What to know about Carter Hart’s sexual assault case ahead of Thursday’s verdict in the Hockey Canada trial

On Thursday, over seven years after the initial police investigation into an alleged sexual assault involving members of Canada’s 2018 World Junior hockey team in London, Ontario, was opened, a resolution is coming.

Justice Maria Carroccia is expected to deliver her verdicts in the case at 10 a.m., the culmination of an eight-week trial that began April 22 and concluded June 14.

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Five professional hockey players, including former Flyers goalie Carter Hart, are accused of sexually assaulting a woman following a Hockey Canada banquet in June 2018. The woman alleges that after having consensual sex with Michael McLeod, whom she met earlier that night at a local bar, she was sexually assaulted by McLeod and several of his teammates in his hotel room over a period of hours.

Hart, Dillon Dubé, Cal Foote, and Alex Formenton were charged in February 2024 with one count of sexual assault. McLeod is charged with sexual assault and faces an additional charge for being “party to the offence,” or aiding a sexual assault. All five players have pleaded not guilty.

Any of the players found guilty then would await sentencing. After sentencing, they would have 30 days to file appeals of their convictions. The maximum prison sentence for sexual assault in Canada is 10 years.

The Crown (plaintiff) also has a right to appeal within 30 days of the judge’s decision.

The five men were not named publicly until they were charged last year after “additional evidence” had come to light, according to London police. The charges were handed down days after Hart, Dubé, Foote, and McLeod had taken leaves of absence from their respective NHL teams. Hart cited “personal reasons” in the Flyers’ official release on Jan. 23, 2024.

London police opened up an investigation in the days after the alleged 2018 assault and closed it in February 2019. Hockey Canada also opened its own investigation, hiring a third-party firm in 2018. That investigation was closed in September 2020.

In April 2022, the woman filed a statement of claim seeking $3.55 million in damages from Hockey Canada, the Canadian Hockey League, and eight unnamed players from the 2018 gold-medal winning Canadian World Junior team. Hockey Canada settled the lawsuit out of court a month later for an undisclosed amount of money.

Following public backlash relating to Hockey Canada and the revelation that the organization had a secret slush fund — made up of money from youth hockey registration fees — that it used to pay off sexual assault claims, London police conducted an internal review and reopened its investigation in July 2022. Hockey Canada also resumed its investigation that month.

The NHL conducted a yearlong investigation in 2022, with commissioner Gary Bettman stating last February that the league would not release its findings until after the legal case was resolved.

“There is a serious judicial process that looks like it’s unfolding,” Bettman said. “And we didn’t, while we’re doing our investigation, want to interfere with what the London Police Service was doing. And we’re not going to do anything to interfere or influence the judicial proceedings. We’re all going to have to see how that plays out, and as I said in my remarks, we will then be in a position to respond appropriately, which we will do.”

At his annual media availability before the Stanley Cup Final in June, Bettman reiterated that he will not comment further until the process is fully resolved.

None of the players charged are currently under contract with an NHL team, and it remains to be seen whether the NHL will dole out subsequent punishments or suspensions, even if the players are found not guilty.

Hart, who turns 27 next month, last appeared in a game for the Flyers on Jan. 20, 2024, and his contract with the team expired that June. He posted a 96-93-29 career record in 227 games with the Flyers after being selected in the second round of the 2016 NHL draft.

The trial, which began April 22, featured several twists and turns. Carroccia declared a mistrial on April 25 for what later was revealed as a prohibited interaction between a defense lawyer and a juror during a lunch break.

On April 28, the trial resumed with a new jury, but that jury was dismissed on May 16 after a jury member informed Carroccia that some jurors felt “judged” and “made fun of” by two of the defense lawyers. After receiving this news, Carroccia converted the trial from a jury trial to a judge-only trial to avoid a second mistrial.

Hart was the only one of the five players to testify in his own defense and took the stand on May 29.

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“The gist was Mike was with a girl back at the hotel who wanted to have sex with some of the boys,” Hart testified about a call he said he received from McLeod inviting him to his room, according to TSN, one of the media outlets present in the courtroom. “I was open to sexual encounters. A single guy, I was having a good time that weekend. I was open to it.”

Hart later testified that the woman asked the players to have sex with her, and that he asked her for oral sex, and she agreed.

He also testified that as many as eight players were in the room at one time. Saying he was sure it was consensual and that none of his teammates did anything to degrade or disrespect the woman, despite allegations from the woman that the players spat on, slapped, and intimidated her.

“I don’t think anyone would have done anything to hurt her,” Hart testified during cross-examination by the Crown’s attorney Meaghan Cunningham. “I think if something happened that she didn’t want, I would have put a stop to it. Other guys would have. I wouldn’t have stayed in the room as long as I did.”

During cross-examination, Cunningham challenged Hart’s ability to say with certainty that everything was consensual, even though he was, in his own words, “pretty drunk” and unable to remember other things during his time in McLeod’s hotel room. Hart admitted that he had gaps in his memory from June 18-19, 2018, the night and early morning when the alleged sexual assault took place.

“You know for sure you never felt like things were getting out of hand in that room?” Cunningham asked on May 30.

“Yes,” Hart answered.

“Even though you can remember less than half of what took place in the room?” Cunningham asked.

“Yes,” Hart answered.

The Crown also played a video during the trial, which captured audio of Hart telling the group of players he would invite another one of his teammates to the room. Hart said Thursday that he invited this teammate to the room because he was “single.”

Hart was then asked by Cunningham why someone would ever need to film videos asking for consent if there was any question about whether something was consensual.

He responded by saying that “lots of professional athletes have done those things before.”

Hart’s lawyer, Megan Savard, presented her closing argument on June 9, asking the judge to acquit her client based on his “exculpatory” testimony and his credibility as a “frank” and “forthright” witness, according to the New York Times, which had a representative in the courtroom.