Ex-Canucks F Jake Virtanen found not guilty of sex assault

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) - A jury on Tuesday found former Vancouver Canucks forward Jake Virtanen not guilty of sexual assault after a week of salacious testimony.

Virtanen, 25, wept openly when the verdict was read in the Supreme Court of British Columbia. He clutched his head in his hands and was comforted by his lawyers while several friends and family seated in the front row of the courtroom whispered 'œyes!'ť

Virtanen and his lawyers declined to comment as they left the court.

Virtanen was charged in January with sexual assault in connection with an incident in a downtown Vancouver hotel room in September 2017.

He told the court last week that the woman who accused him of assault was an 'œenthusiastic participant'ť in the encounter. He said they mutually began kissing and touching while lying in bed and helped each other take their clothes off before having sex.

The 23-year-old woman testified that she repeatedly said 'œno'ť and told Virtanen that she did not want to have sex with him before he pinned her to the hotel bed with his body.

The court heard that Virtanen and the woman met at the Calgary Stampede in July 2017. They exchanged numbers and kept in touch via text and Instagram.

The woman was 18 when she drove to Vancouver that September to visit family and friends and do a photo shoot. She and Virtanen, then 21, made plans to meet. He picked her up from her friend's house and took her to his hotel room.

The woman testified that she had a 'œsinking feeling'³ in her stomach when they arrived, but she trusted Virtanen, so she went up to his room.

The woman did not go to police at the time.

In April 2021, she posted her story to an Instagram page for victims of sexual assault, then spoke with a reporter from Glacier Media for a newspaper story, naming Virtanen as the man who allegedly sexually assaulted her, and launched a civil lawsuit against him.

Virtanen was playing right wing for the Canucks when the allegations surfaced in May 2021. The team placed him on leave and bought out his contract the following month. He last played in the Russian-based Kontinental Hockey League.

The 12-person jury began deliberating Monday afternoon following five days of testimony. Closing arguments focused on the reliability of testimony given by Virtanen and the woman.

Defense lawyer Brock Martland told the jury the woman's testimony was 'œriddled'ť with inconsistencies, some minor and some 'œfundamental,'ť and said she was not a trustworthy witness.

Crown counsel Alan Ip told the jury the woman had a 'œfirm'ť memory of the critical details of the alleged assault and was 'œunshaken on major and important points in her testimony.'ť

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