Hockey Canada Sexual Assault Trial: Golden Knights' Brett Howden Breaks Down In Tears During Defense's Cross-Examination
Vegas Golden Knights center Brett Howden broke down in tears during Thursday's Hockey Canada sexual assault trial while being cross-examined over text messages he previously sent to a former teammate a week after the alleged assault.
Howden, who is not one of the five former members of Canada's 2018 world junior team currently facing charges of sexual assault, told the court that he was initially afraid to talk to his family about the alleged assault. Instead, he reached out to Taylor Raddysh, another member of Team Canada's roster, who is now a right winger for the Washington Capitals.
'It was hard, even the thought of just bringing this up with my parents,' Howden said via Zoom. 'I was kind of looking for a friend, because I didn't know how to go about this.'
Following questioning from the Crown, Howden was cross-examined by the defense attorney Lisa Carnelos, who is representing Dillon Dube, one of the five former members of Canada's 2018 world junior team currently facing charges of sexual assault – the other four being Michael McLeod, Carter Hart Alex Formenton and Cal Foote. All five men have pleaded not guilty to their charges, with McLeod pleading not guilty to an additional charge of sexual assault as party to the offense.
These charges all stem from a June 2018 incident in which a woman, referred to in court documents as E.M., alleged she was sexually assaulted in a London, Ont. hotel room following a Hockey Canada gala.
About a week after the alleged assault, Howden began a text conversation with Raddysh, where the two discussed the ongoing Hockey Canada investigation and what occurred in the hotel room, specifically the actions of Dube.
'Dude, I'm so happy I left when all the s--- went down. Haha," Howden texted to Raddysh. "Man, when I was leaving, Duber was smacking this girl's ass so hard. Like, it looks like it hurt so bad."
Carnelos asked Howden how he was feeling when initially notified of the Hockey Canada investigation, suggesting that Howden must have been nervous. Howden, who is now 27, agreed that he was nervous at the time. Carnelos pressed further and suggested that Howden was afraid of what his father would say.
'That was one of the hardest things to go through, explaining this to my family,' Howden said.
Carnelos also suggested that it also must have been hard for Howden to tell his then-girlfriend at the time. Howden agreed. Carnelos then added that Howden and her are now married and just had their second child together, before congratulating Howden.
It was at this point that Howden broke down crying.
The presiding judge, Maria Carroccia, asked if Howden needed a break, but he calmed down and said he reached out to Raddysh as a friend because Howden was afraid to talk to his family about the incident.
'It was hard, even the thought of just bringing this up with my parents,' Howden said. 'I was kind of looking for a friend, because I didn't know how to go about this.'
The main focus of the text messages was Howden telling Raddysh that Dube was allegedly 'smacking this girl's ass so hard.' When previously questioned by the Crown, Howden had said that he didn't remember sending that exact message or the others in that conversation. When the Crown asked if Howden was being 'truthfully factual' when he sent these messages to Raddysh, Howden agreed.
"I believe that I was being honest," Howden said.
Following Howden's dismissal for the day by Justice Carroccia, the Crown and defense teams analyzed Howden's message regarding Dube further. The defense argued that despite Howden believing that he was being honest and truthful at the time he sent the message, this doesn't mean he was necessarily accurate in his message, a point expressed by one of Hart's lawyers, Riaz Sayani .
'A belief in honesty and accuracy are two different things,' Sayani said.
Crown attorney Meaghan Cunningham responded to the defense, explaining that Howden was not simply assuming that he told the truth in these messages, but that it was what he truly believed.
'Mr. Howden didn't say 'I would not lie' or 'I would have told the truth,'' Cunningham said. 'He says, 'I believe I was being honest.' 'I believe that is the truth.''
Following the arguments from both sides, Justice Carroccia ended the court proceedings for the day, saying that she would need some time to make a decision on the admissibility of the text message, as well as whether the Crown will be able to cross-examine Howden.
The trial is expected to resume Friday morning.
