Jury discharged, judge alone will determine fate of 5 ex-world junior players in sexual assault trial
- Justice Maria Carroccia has discharged the jury at the trial of five former Team Canada world junior players.
- She provided her reasons for doing so to the court this morning. We're now waiting to learn more about next steps.
- The trial will now proceed before a judge alone, meaning determining the guilt or innocence of the accused men will be up to Carroccia.
- We’re expecting to hear more testimony from a former teammate of the accused.
- The accused — Cal Foote, Dillon Dubé, Alex Formenton, Carter Hart and Michael McLeod — have all pleaded not guilty.
- WARNING: Court proceedings include graphic details of alleged sexual assault and might affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone who's been affected.
- Lucas Powers
Tyler Steenbergen is questioned by Crown lawyer Heather Donkers. (Alexandra Newbould/CBC) The court has connected with Steenbergen and his testimony is underway again.
He’s being questioned by assistant Crown attorney Heather Donkers.
- Lucas Powers
With the judge-alone decision, we’ll be restarting the trial right away.
We are expecting to hear more from Tyler Steenbergen, a former world junior teammate of the five men on trial.
Steenbergen began testifying yesterday morning.
Steenbergen is testifying remotely from Alberta, and there seems to be some technical trouble getting the live feed going.
Court is on a break to get it sorted out.
- Mark Gollom
The proceedings will continue with what’s known as a judge-alone trial.
This means Justice Maria Carroccia will determine the guilt or innocence of the defendants.
The defence and the Crown have both agreed to the proceedings before only a judge.
- Lucas Powers
After she discharged the jury, Justice Carroccia put the court on a short break.
We’re now waiting for her to return to learn more about how the trial might proceed.
- Mark Gollom
I'm a senior writer covering the trial today.
Justice Maria Carroccia has dismissed the jury.
She told jurors she had determined in this case “it is appropriate to discharge the jury.
“We will let you know what this means for the continuation of the proceedings,” Carroccia said to the court.
- Lucas Powers
Good morning, readers. I’m a senior producer based in Toronto and I’ll be curating our live page.
Our team is back at Superior Court in London, Ont., to cover today’s developments.
It could prove to be a tricky morning in terms of updates.
Justice Maria Carroccia and the lawyers are mulling over a procedural matter without the jury present, so we can’t report on what’s happening.
We’ll bring you the latest news as soon as we’re able.
cbc.ca
