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Crown attorney Meaghan Cunningham scrutinized a video Michael McLeod filmed of E.M. at 4:26 am in his hotel room on June 19, 2018. “Say it,” McLeod says in the video. “This was all consensual. Are you recording me? Okay good,” E.M. answers. “What else?” McLeod says. “You are so paranoid. Holy. I enjoyed it. It was fine. I’m so sober. That’s why I can’t do this right now,” E.M. responds. Cunningham asserted on Friday morning in court that the videos McLeod filmed are “token lip service box checking,” and not evidence of any reasonable steps to sincerely ascertain E.M.'s valid consent. Cunningham: “Your Honour should find that when Mr. McLeod is saying, ‘Say it,’ and ‘What else,’ that indicates he's the one directing what [E.M.] should say in this video. “If she has been begging people for sex, calling them out for not doing stuff with her, why would he be telling her to say, ‘It's all consensual and it was fine. I enjoyed it’? Wouldn't we expect him to get her to confirm that she was the one asking people to do stuff, or to confirm that she was begging for sex all night?” The Crown has completed its closing submissions and the defence teams are now responding. The judge in the case has said she will announce her verdicts on July 24.

Crown attorney Meaghan Cunningham said in her closing statement on Thursday that defence lawyers inappropriately trumpeted rape myths during the high-profile sexual assault trial. Defence lawyers pressed E.M. during cross-examination about why she didn’t call for help, or lock herself in the hotel room bathroom if she felt threatened in Michael McLeod's hotel room. Cunningham: “Some people will fight or resist. Some people will flee; some people will freeze. Some people will appease or fall back on habits or reflexes… some people will dissociate or detach from reality. Some people will do a combination of all these things. These are all normal, predictable responses.” Cunningham said defence lawyers “laughed and scoffed at [E.M.].” Cunningham: “If she uses the same language at multiple points, then it's contrived, but if she uses different language, she's inconsistent... This all finds its roots in this myth of the ideal victim, that there is there is a right way for someone to look and sound when they're describing sexual assault, that there's a correct way or a good way for a real victim to testify.”

The Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres has published a statement alleging that E.M., the complainant in the sexual assault trial of five former members of Canada's world junior hockey team, has faced "almost every harmful and victim-blaming sexual assault myth in existence" during the trial. https://t.co/Rjge9xidci

After lawyers for Dillon Dube and Callan Foote said neither of those players will testify in their defence, the evidence portion of the London hockey trial is finished. Closing arguments in the case will begin Monday, June 9. Lawyers for the defendants will begin making their arguments before the Crown makes its final submissions. Lawyers for the defendants will then have the opportunity to respond to the Crown and will have the final word in the case.

Alex Formenton told London police sergeant Stephen Newton in November 2018 that he “volunteered” to have sex with E.M. in the early morning hours of June 19, 2018. Formenton told Newton that afterwards, he saw E.M. giving oral sex to Carter Hart in front of a number of players. Newton: “And what are the guys doing in the room at the time?” Formenton: “They were just sitting there watching.” Formenton told Newton that Dillon Dube then received oral sex for ten minutes. Dube told Newton weeks later that he had received oral sex for “ten seconds, maybe.” Formenton and Dube's interviews were entered into evidence on Wednesday. Also, Newton testified that he never obtained search or production orders in his investigation, he obtained surveillance video from Jack's bar but never reviewed it, he obtained but did not send E.M.'s clothing for forensic testing, and he never obtained any text messages from players involved in the incident. Newton interviewed four members of Canada's 2018 world junior hockey team. He closed his investigation in February 2019 without laying charges.

Justice Maria Carroccia has rejected the Crown attorney's final attempt to have Brett Howden's June 26, 2018, text message to Taylor Raddysh admitted as evidence under the principled approach to hearsay. Carroccia reiterated that Howden said he has “no present recollection of the incident [in Michael McLeod's hotel room].” Carroccia: “The witness did not vouch for the accuracy of the statement and admits it could be inaccurate… it's unclear whether it’s from his own observation or if it is something someone else told him.” Carroccia said in her ruling that it was possible Howden was lying to Raddysh or was being careless with the truth. Crown attorney Meaghan Cunningham had told Carroccia that Howden's text was “critical” to the government's case.

“Dude, I’m so happy I left when all the shit went down… Haha. Man, when I was leaving, Duber was smacking this girl’s ass so hard. Like, it looked like it hurt so bad.” – Brett Howden text message to Taylor Raddysh on June 26, 2018. The judge overseeing the sexual assault trial of five former members of Canada’s 2018 world junior hockey team has ruled she won't allow prosecutors to enter Howden’s text message into evidence in the case. Justice Maria Carroccia said Howden was under stress and was worried about himself when he learned that Hockey Canada was investigating the alleged incident. Carroccia: “Although Mr. Howden testified that he wasn't trying to lie when he sent that message, he did not testify that that message was true... This is a text message sent to a friend during a casual conversation. It is not a statement made under oath.”