Jacob Hoggard seeking leave to appeal sex assault conviction to Canada’s top court

Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard is seeking leave to appeal his sexual assault conviction before Canada’s top court.

Hoggard filed a notice of application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada earlier this week, arguing the Court of Appeal for Ontario – which recently upheld his conviction – failed to apply the proper test in determining whether an error made by the trial judge constituted a “harmless error.”

The proposed appeal raises questions of “national and public importance” that relate to the fairness of the trial and Hoggard’s submission that he was wrongfully convicted, the application argues.

A lawyer representing Hoggard declined to comment further.

Meanwhile, the Appeal Court said the Hedley frontman will be seeking bail at a hearing on Tuesday.

A three-judge appeal panel upheld Hoggard’s conviction last month.

Hoggard’s lawyers had appealed on four grounds, including that the trial judge erred by admitting the evidence of clinical psychologist Lori Haskell on the neurobiology of trauma.

In a unanimous ruling, the court found the trial judge had erred in admitting the expert’s evidence in part because it risked being misused by the jury to reason backwards that the trial’s two complainants had experienced a sexual assault.

However, the judge corrected any potential misuse in answering the jury’s questions, and as a result, “there was no substantial wrong or miscarriage of justice,” the court found.

The court found the trial judge did not make any errors regarding the other grounds raised in the appeal.

Hoggard was found guilty in June 2022 of sexual assault causing bodily harm against an Ottawa woman, an offence the presiding judge called a “particularly degrading rape.”

He was also found not guilty of the same charge and of sexual interference, a charge that refers to the sexual touching of someone under 16, in relation to a teenage fan.

He was later sentenced to five years behind bars, but was released on bail hours later.

Hoggard began serving his sentence when his appeal was dismissed last month.

The musician, whose band rose to fame after he came in third on the reality show Canadian Idol in 2004, was charged in 2018.

Hedley went on an indefinite hiatus when allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced. Its last show was in Kelowna, B.C., on March 24, 2018.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2024.

Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press