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Toronto Star
22-05-2025
- Toronto Star
Hockey Canada trial pores over NHLer's ‘lack of memory' about night of alleged sex assaults
The Oxford Dictionary defines feigning as 'the act of pretending or faking, especially with the intent to deceive.' A nicer way of saying liar-liar-pants-on-fire. It took nearly a full day of voir dire in a London, Ont., Courtroom — legal arguments betwixt the prosecution and the defence, plumbing case law and pondering as they retreated to their own corners of the ring — before Justice Maria Carroccia ruled that there was no feigning in the testimony (thus far) of a former junior hockey player called as a witness by the Crown in the trial of five former junior hockey players charged with a range of sexual assaults. And then they knocked off early. Because, you know, they have to give the next step in this interminable proceeding a good think. Basically, Crown attorney Meaghan Cunningham had been vexed by the testimony of Brett Howden, a member of the 2018 world championship squad and now with the Las Vegas Golden Knights. She had sought leave under a section of the Canada Evidence Act to cross-examine Howden — her own witness. That is an infrequent but not necessarily rare strategy. Cross-examination is typically more confrontational and the domain of the defence. Howden's recollections of what happened in Room 209 in the early morning hours of June 19, 2018, were patchy in some areas and, said Cunningham, contradicted what he'd said in previous statements to investigators. 'Mr. Howden's memory loss is a feigned memory loss,' Cunningham told Carroccia in what is now a judge-alone trial, following a mistrial and a dismissed jury in the last few weeks. 'This is not a complete memory loss. He remembers some details but doesn't remember the details that are particularly damning to his friends and teammates.' Not that Howden got a complete pass from the defence, either. Itching to get their hands on him, I'd say. Megan Savard, lawyer for Carter Hart, described the witness as unsophisticated — goodness, he testified via video link from Vegas wearing a hoodie! — inarticulate and sloppy with language. But had Howden been deliberately feigning, then surely he would have tried being more efficacious towards the accused, said Savard. 'I would say, if anything, we may all say at the end of the day this witness is generally useless, but certainly not helpful to the defence.' Savard argued that, for the judge to accept that Howden is feigning memory loss would be to accept that the witness had deliberately decided to 'come to court and perjure himself for a group of men he hasn't really talked to in seven years. That's a pretty tall order.' ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Lisa Carnelos, representing Dillon Dubé, pointed out that the Crown had met with Howden in Calgary in preparation for trial. 'They know he has legitimate memory issues.' Carroccia: 'As opposed to feigning.' Hart, Dubé, Michael McLeod, Alex Formenton and Cal Foote have all pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting a then-20-year-old woman in the hotel room after meeting at a bar. Their accuser spent nine days on the witness stand — actually from another location in the courthouse — most of it under gruelling interrogation by the top-drawer D-corps. News 'My truth': What we heard from the Hockey Canada sex assault complainant in nine days of testimony The jury has heard — in graphic detail — her allegations about what took place inside a London, Ont., hotel room in 2018. News 'My truth': What we heard from the Hockey Canada sex assault complainant in nine days of testimony The jury has heard — in graphic detail — her allegations about what took place inside a London, Ont., hotel room in 2018. The complainant, known only as E.M. — her identity protected by a standard publication ban —remained adamant throughout that she'd willingly had sex only with McLeod (the first time; there was allegedly a second episode in the bathroom later) and was shocked when he surreptitiously invited teammates to the room for a 'three-way'. The experience was so devastating that E.M. detached mind from body as a coping mechanism. She conceded, however, that she'd never said 'no', never tried to leave, and made sexually enticing comments to