Hockey Canada Sexual Assault Trial: Defense Lawyer Questions E.M. On Cal Foote's Alleged 'Party Trick'
Warning: coverage of the Hockey Canada trial includes graphic details of alleged sexual assault that may be disturbing to readers.
A defense lawyer questioned the complainant in the trial of five former world junior players accused of sexual assault about what happened in the hotel room involving one player in particular, and what she wore that night.
Defense attorney Julianna Greenspan took to the podium Tuesday to begin her questioning of the complainant, who is referred to in court documents as E.M.
Greenspan represents Cal Foote, one of five former members of Canada's 2018 World Junior Championship team – the other four being Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton and Dillon Dube – who pleaded not guilty to a charge of sexual assault. McLeod has also pleaded not guilty to an additional charge of sexual assault as party to the offense.
The charges are connected to a June 2018 incident where the complainant alleges the men sexually assaulted her in a London, Ont., hotel room following a Hockey Canada gala.
Greenspan questioned E.M. regarding the events in the hotel room. She focused specifically on how Cal Foote allegedly, without permission, did the splits over the complainant's face while she was lying on a bed sheet on the ground, grazing her face with his genitals in the process.
The Crown's opening statement and E.M.'s testimony mentioned this allegation. Current NHL player Taylor Raddysh also testified that Foote does the splits as a 'party trick.'
'It was not funny to me,' E.M. said. 'They were all laughing and thought it was hilarious.'
Greenspan then referenced the complainant's police statement from June 2018 following the incident, in which E.M. said Foote 'just did the splits on my face, just to put it in my face kind of.'
The complainant told Greenspan it was very awkward to tell the police what Foote allegedly did, saying the act was out of the ordinary.
Greenspan suggested the complainant may have heard somebody say, 'Footer, do the splits,' as advanced notice. E.M. disagreed, saying all she heard was the men in the room laughing and encouraging each other.
'This was not something I asked for,' E.M. said. 'I got no notice before that happened to me.'
After shifting her questioning briefly, Greenspan returned to the topic of the splits, suggesting this trial was the first time E.M. mentioned Foote's genitals grazing her face.
Greenspan then suggested Foote wore shorts or pants at the time.
'I think I can clearly remember having a penis in my face,' E.M. said. 'It would not have been as shocking in my mind if he had shorts or pants on.'
Greenspan also suggested Foote did the splits as a funny moment, and E.M. attempted to turn it into a sexual act by touching his genitals.
E.M. disagreed with this as well, saying she was laid down on the sheet with her arms at her side and that he put his 'full penis and testicles' on her face.
Greenspan suggested again that E.M. wanted to turn 'this party trick into sexual contact, but he pulled away.'
E.M. asked Greenspan to repeat the question.
'I was really thrown off by the term 'party trick.' '
Hockey Canada Sexual Assault Trial: E.M. Told Friend She Felt 'Dirty And Used' As Defense Shows More Texts Warning: coverage of the Hockey Canada trial includes details of alleged sexual assault that may be disturbing to readers.
Earlier on Tuesday, Greenspan questioned the complainant about some of her clothing and accessories worn the night of June 18 and the morning of June 19, beginning with the high-heeled shoes E.M. wore.
Greenspan asked E.M. if she had ever put on her shoes when she got dressed and attempted to leave the hotel room multiple times. The complainant said she could never put them on by the time the men redirected her back to the bed sheet.
Greenspan suggested E.M. was never actually trying to leave the room, suggesting the complainant faked attempting to leave as a way to have the men's attention put back on her.
'You were putting on an act to say, 'OK, I'm leaving,' to put the focus back on you,' Greenspan said.
E.M. disagreed, saying she did not want the attention.
Greenspan also brought up the complainant's jewelry. She compared footage from earlier in the night at Jack's Bar in London to two videos filmed in the hotel room showing E.M.
In the hotel room videos, the complainant did not appear to wear the bracelet and earrings she had worn earlier in the night.
Greenspan dove further into this, referencing the complainant's statement to police from June 22, 2018, in which E.M. said she had been wearing her bracelet 'the whole time.' E.M. also said in that statement that she went to put the bracelet on again days after the alleged assault, but she couldn't do it because of the memories she had from the night.
