(Toronto) Ontario’s highest court has upheld the sexual assault conviction of Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard, former frontman of the band Hedley.
Hoggard was convicted in June 2022 of sexual assault causing bodily harm against an Ottawa woman and later sentenced to five years in prison.
He was released on bail hours later, pending his appeal.
Court documents show that his lawyers appealed the conviction on four grounds, including that the trial judge erred in admitting testimony from Lori Haskell, a clinical psychologist, about the neurobiology of trauma.
They also argued that the trial judge improperly allowed prosecutors to argue that the expert’s testimony supporting the woman’s credibility contributed to the verdict against Hoggard.
In a unanimous decision released Friday, the appeals court found that no substantial wrong or miscarriage of justice occurred at trial and dismissed the appeal.