Major Update in the Trial of Five Former Members of Canada's World Juniors Team

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TJ Tucker
February 28, 2024 (1:57 PM)

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A major update on the trial of the five former members of Team Canada's 2018 World Juniors squad. They appeared in court yesterday to make a major decision for their trial.

The five - Dillon Dube, Michael McLeod, Cal Foote, Alex Formenton, and Carter Hart - will all be tried as a group, and they've elected to have their case heard by a jury, rather than just a judge.

"'Earlier this week, all five players selected a trial by jury and they are confident that jurors drawn from the community will decide this case fairly and impartially after hearing all the evidence and testimony,' lawyers representing the accused players said in a joint statement." - The Globe and Mail

The report stated it will likely be several more months before a trial date is set.

Charges against the players stem from a party that most members of the gold-medal winning Canadian World Juniors team attended in June of that year. A woman claims she was assaulted and humiliated over a period of five hours by the accused. None of the accusations have been proven in court.

Four of the five were members of NHL teams when the charges were laid. Alex Formenton, a draft pick of the Ottawa Senators, was playing in Switzerland at the time. All have taken leaves of absence from their respective teams, and the odds of them returning any time soon are slim.