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Hamilton Spectator
9 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
‘I apologize for being sarcastic': Judge, prosecutor spar over meaning of Hockey Canada players' group texts
LONDON, Ont.—The judge and lead Crown attorney at the high-profile Hockey Canada sex assault trial sparred Thursday over the prosecution's key argument that players used a group chat to cook up a false version of events. Things became so tense between Crown attorney Meaghan Cunningham and Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia in the courtroom at the judge-alone trial that Cunningham asked to take an earlier afternoon break, saying: 'I'm getting the sense from Your Honour that this is not a persuasive argument, so I'm going to ask to take the break now and readjust, because I don't want to spend more time on this than it deserves.' Crown attorney Meaghan Cunningham, left, and Justice Maria Carroccia, right, are shown in a courtroom sketch. The central issue in the case is whether the complainant, whose identity is covered by a standard publication ban, consented to sexual activity with Alex Formenton, Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Dillon Dubé and Cal Foote, all members of the 2018 Canadian world junior championship team, in a room at the Delta Armouries hotel in the early hours of June 19, 2018, when she was 20 years old. The complainant had met McLeod at Jack's Bar and returned to his room where they had consensual sex, only for multiple men to come in afterward, some prompted by a group chat text from McLeod about a '3 way.' A screenshot of a group chat involving members of Canada's 2018 world junior championship team. The Crown has alleged that McLeod had intercourse with the complainant a second time in the hotel room's bathroom; that Formenton separately had intercourse with the complainant in the bathroom; that McLeod, Hart and Dubé obtained oral sex from the woman; that Dubé slapped her naked buttocks, and that Foote did the splits over her head and his genitals 'grazed' her face — all without her consent. The Crown has previously argued that the men failed to take reasonable steps to confirm the woman's consent to each sexual act, and that she never made an 'affirmative, voluntary choice.' Carroccia is expected to deliver her judgment on July 24, in what originally began in April as a jury trial, but is now proceeding as a judge-alone case . She frequently questioned Cunningham throughout her closing arguments Thursday, with the Crown attorney saying this had caused her submissions to be longer than anticipated and will continue Friday. Cunningham contends that members of the team, including some of the accused as well as players who testified for the Crown, used a group chat on June 26, 2018, to come up with the false narrative that the complainant was begging men in the room for sex, and was becoming upset when they wouldn't take her up on her offers. On Thursday, she pointed to players' texts about what they should say, after finding out that Hockey Canada was looking into reports of the alleged sexual assault. 'Or they were repeating what they believe happened,' Carroccia said on the fourth day of closing arguments. 'See, those are the two competing inferences from this.' The judge took issue with Cunningham's argument that she should find as untrue the words in a text message from player Jake Bean, who was not charged with any wrongdoing and was never called as a witness at trial. He wrote that players had gone to the room to eat, a girl arrived and wanted to have sex with everyone, gave a few guys oral sex, 'and then we got out of the room when things got too crazy.' The judge asked the Crown if she was asking her to determine what Bean meant by his message when he was never called to testify. 'This is not a statement to the police, Ms. Cunningham, this is a text message ... He's explaining his view, I would think, of what happened in that room,' the judge said. 'How do I do anything with the words in the text message?' The Crown argued that when looking at the evidence as a whole, the Crown's argument becomes 'persuasive' that the players were lying in the group chat. But Cunningham continued to face challenges as the judge questioned the possible meaning of various text messages in the chat. When Cunningham pointed to a text message from player and Crown witness Brett Howden, who wrote something similar to Bean, Carroccia questioned why she would infer on the totality of the evidence that he was crafting a false narrative when he wasn't accused of doing anything. 'What I see happening in our exchange here, Your Honour, is you're sort of looking at each individual message and saying it could mean this, it could mean that,' Cunningham said. 'I'm urging Your Honour to look at them as a whole.' Cunningham argued that mentions of going to McLeod's room for food were 'planted' in the group chat as part of the false narrative, as the real reason was because of an invitation for sexual activity. But when she made that argument in relation to Dubé going to the room, she was again met with resistance from Carroccia, who tried to understand on what facts she could make a finding about the food being a lie. 'I apologize for being sarcastic, Ms. Cunningham, but inferences have to be drawn from facts, not speculation,' she said. When Carroccia returned from the break, Cunningham told her: 'I'm just going to leave you with the Crown's submission that the group chat is evidence of the players getting their stories straight and that should cause Your Honour to have concerns about the details discussed in that group chat.' Group text messages between some members of the 2018 world junior hockey championship team after they learned about an internal Hockey Canada investigation. (The texts appear in a multi-page court exhibit and have been excerpted by the Star.) Earlier on Thursday, Cunningham argued that the defence is trying to undermine the complainant's credibility by relying on the myth of how an 'ideal victim' is supposed to behave. She pointed to defence criticism that the complainant acted less like a witness during her nine days on the stand , and more like a 'PR professional' who came to court with an 'agenda' and tried to insert her 'talking points' into her answers. 'This kind of argument really illustrates why some people feel that victims aren't treated fairly in the criminal justice system,' Cunningham said. 'Because she can't win. If she's too emotional, she's combative. If she's not emotional enough, she's rehearsed ... This all finds its roots in this myth of the ideal victim, that there is a right way for someone to look and sound when they're describing sexual assault.' The jury has heard — in graphic detail — her allegations about what took place inside a London, Ont., hotel room in 2018. The jury has heard — in graphic detail — her allegations about what took place inside a London, Ont., hotel room in 2018. The complainant testified that she has memory gaps and that if she was making demands for sex in the room, it was as a coping mechanism for being in a room full of men she didn't know, something the defence has labelled as 'preposterous.' But Cunningham on Thursday said Carroccia must keep in mind that people facing stressful and traumatic events can react in a plethora of ways, and not always in a logical fashion. 