A B.C. Supreme Court jury has found former Vancouver Canuck Jake Virtanen not guilty of sexual assault.
Virtanen, 25, was charged with sexual assault in January 2022 following a police investigation while he was still playing in the NHL. He pleaded not guilty to the charge on Feb. 17.
The eight-man, four-woman jury began deliberations July 25 after the Crown prosecutor Alan Ip and defence lawyer Brock Martland made final arguments.
The judge and jury heard the pair had met during the Calgary Stampede earlier in 2017 when the woman was 18.
The events in question occurred that September when they went to his room at Vancouver’s Bayshore Hotel.
The police investigation was launched in May 2021 after the 23-year-old woman filed a complaint.
Evidence ran five days last week with only two witnesses called: the woman, whose name is protected by a publication ban, and Virtanen.
She testified she repeatedly said "no" to Virtanen while he told the court she was a willing participant.
In September 2017, when in Vancouver for a photoshoot, she told Virtanen that she was in the city and he suggested meeting up. She testified that she initially resisted but eventually agreed.
Virtanen has not been in custody.
The Canucks placed Virtanen on leave in May 2021. He was later released from his contract and played for the KHL team HC Spartak Moscow in Russia until March 2022.