the young men, assuming a 'porn star identity' to make it through the ordeal. But, apart from the initial episode with McLeod, it was not consensual. That's at the heart of the case. Howden, who began testifying on Tuesday, is one of four ex-teammates thus far who've been called by the Crown. In the voir dire, Cunningham has raised 18 areas where Howden's testimony was markedly different from what he'd said in 2018, 2022 and 2023 in statements to London police, investigators hired by Hockey Canada — which launched its own internal probe in 2018 — and in text messages. E.M. testified that she became obviously upset when Dubé allegedly slapped her on her naked buttocks without her consent. Howden — who was in the room but didn't participate in the alleged events — told court on Tuesday that he'd heard a slap but hadn't actually seen it. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Cunningham countered by reading a text message from Howden to teammate Taylor Raddysh in 2018, in which he wrote: 'Dude, I'm so happy I left when all the s—- went down. Haha. Man, when I was leaving, Duber was smacking this girl's ass so hard. Like, it looks like it hurt so bad.' There are, apparently, two other statements in which Howden claims to have seen the slap. But at trial, he testified he has no present memory of the smack. Cunningham also raised Howden's testimony about a phone call he'd had with Dubé in 2018, in which Dubé asked him to leave his name out when Howden was about to be questioned by Hockey Canada's investigator. Continuing, Cunningham put it to Howden that Dubé said he was 'not happy that I did that'. 'I don't remember the conversation (with Dubé),' said Howden, who couldn't even recall who'd called whom. 'I just remember being asked to leave his name out of things.' The prosecutor noted contradictions in Howden's evidence of an interaction he'd had with Formenton in the hotel room. Court has heard that E.M. had led Formenton into the bathroom to have sex more privately and Formenton said to Howden: 'Should I do this?' But Cunningham pointed to a 2018 Howden statement in which he quoted Formenton as saying: 'Will I get into trouble for this? Am I OK to do this? Am I allowed to do this?' Cunningham: 'There is a material difference between 'should I do this' versus 'will I get into trouble if I do this'. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW In 2022, Howden told Danielle Robitaille, the lawyer hired by Hockey Canada to investigate, 'I do remember seeing the smack. That was drawing a line for me to leave because I had felt uncomfortable to that point. Once I had seen that, I just wanted to be out of there.' Cunningham: 'He's clearly connecting the slap to his decision to leave.' Further, Howden testified that E.M. had been flirtatious, egging on the players to have sex with her, presenting the complainant as the instigator. Yet he didn't remember other significant details, such as E.M. allegedly weeping and others in the room saying: 'Baby, don't leave.' When court resumed Wednesday following the late lunch break, Carroccia delivered her ruling specifically on the 'feigning' submission. 'In my view, at this stage, I cannot find that Mr. Howden is feigning lack of memory or is being insincere about whether he has a recollection of his earlier statements or particulars of the events that he's being asked to describe. On more than one occasion, when given an opportunity to refresh his memory, Mr. Howden has testified that he has no present recollection but was telling the truth when he answered questions previously. He was effectively adopting his earlier statements. 'He was not apparently trying to distance himself from his earlier statements. In fact, it is apparent he had a lack of memory in relation to some areas, even in 2022 and 2023. On the totality of the evidence, I incur there is no basis that Mr. Howden is being untruthful about his lack of memory in certain details about which he has been asked and I will not make such a finding.' The matter is far from settled, though. On Thursday, Carroccia will rule on the specifics of four instances where she found inconsistencies in Howden's testimony, from the perspective of memory loss over time and discrepancies in statements. Carroccia has yet to rule on the core issue of whether Howden can be cross-examined by the Crown.