'I truly believed I was wearing it,' E.M. says to Greenspan. 'I'm not sure why I thought I had my jewelry on.'
Added Greenspan: 'It was an effort to suggest to the officer, falsely, that you were impacted by what happened.' She also suggested E.M. didn't know there would be a video to disprove her claim.
E.M. disagreed with both of these suggestions.
Greenspan's questioning brought an end to the defense's cross-examination of E.M., but the trial is expected to resume Wednesday morning with the Crown asking more questions to the complainant.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBS News
2 hours ago
- CBS News
Minnesota Wild re-sign veteran Marcus Johansson to 1-year, $800,000 contract to avoid free agency
The Minnesota Wild re-signed right wing Marcus Johansson on Monday to a one-year, $800,000 contract that keeps the 15-year veteran from becoming a free agent. Johansson had 11 goals and 23 assists in 72 games for the Wild during the 2024-25 regular season, bouncing between the second and third lines. He was sixth on the team in points. The 34-year-old, who was acquired by the Wild from Washington a few days before the NHL trade deadline in 2023, played the 2024-25 season on a $2 million salary cap charge. Johansson had four goals and four assists in nine games for Sweden last month at the ice hockey world championships to help his native country's team win the bronze medal. He has 185 goals and 332 assists over 983 career regular-season games with seven teams in the NHL.
Hamilton Spectator
2 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Complainant ‘actually quite upset' police reopened Hockey Canada sex assault case, London detective testifies
The complainant in the Hockey Canada sexual assault case 'was actually quite upset' when a London, Ont., police detective broke the news to her in 2022 that the force was taking a second look at its initial investigation that had led to no criminal charges , the detective testified Monday as the high-profile trial wrapped up. 'I felt pretty bad because it felt like ... I got the sense that I was opening up some wounds that she was trying to close,' said Det. Lyndsey Ryan, who was tasked in the summer of 2022 with leading the reopened probe. 'I think it was a bit overwhelming. She wasn't expecting this.' Ryan was the last witness to testify at the trial, with closing arguments expected to begin next Monday. Of the five former members of the 2018 Canadian world junior championship team on trial, only player Carter Hart ended up testifying in his own defence, telling the court that his sexual contact with the complainant was consensual. The complainant had alleged that she was sexually assaulted by multiple members of the team in a room at the Delta Armouries hotel in the early hours of June 19, 2018, when she was 20 years old. London police initially declined to lay any criminal charges in February 2019. As the Star reported last month , lead detective Steve Newton felt the video surveillance footage of the complainant walking unaided in heels contradicted her assertion she was too intoxicated to consent. Cellphone videos taken of the complainant in the hotel room, in which she says 'it was all consensual ,' also led Newton to have doubts that a crime had been committed, as he wondered in his report whether the complainant had been an 'active participant' in the hotel room. The force decided to review its initial investigation amid intense public pressure in 2022, after TSN reported that Hockey Canada had settled, for an undisclosed sum, a $3.5-million lawsuit filed by the complainant that year against the organization and eight unnamed John Doe players. London police documents make clear the high-profile sex assault investigation was reopened in 2022 due to 'a resurgence in media attention' — with London police documents make clear the high-profile sex assault investigation was reopened in 2022 due to 'a resurgence in media attention' — with London police ultimately charged Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube, and Cal Foote in early 2024 with sexual assault, though at the time remained silent on why they had reopened their investigation. The force acknowledged in court filings it was as a result of public scrutiny, noting 'the media attention surrounding this event is significant.' Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia also pressed Ryan on Monday at the players' trial to answer why the force was taking a second look. 