Ontario’s appeals court is hearing arguments today as Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard appeals his sexual assault conviction.
Hoggard was sentenced to five years in prison in October 2022 after being found guilty of sexual assault causing bodily harm to an Ottawa woman, a crime the presiding judge called a “particularly degrading rape.”
The musician was released on bail hours after being sentenced, pending his appeal in the case.
Court papers filed by Hoggard’s attorneys say he is asking for a new trial while appealing his conviction on four grounds, including that the trial judge erred in admitting a clinical psychologist’s evidence about the neurobiology of trauma.
They also argue that the trial judge wrongly allowed the Crown to argue that the expert’s evidence supported the credibility of the woman Hoggard had sexually assaulted.
The legal team further argues that the trial judge accused the jury of “impermissible imbalance” regarding inconsistencies in the woman’s testimony compared to those in Hoggard’s testimony; They argue that the judge gave the jury the mistaken impression that the woman and Hoggard had the same number of inconsistencies. when “actually JB had more.”
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The Crown argues in court papers that the psychologist’s evidence was properly admitted at trial, and the trial judge reduced expert evidence on the neurobiology of trauma to “settled science” that the defense did not challenge in cross-examination.
He also argues that the instructions given to the jury regarding prior inconsistent statements were balanced and fair to Hoggard.
At trial, Hoggard was found guilty of sexual assault causing bodily harm against the Ottawa 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 a person under the age of 16, in relation to the teenager.
The Crown alleged at trial that Hoggard groped the teenager after a Hedley show in Toronto in April 2016, and then violently raped her in a Toronto-area hotel room that same year, after she turned 16. They alleged Hoggard then violently raped the Ottawa woman at a downtown Toronto hotel in November 2016.
Hoggard, who had pleaded not guilty to all charges, acknowledged having had sexual relations with both complainants, but denied sexually assaulting them. As a result, the case turned to the question of consent.
The musician whose band, Hedley, rose to fame after placing third on the reality show Canadian Idol in 2004, was charged in 2018.
The band went on an indefinite hiatus when allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced. Their last show was in Kelowna, BC on March 24, 2018.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
