(Toronto) An Ontario Court of Appeal judge has reserved her decision on whether Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard should be granted bail as he seeks to appeal his sexual assault conviction to the country’s highest court.
Judge Jill Copeland heard arguments at a hearing Tuesday morning on Mr Hoggard’s release, several weeks after the Hedley frontman began serving his sentence.
The musician was convicted in June 2022 of sexual assault causing bodily harm against an Ottawa woman and sentenced to five years in custody. He was released on bail hours later pending a decision by the Ontario Court of Appeal.
A three-judge panel of that court upheld Mr Hoggard’s conviction last month, and he subsequently surrendered to custody.
Jacob Hoggard then filed an application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada last week. His notice of application for leave to appeal argues that the three-judge panel erred in its decision and says that issues of “great national and public importance” are at stake in the case.