Former 2018 Team Canada World Junior players Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube, Cal Foote and Michael McLeod were found not guilty of sexual assault in a London, Ontario courtroom Thursday afternoon.
McLeod was also found not guilty of a second charge of sexual assault stemming from the same incident in June 2018.
Ontario Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia announced her decisions in the case on Thursday nearly six weeks after the trial concluded.
The trial was decided by judge after the jury was dismissed due to allegations of improper conduct by a member of one of the defense teams.
The charges related to an incident in which a woman known as E.M., whose identity is protected in Canada by a publication ban, alleged a group sexual assault in a London hotel room at the hands of players who were celebrating their World Juniors victory earlier in the year.
As part of her explanation Thursday, Carroccia said she did not find E.M. to be a reliable witness, that her statements were inconsistent, that she exaggerated her level of drunkenness and that she had opportunities to end the night had she chosen to do so.
“I conclude that I cannot rely on [her testimony],” Carroccia told the courtroom, per reporters in London.
For a sexual assault conviction in Canada, the Crown, which brought the case, needed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that there was non-consensual sexual touching.
With the exception of Foote, the main question in the trial was about consent.
“Having found that I cannot rely upon the evidence of E.M. and then considering the evidence in this trial as a whole, I conclude that the Crown cannot meet its onus on any of the counts before me,” Carroccia said.
None of the five players played in the NHL this past season. McLeod and Dube, who were playing for the Devils and Flames, respectively, when their names were released, played last season in Russia’s KHL.
Hart took an indefinite leave of absence from the Flyers and his contract expired last summer.