Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard’s attraction of his sexual assault conviction was heard at Ontario’s high court on Wednesday, as the previous Hedley frontman sought a brand new trial.
Hoggard was sentenced to 5 years behind bars in October 2022 after being discovered responsible of sexual assault inflicting bodily hurt in opposition to an Ottawa girl, an offence the presiding decide referred to as a “particularly degrading rape.”
The musician was granted bail hours after being sentenced, pending his attraction in the case.
Documents filed by Hoggard’s legal professionals with the Court of Appeal for Ontario stated he’s interesting his conviction on 4 grounds, together with that the trial decide erred by admitting the proof of Lori Haskell, a scientific psychologist, on the neurobiology of trauma.
They additionally argued the trial decide wrongly permitted the Crown to argue that the skilled’s proof supported the credibility of the girl Hoggard was discovered to have sexually assaulted.
“This arrow cuts right into the heart of the issue in this case,” Gerald Chan, one in all Hoggard’s legal professionals argued in court Wednesday. “This is not a peripheral part of the trial. This is not related to tangential pieces of evidence.”
The trial decide allowed the psychologist, over the objections of the defence, to present the jury a generic “science” lesson on the neurobiology of trauma so long as she didn’t hyperlink the proof to the complainants, who she didn’t assess, Hoggard’s legal professionals stated in court paperwork.
“Dr. Haskell testified that experiencing a traumatic event can cause memory to fragment and lack coherent narrative. The relevance of this evidence, however, assumed the existence of the very traumatic events at issue in the trial — namely, the alleged sexual assaults,” they argued.
“Unless the jury assumed Hoggard was guilty, Dr. Haskell’s evidence was irrelevant. It should never have been admitted.”
The authorized crew additional argued that the trial decide delivered an “impermissibly imbalanced” jury cost concerning inconsistencies in the girl’s testimony in comparison with these in Hoggard’s testimony – they argued the decide gave the jury the misimpression that the girl and Hoggard had an equal variety of inconsistencies when “in reality J.B. had more.”
The Crown argued in court paperwork that the psychologist’s proof was correctly admitted at trial, and the trial decide pared down the skilled proof on the neurobiology of trauma to the “established science” that the defence didn’t problem on cross-examination.
“It was relevant not to bolster credibility but to help the jury assess counter-intuitive behaviour that may be misunderstood owing to myths and stereotypes. It was necessary because the scientific explanation behind these behaviours is beyond laypersons’ ability to understand,” the Crown wrote.
“Without it there was a risk the complainants’ evidence would be unfairly discounted. Although not a neurobiologist, Dr. Haskell had extensive neurobiology of trauma training and teaching experience. Any potential for prejudice was addressed through paring down the evidence’s scope, the opportunity for cross-examination and providing custom mid-trial and final jury instructions.”
The Crown – which has requested that the attraction be dismissed – additionally argued that directions to the jury on prior inconsistent statements was balanced and honest to Hoggard.
At trial, Hoggard was discovered responsible of sexual assault inflicting bodily hurt in opposition to an Ottawa girl and acquitted of the identical cost in opposition to a teenage fan. He was additionally discovered not responsible of sexual interference, a cost that refers back to the sexual touching of somebody beneath 16, in relation to the teenager.
The Crown alleged at trial that Hoggard groped the teenager after a Hedley present in Toronto in April 2016, then violently raped her in a Toronto-area resort room later that 12 months after she turned 16. They alleged Hoggard then violently raped the Ottawa girl in a downtown Toronto resort in November 2016.
Hoggard – who had pleaded not responsible to all fees – acknowledged having intercourse with each complainants, however denied sexually assaulting them. As a consequence, the case turned on the difficulty of consent.
The musician whose band, Hedley, rose to fame after he got here in third on the truth present Canadian Idol in 2004, was charged in 2018.
The band went on an indefinite hiatus when allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced. Its final present was in Kelowna, B.C., on March 24, 2018.
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