Hockey

ÉCJ 2018: judge’s decision will not be appealed
Félix Forget
ÉCJ 2018: judge’s decision will not be appealed
Credit: Carter Hart - CBC News YouTube

In recent months, the 2018 ÉCJ players' trial for sexual assault has attracted a lot of attention. It was, after all, an extremely high-profile case involving five NHL players.The five players in question, in case you've forgotten, were Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Dillon Dube, Cal Foote and Alex Formenton.And last month, the judge delivered her verdict, finding all five players not guilty. It was the end of a chapter, but we wondered whether the case would be appealed… And then, in the last few minutes, we learned that it wouldn't be.So that's the end of this judicial saga.

Remember that the Crown had 30 days following the verdict to decide whether it wanted to appeal the decision. It was therefore expected to announce its decision by Saturday… and decided not to go any further.This is somewhat surprising, given that an appeal could have been aimed at creating jurisprudence on the notion of consent, even if the end result would probably have been the same.So, there will be no new trial in this case. It should be remembered, however, that all five players are currently ineligible to play in the NHL, according to Commissioner Gary Bettman.Will this decision facilitate an eventual return to the league for these players? Possibly… but only if a team is willing to put them under contract.In short, this is the end of the court case. We'll have to see what the next steps are in this case, but the five guys have officially been found not guilty.The rest to follow.

'Overtime'

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