Former Vancouver Canucks forward Jake Virtanen’s acquittal on a sexual assault charge Tuesday shows the high bar set for women who come forward with criminal complaints, lawyers and advocates say.
A jury of eight men and four women found Virtanen not guilty following a week-long trial that hinged primarily on the different accounts between the athlete and the complainant of a 2017 encounter.
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Kyla Lee, a Vancouver-based criminal lawyer who was not involved in the case, says that instruction is common in criminal trials and is an especially high bar to clear in sexual assault cases.
“You don’t have to believe what somebody says in order to have reasonable doubt,” she told Global News.
“These cases (sexual assault trials) are often ‘he said, she said’ cases. But really, it’s a case about credibility … and the only time somebody can be convicted is when there’s proof beyond a reasonable doubt.”
