Decision expected in Jacob Hoggard’s appeal of sexual assault conviction

TORONTO — Ontario’s top court is expected to deliver its ruling today in the case of Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard, who is challenging his sexual assault conviction.

Hoggard was found guilty in June 2022 of sexual assault causing bodily harm against an Ottawa woman, and later sentenced to five years behind bars.

He was released on bail hours later, pending his appeal.

Court documents show his lawyers appealed the conviction on four grounds, including that the trial judge erred by admitting the evidence of Lori Haskell, a clinical psychologist, on the neurobiology of trauma.

They also argued the trial judge wrongly permitted prosecutors to argue that the expert’s evidence supported the credibility of the woman Hoggard was found to have sexually assaulted.

The Crown argued in court documents that the psychologist’s evidence was properly admitted at trial, and that the trial judge limited Haskell’s evidence on the neurobiology of trauma to the “established evidence.”

Prosecutors also argued that evidence was not challenged by the defence during cross-examination, and that the trial judge gave jurors mid-trial and final instructions on it.

The Crown has asked for the appeal to be dismissed.

At trial, Hoggard was found guilty of sexual assault causing bodily harm against the woman and acquitted of the same charge against a teenage fan. He was also found not guilty of sexual interference, a charge that refers to the sexual touching of someone under 16, in relation to the teen.

Prosecutors alleged Hoggard groped the teen after a Hedley show in Toronto in April 2016, then violently raped her in a Toronto-area hotel room later that year after she turned 16. They alleged Hoggard then violently raped the Ottawa woman in a downtown Toronto hotel in November 2016.

Hoggard pleaded not guilty to all charges. In his testimony, he acknowledged having sex with both complainants but denied sexually assaulting them, portraying the encounters as consensual one-night stands.

As a result, the case turned on the issue of consent.

Jurors deliberated for six days and twice declared themselves deadlocked on some aspects before pushing forward. In that time, they asked for the court’s guidance on several legal issues, many of them related to consent.

The identity of the complainants is protected under a standard publication ban.

The musician was charged in 2018.

Hedley, which rose to fame after he came in third on the reality show Canadian Idol in 2004, went on an indefinite hiatus when allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced. Its last show was in Kelowna, B.C., on March 24, 2018.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 16, 2024.

Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press