Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard arrives at the Toronto courthouse on Thursday, October 20, 2022.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Tijana Martin
TORONTO – Ontario’s top court has upheld the sexual assault conviction of Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard, the former frontman for the band Hedley.
Hoggard was found guilty in June 2022 of sexual assault causing bodily harm against an Ottawa woman and later sentenced to five years behind bars.
He was released on bail hours later, pending his appeal.
Court documents show his lawyers appealed the conviction on four grounds, including that the trial judge erred by admitting the evidence of Lori Haskell, a clinical psychologist, on the neurobiology of trauma.
They also argued the trial judge wrongly permitted prosecutors to argue that the expert’s evidence supported the credibility of the woman Hoggard was found to have sexually assaulted.
In a unanimous decision released today, the appeal court found no substantial wrong or miscarriage of justice occurred at trial, and dismissed the appeal.
