World Juniors championship run. All five players pleaded not guilty in the trial, which is now in its sixth week.
Howden, a key Crown witness in the case, was the first member of the 2018 Hockey Canada world junior team to interact with the complainant at Jack's bar the night of the incidents. After dancing with the woman — known in this trial as E.M. — he introduced her to McLeod.
On Monday, Greenspan showed Howden surveillance video from the bar and pressed him repeatedly to acknowledge he slapped E.M. on the buttocks multiple times. Howden dug in and even after Greenspan showed him the video two additional times, with a portion of the video slowed down, maintained that he slapped her only once.
As Greenspan's cross-examine of Howden continued on Tuesday, she pressed him further about his own actions the night of the incidents at the center of this trial, suggesting that Howden had minimized his interactions with E.M. at the bar in past interviews with both Hockey Canada and police investigators.
In July 2018, Howden told Hockey Canada investigator Danielle Robitaille that E.M. was just 'part of a mixture with a bunch of girls on the dance floor.' When Greenspan pressed Howden on that characterization, he said that he was responding to short surveillance clips of a long night.
'A few minutes with someone who ends up in room 209, right?' Greenspan asked. 'A few minutes of direct, very close dancing contact.'
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'Yeah, but I've also never seen this girl in my life,' Howden said. 'And on the dance floor at the bar, you can tell that it's obviously dark. … I don't think it's fair that a couple minutes out of a whole night that you just expect me to know this girl that I've met for the first time in my lifetime.'
'Things aren't fair, are they Mr. Howden?' Greenspan asked, prompting the Crown to object about the basis of the question.
Greenspan suggested to Howden that he knew about his contact with E.M. at the bar when he talked to Hockey Canada investigators.
'No I'm not going to accept that, because like I told you it was a long night,' Howden said. 'And I don't know how I could remember exact moments of a multiple-hour night.'
Greenspan continued to press Howden about his 'direct and repeat contact' with E.M., describing his evidence as a 'false memory' to which Howden said that he had been drinking over the course of a 'long night.'
'I was being as honest as I could,' Howden said.
'I'm going to suggest that you did know,' Greenspan said. 'You did know exactly and at least until you find out about Hockey Canada and police getting involved, you never thought for a second that there was anything wrong with what happened. Agree or no?'
'No, I didn't think I did anything wrong that night,' Howden said.
'And knowing what you did on the dance floor, knowing what happened at Jack's bar, and everything else, you never thought that there was any problem with your behavior, right?' Greenspan asked.
'Yeah, correct,' Howden said.
Howden was also accused by Greenspan of making up a phone call in which he said he was asked by Foote not to mention him or his actions to Hockey Canada investigators. Greenspan suggested that once Howden learned about the 2022 lawsuit filed by E.M. against Hockey Canada and the allegations contained therein, he offered up an interaction with Foote because he felt he 'had to give some explanation' for not mentioning anything about Foote in the investigations previously.
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Howden disputed that and said he was speaking truthfully about the phone call when he relayed the information to investigators. The Crown, in re-examination, referenced Howden previously sharing specific details about that phone call, in which he told investigators he remembers telling Foote that he didn't see what allegedly happened between Foote and E.M. in the hotel room. Foote is accused of doing the splits over E.M. while she was laying on the ground and grazing his genitals over her face.
The Crown also referenced previous testimony Howden gave that his call with Dubé put him in a difficult position with Hockey Canada investigators because he said he views himself as an 'honest person.'
Howden's time on the stand ended Tuesday morning. The Crown will next call retired London Police sergeant Stephen Newton as a witness.
The Athletic's Dan Robson contributed reporting from Toronto.
(Photo by Don Emmert / AFP via Getty Images)