New York Times
21-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Hockey Canada trial judge limits Crown's efforts to press Brett Howden
LONDON, Ont. – After a day of arguing over Brett Howden's truthfulness, the judge in the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial said she did not believe he feigned a lack of memory during his testimony, as prosecutors alleged. But Justice Maria Carroccia did agree there were some inconsistencies that could be questioned. Advertisement Howden — now a member of the Las Vegas Golden Knights — is a key Crown witness in the case against five of his former teammates from the 2018 Canadian World Junior team who are accused of sexually assaulting a woman in the early hours of June 19, 2018, after a Hockey Canada gala in London, Ont. Earlier, Howden's inability to recall details of the events at the center of this trial was challenged by Crown prosecutor Meaghan Cunningham, who suggested that Howden was being dishonest to protect his former teammates. 'Mr. Howden's memory loss is a feigned memory loss, not a sincere one,' Cunningham said. On Wednesday, Cunningham made a Canada Evidence Act application, under section 9-2, which allows a party producing a witness to cross-examine them because they feel past statements they made are inconsistent with their current testimony. Carroccia heard arguments from both the Crown and defense throughout the day's deliberations and ruled against the Crown on the issue of his memory. In past statements, Howden has said that he heard the complainant at the center of this trial 'weeping' the night of the alleged attack and that he heard Dillion Dubé smack her buttocks so hard 'it looked like it hurt so bad.' But during his testimony, Howden said he was unable to recall many details about what occurred in the early hours of June 19, 2018. Cunningham outlined what she said were 18 issues and inconsistencies between Howden's testimony and his past statements about the incidents to Hockey Canada investigators, police and in text messages to his teammates after the incident. Dubé, Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton and Cal Foote have all pleaded not guilty to the charges they face. They each sat at separate tables in the courtroom next to their counsel and Howden appeared by a video feed from Las Vegas, where he resides. Advertisement The complainant in the case has testified that after a night of drinking and dancing at Jack's bar she went to a hotel with McLeod and engaged in consensual sex. Afterward, she said, men showed up in the hotel room without her consent and over a couple of hours she was coaxed into sexual acts against her will. The Crown says that McLeod, Hart and Dubé all obtained oral sex from E.M. without her consent, and that Formenton had vaginal sex with E.M. without her consent. The Crown has also told the jury that Dubé slapped E.M.'s naked buttocks while she was engaged in a sexual act with another person, and that Foote did the splits and grazed his genitals over her face as she laid on the ground. After a day of arguments between the Crown and defense, Carroccia ruled that four of those 18 areas could be further examined by Cunningham because of inconsistencies between Howden's testimony and past statements. Those areas include his recollection of Dube smacking the complainant's buttocks, and his interactions with Formenton before he had sex with E.M. in the hotel bathroom. Cunningham will now confer with defense attorneys on how to proceed regarding those areas. On Tuesday, Howden testified that he couldn't recall how he felt after hearing Dubé slap E.M. in the hotel room. But during her appeal on Wednesday, Cunningham referred to past statements in which Howden said the smack had drawn 'a line for me to leave' and that it 'pushed me out the door.' Cunningham also discussed a text message Howden sent to Taylor Raddysh, his roommate at the hotel, on June 26, after learning of Hockey Canada's investigation into the incident. Howden was allowed to read it during his testimony. 'Dude, I'm so happy I left when all that sh– went down. Ha, ha,' he wrote. He also wrote: 'Man, when I was leaving, Duber was smacking this girl's ass so hard. It looked like it hurt so bad.' Advertisement Howden also said during his testimony that he didn't know if E.M. was clothed at the time of the slap, but Cunningham noted, in the past he told investigators that 'it sounded like it was skin to skin.' In past statements, Howden also described hearing E.M. crying. 'I just heard her kind of weeping, and I didn't know, like, what was going on. I went to my room because I didn't want to be part of anything,' Howden said to lawyer Danielle Robitaille, hired by Hockey Canada to conduct its investigation in 2018. When Robitaille asked him whether he saw her or heard her, he replied, 'I didn't physically see her crying, but I heard — it sounded like crying anyway.' In response to the Crown's appeal, Megan Savard — counsel for Hart — said that Howden was clearly a 'plainly unsophisticated' and 'inarticulate' witness who was careless with words. She noted that he didn't even appear dressed for court. Howden wore a hoodie during his first day of testimony. Savard, arguing from past legal precedents, noted that in order to grant the Crown's request to cross-examine its own witness, Carroccia had to decide that there is evidence of collusion in Howden's testimony and that he was prepared to perjure himself 'for a group of men he hasn't really talked to in seven years.' 