'We just wanted to make sure any loose ends were tied up if there were any, so it was a review to make sure everything was done properly,' Ryan testified. Carroccia continued: 'A review because of the Hockey Canada resolution of the civil suit?' Ryan replied: 'Yes, exactly.' Ryan was actually called to the stand by Formenton's lawyer, Daniel Brown, who just briefly asked her whether his client had a criminal record. She confirmed he doesn't. Brown indicated to the court he will not be calling his client to testify in his own defence, especially given the fact the Crown has already entered Formenton's police interview in 2018 as an exhibit , in which he maintains he engaged in consensual intercourse with the complainant in the hotel room bathroom. A similar reason was given last week for why McLeod won't be testifying. Lawyers for Dube and Foote also confirmed Monday they will not be testifying. The only player to testify in his own defence is Hart, who said he asked the complainant for oral sex and she said yes . Court records show that London police approached the case from a different angle in 2022: that although the complainant never said no and didn't physically resist, she only went along with the sexual activity because she was intimidated to be in a room full of men she didn't know, and the players should have known she wasn't actually consenting. One of the few new pieces of evidence in 2022 was a statement the complainant told Ryan about, which she had prepared for separate probes being conducted by Hockey Canada and the NHL . The complainant told Ryan that she believed the statement would 'clarify' some of those organizations' questions. The players were 'compelled' to sit for an interview with Hockey Canada. But they weren't told the investigator knew police wanted access to her The players were 'compelled' to sit for an interview with Hockey Canada. But they weren't told the investigator knew police wanted access to her The complainant acknowledged in her testimony at the trial this year that the statement is riddled with errors and was actually written by her civil lawyers. Ryan said on Monday she thought there were 'important' differences between what the complainant told London police in 2018 and what she wrote in her statement in 2022, while confirming she never re-interviewed the complainant as part of the reopened probe. Hart's lawyer, Riaz Sayani, asked Ryan if that's because police felt the new statement was an 'effective substitute' for a police interview. 'No,' Ryan said. 'The main reason was we thought we had everything we needed from her and a re-interview would have retraumatizing.' She said it was 'possible' she would have re-interviewed the complainant if she didn't have the statement. Sayani pressed Ryan on whether she thought this statement was 'helpful' in making the case for criminal charges against the players. 'Not sure if I would say it was helpful,' Ryan said. 'It did clarify some points. It didn't hurt either.' Ryan did agree with Sayani's suggestion that the statement provided a 'new interpretation' of what happened in that hotel room in 2018. While Ryan felt the complainant had blamed herself in her 2018 interview with police, in her 2022 statement she seemed to understand that what had happened was not her fault. 'I believe this change can be attributed to her having had four years to think about the events and understand she was not to blame and that her acquiescence did not equal consent,' Ryan wrote in an excerpt of her report read in court. Ryan also never spoke with the work friends who were with the complainant at Jack's Bar the night she met McLeod. She later returned to his hotel room where they had consensual sex, only for multiple men to come in afterward, prompted by texts from McLeod. Sayani suggested that those friends could have provided a different version of events than what the complainant was saying, such as the fact that she actually bought most of her drinks herself rather than the players, and that her friends were messaging her at the bar trying to find her, asking if she wanted help to get away from McLeod, but she said she was fine. Ryan agreed the complainant never told her any of that. Sayani put to Ryan that if the complainant had told her, then police may have wanted to interview those friends to get a better sense of the complainant's state of intoxication and efforts to get away from McLeod. 'Correct, potentially, yeah,' Ryan said.
Associated Press
6 hours ago
- Associated Press
Blackhawks hire Vellucci as an assistant coach under Blashill
CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago Blackhawks have hired Mike Vellucci as an assistant coach for Jeff Blashill's first staff with his new team. The Blackhawks announced the addition of Vellucci on Monday. He joins Michael Peca and Anders Sorensen as Blashill's assistants. Goaltending coach Jimmy Waite, video coach Matt Meacham and assistant video coach Adam Gill round out the staff. Vellucci, 58, spent the previous five seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He was an assistant general manager and director of hockey operations for the Carolina Hurricanes from 2014-19. Vellucci also was an assistant coach for the U.S. when it won the world championship last month. Blackhawks forward Frank Nazar and defenseman Alex Vlasic were part of the winning American team. 'Serving as an assistant coach at the world championship this summer and winning a gold medal for our country alongside Frank Nazar and Alex Vlasic will bring such valuable experience to this group,' Blashill said in a release. 'That kind of championship-caliber background only makes our team better and I'm excited to get to work.' Blashill, 51, took over as Chicago's head coach last month. He spent the last three seasons as an assistant to Jon Cooper with the Tampa Bay Lightning. ___ AP NHL:
