TORONTO (CelebrityAccess) – Canadian musician and former Hedley frontman Jacob Hoggard began his time behind bars after an Ontario court dismissed his appeal for his sexual assault conviction. The Globe and Mail reports his legal team said Hoggard surrendered into custody before the appeal ruling was handed down on Friday (August 16).
Hoggard had his sentencing hearing on Friday, October 14, 2022, after being found guilty in June 2022 of sexually assaulting an Ottawa woman. The prosecution asserted that Hoggard was “a risk to the public,” while his defense team provided a psychiatric report that said he was at low risk of committing the crime again. He was released on bail hours later, pending the appeal decision.
The Appeals Court upheld Hoggard’sconviction despite finding his trial should not have heard the evidence of a psychologist who testified on the neurobiology of trauma.
Hoggard’steam argued that the trial judge made a mistake by allowing prosecutors to use expert evidence to support the credibility of the woman Hoggard was convicted of sexually assaulting.
The Crown defended the inclusion of the psychologist’s testimony, stating in court documents that the trial judge had appropriately restricted the expert’sevidence on the neurobiology of trauma to what was “established evidence.” Prosecutors also mentioned that the defense did not contest this testimony during cross-examination and that the trial judge provided the jury with mid-trial and final instructions on interpreting it.
The Appeal Court found that the trial judge made an error in admitting the expert’s evidence because it risked being misinterpreted by the jury as proof that the complainants had experienced a sexual assault. Although the jury was instructed that they could not use the expert’s testimony to diagnose the complainants or conclude that their behavior was consistent with having been sexually assaulted, the court noted that some questions raised during jury deliberations indicated they were doing just that.
The trial judge had reminded the jury that the expert’s testimony played “a very small role” in the case and could not be used to interpret specific evidence. However, Justice Mary Lou Benotto, writing on behalf of the appeal panel, expressed the opinion that the expert evidence was unnecessary and that a jury instruction alone would have sufficed. This approach would have avoided the risks that materialized during jury deliberations.
Despite this, Justice Benotto concluded that the trial judge’s corrective instructions to the jury successfully addressed any potential issues, stating that “there was no substantial wrong or miscarriage of justice.” As a result, the court dismissed the appeal.
The three-judge panel also found no errors in the other arguments raised by Hoggard’s legal team challenging the conviction.
Hoggard’s lawyers expressed disappointment with the Appeal Court’s decision. In a joint statement, Megan Savard, Gerald Chan, Arash Ghiassi, and Spencer Bass said, “While we maintain that Mr. Hoggard’strial was unfair, we respect the court’s decision. We are carefully reviewing the judgment to consider our next steps.”
During the initial trial, Hoggard had also been charged with sexual assault causing bodily harm in the case of a teenage fan, as well as sexual interference involving that complainant, but was found not guilty on those charges. The 38-year-old, born and raised in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland, had pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Jurors deliberated behind closed doors for six days, and a deadlock was declared twice before the guilty verdict was delivered.