'That is a pretty tall order on the record we have,' Savard said. Savard noted that Howden was prone to overstatement, retraction and then more overstatement. 'I would say, if anything, we may all say at the end of the day this witness is generally useless, but certainly not helpful to the defense,' she said. Hilary Dudding, counsel for Formenton, argued that Howden's testimony was not inconsistent with past statements — rather, it was a matter of 'loose speech' — with the intent of what he was conveyed remaining the same. Advertisement Lisa Carnelos, counsel for Dubé, argued that Howden was a 'straw man witness' and that the Crown was well aware of his 'legitimate memory issues' before the trial. Wednesday's proceedings highlighted the chasm between what the Crown is able to address via present testimony and what remains inadmissible as a result of pre-trial motion rulings. While Cunningham may potentially question Howden about the discrepancies from his present testimony and previous statements, the Crown will not have that same opportunity to refer back to previous statements made by some of the accused. In a pre-trial ruling in December 2024, Justice Bruce Thomas decided that certain 2022 statements — from McLeod, Formenton and Dubé — gathered by Henein Hutchison, a third-party law firm that Hockey Canada hired to perform an arm's-length investigation, were inadmissible because they 'offended their right to a fair trial.' Thomas, in his ruling, said that these statements were not admissible because they were not made voluntarily. In his ruling, Thomas found that cooperation from those individuals was coerced under threat of a lifetime ban from Hockey Canada and public disclosure of those who refused to participate in interviews. — The Athletic's Kamila Hinkson reported remotely from Montreal. The Athletic's Katie Strang contributed additional reporting. (Courtroom sketch of Crown prosecutor Meaghan Cunningham from earlier in the trial by Alexandra Newbould / The Canadian Press via AP)
CTV News
21-05-2025
- CTV News
CTV National News: Brett Howden testifies at World Juniors sex assault trial
Las Vegas Golden Knights forward Brett Howden testified he took phone calls from two of accused following the alleged sexual assault. Rick Westhead reports.
New York Times
20-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Prosecutors probe inconsistencies in teammate's testimony in Hockey Canada trial
LONDON, Ont. – Prosecutors in the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial are challenging what they say are inconsistences in the testimony of Brett Howden, a member of the 2018 World Junior team. Howden — who is now a member of the Las Vegas Golden Knights — was called as a Crown witness on Tuesday, appearing via a remote video feed from Las Vegas. Advertisement Howden, who is not accused of any wrongdoing, repeatedly told Crown prosecutor Meaghan Cunningham that he could not recall details from the evening of June 18 and early-morning hours of June 19, 2018 — despite being given the opportunity to review transcripts of past statements. 'I don't remember because it was seven years ago,' Howden said in one of many exchanges with Cunningham when pressed for details from the night in question. Court ended early on Tuesday afternoon as Cunningham told Justice Maria Carroccia that the Crown will make a Canada Evidence Act application to allow her to cross-examine Howden on inconsistencies between his present testimony and his past statements. 'There are a number of areas that I wish to explore as part of this application. I think we are upwards of 15 at this point,' Cunningham said, before Howden was dismissed for the day. He will return to the witness box on Wednesday morning. Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Dillon Dubé, Alex Formenton and Cal Foote are facing sexual assault charges stemming from the alleged incident while players were in town for a Hockey Canada event celebrating their 2018 World Junior championship. All five players pleaded not guilty. The trial took a turn last week when a second jury was dismissed after a juror accused two of the defense lawyers — Daniel Brown and Hilary Dudding, who represent Formenton — of inappropriate behavior. The trial has continued, with Carroccia hearing the remaining testimony and evidence. The complainant in the case has testified that after a night of drinking and dancing at Jack's bar she went to a hotel with McLeod and engaged in consensual sex. Afterward, she said, men showed up in the hotel room without her consent and that she was scared. E.M., whose identity is protected by a publication ban, said that she was asked to lay down on a bedsheet on the floor, and did so because she felt she had no choice. Over the next couple of hours, she said she was coaxed into sexual acts, was laughed at, slapped and spit on. When she tried to leave, several times, E.M. says she was pressured by the men to remain. Advertisement On