Hockey Canada

[Pierre McGuire]

If they thought they had a big problem before, it sounds like its about to get 100x worse. Sounds like this case is getting thrown out. These players lives have been ruined at this point and what teams are going to give them contracts now? How many lawsuits are coming and does Hockey Canada who already reached a settlement with the alleged victim now file a lawsuit against her?

[MiamiLaw]

Where are you seeing that it might be "thrown out"?

[billybaseball]

Where are you seeing that it might be "thrown out"?

100%. It was gross and inappropriate but definitely not criminal imo.

[MiamiLaw]

Where are you seeing that it might be "thrown out"?

100%. It was gross and inappropriate but definitely not criminal imo.

OK but does thrown out mean we are thinking it will be a not guilty verdict? Thrown out to me implies some sort of dismissal. Maybe because of my law background the words mean something else.

It's a he said/she said for sure and I certainly think their behavior is disgusting. Whether it was criminal...I have no idea. This case is nuts.

[Pierre McGuire]

Where are you seeing that it might be "thrown out"?

Yahoo Canada article I read today. Sounds like the Crown has totally botched their case.

[Pierre McGuire]

Some of the stuff with Hart and Foote is just weird. I'm reading all the excepts...wild wild stuff. Formenton is apparently pretty shy and told the boys he didnt want anybody to watch him with her so he followed her into the bathroom.

[Pierre McGuire]

Where are you seeing that it might be "thrown out"?

100%. It was gross and inappropriate but definitely not criminal imo.

OK but does thrown out mean we are thinking it will be a not guilty verdict? Thrown out to me implies some sort of dismissal. Maybe because of my law background the words mean something else.

It's a he said/she said for sure and I certainly think their behavior is disgusting. Whether it was criminal...I have no idea. This case is nuts.

I saw one person write of it possibly being thrown out, a lot of others depending on where you read it from don't believe they are going to be found guilty.

[Pierre McGuire]

Here are some live excerpts...just a warning, its graphic

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/l ... -9.6777319

[DoneLurking]

Where are you seeing that it might be "thrown out"?

Yahoo Canada article I read today. Sounds like the Crown has totally botched their case.

Do you have a link to this article?

[STL fan in MN]

Here are some live excerpts...just a warning, its graphic

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/l ... -9.6777319

So court is still very much in session. Feel free to share this yahoo article you read but I’m not seeing anywhere where the case is likely to get thrown out.

I haven’t been following this case super closely but my guess is the guys are found not guilty. Or at least most of them. But not an expert in Canadian law so not sure if they can even have separate verdicts or if they’ll all be found guilty/not guilty together.

But what I see here is a classic he said she said. While I think there’s a decent chance the guys took advantage of the situation I don’t see much in the way of actual proof to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. She says it wasn’t consensual, they all say it was. I see 3 scenarios that would all make sense to me. 1. They’re lying. They got their stories straight to just say it was consensual. 2. They were all clearly pretty drunk themselves and perhaps missed signals that she wasn’t all the way into it. 3. She felt shame afterward and sober her wouldn’t have done that so the thought would be that they technically sexually assaulted her because she was too drunk to consent. And I suppose a 4th option could be possible - she’s completely lying to screw with these guys. But considering how much torture she’s had to endure to keep reliving it, I consider this scenario unlikely.

What we know is she consented to sex with McLeod. We then know he texted his teammates, “who wants to be in a 3 way quick. 209- mikey” What we don’t know is if she wanted or requested that. She says absolutely not. Saw Mikey on his phone but then other guys just started showing up. Mikey’s lawyer suggested she requested to have a wild night with his teammates.

If I had to guess, I’d say Mikey McLeod is a likely scumbag and took advantage of this girl. Wanted to be the facilitator to his teammates for a wild night. But I don’t know that for sure. There’s absolutely reasonable doubt. Whether the others then did illegal acts or it was 100% consensual or they at least 100% thought it was consensual, I also don’t know. My guess is some shady stuff likely went down that night but of what I’ve followed in this trial, I’m not seeing it rise to the level of “beyond a reasonable doubt.” I’ll also add that the judge is a former defense attorney and threw out the interviews the prosecution described as critical to their case so yeah, without those interviews being a part of the evidence, I’ll be pretty surprised if they’re found guilty unless some big curveball occurs in the remaining portions of this trial.