'I submit to Your Honour that offering sex can absolutely be appeasement, absolutely that can be a normal response for someone in a highly stressful, unpredictable event,' Cunningham said. 'It would be wrong, in my submission, to conclude that it's preposterous that anyone would respond in that way. That is the prohibited myth-based reasoning.' The Crown also suggested that despite being nine days on the stand when the trial was being heard by a jury — 'an exceptionally long time for any witness' — the complainant remained generally calm and non-combative, while the defence has argued that she was often trying to anticipate the next question and unnecessarily adding context to a lot of her answers. This caused Carroccia to interject: 'There were a couple of times where I asked her to answer the question instead of going on, and to be honest with you, if this wasn't a jury trial, I would have said it a lot more often,' the judge told Cunningham. Carroccia pointed out the defence argues this showed the complainant had an 'agenda,' while Cunningham disagreed that it shows her being evasive or non-responsive. Cunningham said the complainant's sometimes lengthier responses in front of a jury were understandable as she was trying to give her best explanation in response to defence questions. 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New York Times
21 hours ago
- New York Times
Crown attacks defense's tactics, legal arguments in Hockey Canada trial
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Instead, she argued that E.M.'s credibility as a witness is supported by the fact that she already had a cash settlement with Hockey Canada, so she had nothing to benefit from continuing in a criminal trial with her version of what happened if it wasn't true. 'She could have taken that money and run,' Cunningham said. 'She did not need to come to this court, participate in this trial and subject herself to nine days of testimony in order to keep that money. There is no connection between the money and her participation in this trial. There is quite simply no evidence of financial motive.' Prior to the afternoon break, Cunningham and Carroccia sparred considerably during Cunningham's argument that the June 26, 2018 group chat showed the genesis of the players crafting a narrative about what happened that night. The Crown prosecutor asserted that they used that as a forum to get on the same page about how to describe the events. Several things stated by players in that group chat were not true, Cunningham argued, yet still took hold and were integrated into a number of players' stories about what happened. She specifically took issue with the ideas that the players were coming to the room for food and that E.M. was 'begging' for sex. 'The group chat shows the participants in the chat were all exposed to a discussion of a developing narrative,' Cunningham said. 'Or they were repeating what they believed happened,' Carroccia responded. After a number of tense exchanges in which Cunningham asked Carroccia to consider the totality of the evidence in context of the entire chat, she abandoned the argument because she said she could tell that Carroccia did not find it 'persuasive.' Advertisement Cunningham returned to the idea of E.M. 'begging' for sex — multiple players, including Crown witnesses, said that E.M. was asking players for sex — and said that was inconsistent with other evidence. She asked why McLeod would take the 'consent videos' he filmed that night if he felt she was 'begging' for sex, why he would tell police in his 2018 police interview that he filmed them because he was 'worried something like this would happen' if she was consenting enthusiastically, and why, if she was 'begging' for sexual activity throughout the night, players had failed to capture that via video or audio recording. Cunningham referenced the fact that multiple witnesses have described points in which E.M. was crying (Brett Howden described it as 'weeping') and their reasoning — they said she was upset players in the room weren't engaging with her sexually — and said that reasoning was 'illogical.' 'But guys were doing stuff to her, right? Three guys put their penises in her mouth. Another guy put his penis in her vagina and her mouth. Guys were slapping her on the buttocks and doing the splits over her,' Cunningham said. If she was upset that people wouldn't 'do stuff' to her, and it's true that they didn't want to engage with her, why didn't they simply let her leave the room when she got dressed at multiple points and said she was going to leave? Cunningham asked. Cunningham ended the day by covering the elements of consent law the Crown was asking Carroccia to consider as part of its case — that E.M. did not voluntarily consent to the specific sexual acts that have been charged. Cunningham stressed that Canadian law does not allow for broad, unspecific consent and that it has to be renewed consistently and tied to a certain specific act, not to sexual activity writ large. 'Consent has to be ongoing and consciously given throughout the sexual activity in question. Consent is not a one-and-done box check at the beginning or end of an encounter.' Cunningham said, adding that consent 'cannot be given in advance. It has to be contemporaneous' with the specific act. Advertisement Cunningham said E.M. did not weigh her options in the hotel room that night and make a conscious choice: 'There is no voluntary agreement when she believes she has no choice in the matter.' Cunningham said that if this was not enough to convince Carroccia that the sexual activity was non-consensual, she asked her to alternatively consider that the fear and stress she felt vitiated E.M.'s consent. She pointed out that E.M. was naked in a room of eight to 10 men — who were strangers — not knowing what was going to happen or how they'd react if she tried to leave or say no. 'Sexual assault is a gendered crime. The vast majority of victims are female. The vast majority of perpetrators are male,' Cunningham said. 'We as a society are starting to have a better understanding of just how prevalent and pervasive all forms of violence against women are and how patriarchal structures contribute to and perpetuate that violence. This is not a new phenomenon. It is not controversial or novel to accept that for most women existing in society means experiencing the fear that you may become the victim of some form of violence of a man.' — The Athletic's Dan Robson contributed reporting remotely from Toronto. (Courtroom sketch of Crown attorney Meaghan Cunningham during E.M.'s closed-circuit TV testimony earlier in the trial by Alexandra Newbould / The Canadian Press via AP)
Hamilton Spectator
a day ago
- Hamilton Spectator
From Niagara to the pitch: Port Colborne's Peter Montopoli helps kick off Canada's FIFA countdown
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