Tuesday, Howden struggled to recall details from that night. Multiple times, Cunningham asked Howden to refresh his memory by referring to past statements he made to police and during Hockey Canada investigations in 2018 and 2022. Cunningham also asked Howden to refer to a series of text messages he exchanged with Taylor Raddysh, who was his roommate at the hotel and was called as a Crown witness in the initial weeks of the trial. Howden repeatedly told Cunningham that the transcripts did not refresh his memory. The court has heard that Howden met E.M. and began dancing with her at the bar before introducing her to McLeod. When Howden was shown surveillance video of himself bringing McLeod to meet E.M, he said he could not recall anything about the interaction other than that he was 'taken' at the time. McLeod and E.M. left the bar together and had consensual sex at the hotel, where members of the 2018 World Junior team were staying during the Hockey Canada gala and golf tournament. Shortly after 2 a.m., McLeod texted a team group chat 'who wants to be in 3 way quick.' Howden said he did not see any messages on the group chat because he'd recently changed his phone number. He returned to the hotel with several other players shortly after 2:40 a.m. Inside McLeod's hotel room, Howden said he was surprised to see the woman he'd met at the bar. He was just looking to hang out with his teammates and order food, he said. Howden said he could not remember whether the woman was dressed or not. He described having casual conversations with his teammates until things 'started to escalate quickly.' Howden said E.M. was acting flirty, but could not specifically recall what she said that made him think that. The woman taunted and 'chirped' the men in the room, Howden said, because they would not engage in her request for them to perform sexual acts with her. Advertisement 'I remember her calling guys pussies for not engaging with her,' he said. 'I remember her just not stopping when nobody was taking her up on it.' The Crown says that McLeod, Hart and Dubé all obtained oral sex from E.M. without her consent, and that Formenton had vaginal sex with E.M. without her consent. The Crown has also told the jury that Dubé slapped E.M.'s naked buttocks while she was engaged in a sexual act with another person, and that Foote did the splits and grazed his genitals over her face as she laid on the ground. Howden told the court that he saw E.M. lead Formenton into the bathroom, but could not recall specifics. He said that Formenton asked 'should I be doing this?' as he followed her to the bathroom, but didn't recall saying anything to him. Howden said E.M. did not attempt to touch him. Later, Cunningham asked Howden about a text exchange with Raddysh in which he mentioned Dubé smacking E.M. on the buttocks. After reviewing the texts, Howden said that he did not recall seeing the incident occur, but that he believed he heard the sound of it. Howden said he could not remember whether the woman was clothed or unclothed, or what she was doing in the moment she was struck. He could not remember how she reacted afterward. When Cunningham pressed Howden on how he felt when that happened, he said he couldn't recall. 'I just remember wanting to leave and get out of there. I just felt uncomfortable with the situation with her asking the guys to do all this stuff,' Howden said. 'It was just more so awkward than anything. I don't remember exactly when I left. I just remember it was just because I was uncomfortable.' On the morning of June 19, Howden said that McLeod showed him a video he had taken of E.M. hours earlier, which has previously been shown in court, in which E.M. says 'it was all consensual.' Advertisement Cunningham also asked Howden about phone conversations he had with both Dubé and Foote in which they told him not to discuss either of them with Hockey Canada investigators. In both cases, Howden said he only remembered being asked not to mention Dubé and Foote. Tyler Steenbergen testified last week that he was also called by Dubé and Foote, both of whom asked him not to tell investigators what he saw them do because they wanted to explain to investigators themselves. Cunningham later asked Howden about text messages the players exchanged several days after the incident when they learned Hockey Canada was launching an investigation. Howden tells the group that the woman started begging for sex and that no one would do it, but that eventually she gave three guys oral sex and that's when things started to 'get out of hand.' 'Nobody forced her to do anything,' Howden texted the group. 'If anything we should put an allegation on her.' Cunningham pressed Howden to explain what he meant from that text. 'During all of this, I think there was some anger that was coming across, because in that situation I felt like she was the one initiating everything,' Howden said. 'She's the one that put us in that situation.' (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images)
CTV News
11-05-2025
- Sport
- CTV News
Edmonton Oilers bitten at the buzzer in 4-3 loss to Vegas Golden Knights
The Oilers lost a heartbreaker to Las Vegas Saturday night in Edmonton, dropping a 4-3 decision. (Photo: X@EdmontonOilers)