As for our own Robert Thomas, his name finally came up yesterday and today. But thankfully it sounds like he was very minority involved - went to the room briefly, the woman was still clothed at that time and he left after 5 minutes.

Both Formenton and Dube told Newton that after a Hockey Canada event during which players received rings to celebrate their world junior championship, players went out to party at Jack’s bar in downtown London. Formenton and Robert Thomas, who were 18 at the time, were not allowed in Jack’s and instead joined some Team Canada coaches at Joe Kool’s, another downtown bar, where Formenton drank a beer and two rum and Cokes, Formenton told Newton.

After he returned to the hotel, Formenton told Newton that he walked into Room 209 with Hart and Robert Thomas, and that Thomas left after about five minutes. Formenton said that McLeod, Jake Bean, and Dube were in the room and that E.M. was sitting clothed on one of the beds.

I’ll note the drinking age in Canada is 19 and Formenton and Thomas where the 2 18 year olds on the team (Thomas would turn 19 the next month). Sounds like the 2 18 year olds were turned away at Jack’s bar. I’m just guessing here but both Formenton and Thomas played for the London Knights that season so decent chance they’d know what bars were perhaps more lax on underage entry and that’s how they ended up at Joe Kool’s instead. It was at Jack’s that McLeod and most of the others first met the girl.

I’ll be curious if the defense calls RT as a witness. But sounds like he was very minorly involved.

[theograce]

I’ll be curious if the defense calls RT as a witness. But sounds like he was very minorly involved.

“I don’t recall” should be Thomas’ punch line if needed. So much time has gone by

[Pierre McGuire]

Fabbro's name came up today as well

[STL fan in MN]

Fabbro's name came up today as well

Yeah, I mean just about every guy that was at the event is likely to come into the story at some point, even minorly. Sounds like Hart thought that maybe Fabbro would want a piece of the action since he was one of the only single guys on the team so texted him.

Hart says it was after Formenton and E.M. left the bathroom that he texted teammate Dante Fabbro to tell him to come to Room 209. (Fabbro did not end up going to the room).

Probably a smart move on Fabbro’s part to ignore that text! Or was lucky he didn’t see it until later.

[Pierre McGuire]

Fabbro's name came up today as well

Yeah, I mean just about every guy that was at the event is likely to come into the story at some point, even minorly. Sounds like Hart thought that maybe Fabbro would want a piece of the action since he was one of the only single guys on the team so texted him.

Hart says it was after Formenton and E.M. left the bathroom that he texted teammate Dante Fabbro to tell him to come to Room 209. (Fabbro did not end up going to the room).

Probably a smart move on Fabbro’s part to ignore that text! Or was lucky he didn’t see it until later.

Seems like Bean, Comtois and Batherson. and Sam Steele maybe got out of the room in time or just didn't partake.

[LuvthaBlues]

I've been keeping up with the case, primarily from the TSN articles which are all Westhead, I believe.

It sounded to me like she did a pretty good job defending herself during her testimony and sticking to the script, but her coaching was obviously designed to influence a jury. Once the jury was dismissed the second time and is now in the hands of the judge it all becomes fact-based so that may hurt her case in the long run.

To me, what seems to be the biggest thing working against them are the texts that came out after the incident when they are trying to get their stories straight.

[bluetunehead]

It's a terrible situation all-around, but to reply to the first post... the accuser is absolutely not getting sued after this by Hockey Canada, no matter the end result of the trial. If we thought they had a reputation problem now, going after the girl would be their end.

I feel bad for her, because if she was willing to take it this far then she clearly feels like what happened was wrong. But it does seem like a stretch to end up with anyone being found guilty. There just isn't much more to go on than the conflicting accounts of a bunch of drunk 19 and 20 year olds. That's not very reliable.

Based on my very much not-a-lawyer read on things, if any player gets found guilty from this it will be McLeod.