Vegas Golden Knights

Howden Testimony Becomes Central in Team Canada Sexual Assault Trial

Published

1 month ago

May 21, 2025

VANCOUVER, BC - NOVEMBER 21: Vegas Golden Knights center Brett Howden (21) warms up prior to their NHL game against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on November 21, 2022 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Derek Cain/Icon Sportswire)

On Wednesday, Crown attorney Meaghan Cunningham asked Justice Maria Carroccia for permission to cross-examine Brett Howden. Howden, now a member of the Vegas Golden Knights, has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

Five of Howden’s former teammates on Canada’s 2018 World Junior Team– Dillon Dubé, Carter Hart, Callan Foote, Alex Formenton, and Michael McLeod– have been accused of sexually assaulting a woman known to the public as E.M. McLeod faces a second charge of being a party to the act. All five players have pleaded not guilty.

E.M. has testified that she met Michael McLeod at a bar on the night of June 18th, 2018. The two went back to his hotel room and had consensual sex. Afterward, a number of other men appeared without her consent. For several hours, E.M. alleged, they coaxed her into sexual acts. She claims they laughed at her, slapped her, spit on her, and stopped her when she tried to leave.

Howden testified on Tuesday, repeatedly stating that he could not remember many details of the night in question. Even after reviewing transcripts of past statements, Howden maintained that he could not recall many details.

On Wednesday, Cunningham claimed in court that Howden was being untruthful about his inability to remember details that could harm his former teammates. Cunningham claimed that there were 18 areas of inconsistencies between his Tuesday testimony and past statements.

“Mr. Howden’s memory loss is a feigned memory loss, not a sincere one,” Cunningham attested on Wednesday. “This is not a complete memory loss. He remembers some details but doesn’t remember the details that are particularly damning to his friends and teammates.”

After a day of arguments and deliberation, Justice Maria Carroccia ruled against the Crown regarding feigned memory loss. However, she granted Cunningham permission to cross-examine Howden on four of the 18 areas of inconsistencies.

Cunningham will cross-examine Howden regarding his recollection of Dillon Dubé slapping E.M.’s buttocks. Howden’s interactions with Alex Formenton before Formenton had sex with E.M. in the hotel bathroom will also come under scrutiny.

On Tuesday, Howden said he heard Dubé slap E.M. on the buttocks but didn’t see it. He also testified that he didn’t remember how the slap made him feel.

When requesting permission to cross-examine Howden, Cunningham read a text message he sent to Taylor Raddysh on June 26th, 2018. It read:

“Dude, I’m so happy I left when all that sh– went down. Haha. Man, when I was leaving, Duber was smacking this girl’s ass so hard. It looked like it hurt so bad.”

Cunningham insisted that the exchange with Alex Formenton was ‘critical’ to the prosecution. On Tuesday, Howden testified that Formenton asked “Should I be doing this?” when he walked toward the bathroom with E.M.

On July 3rd, 2018, Howden spoke with an investigative lawyer hired by Hockey Canada. At that time, Howden said heremembered Formenton saying, “Will I get in trouble for this? Am I okay to do this? Do you think it’s fine? Am I allowed to do this?”

“There’s a material difference between ‘Should I do this?’ versus saying, ‘Will I get into trouble if I do this?’” Cunningham said on Wednesday. “If Formenton is saying, ‘Could I get into trouble for this?’ and Howden was saying, ‘I don’t know. I mean, you’re okay if she’s consenting,’ that suggests a few things… It suggests that Howden wasn’t sure that E.M. was consenting to anything based on what had happened up to that point… He doesn’t say, ‘Of course you’re fine. She just said she wanted to have sex with you.’ What he’s saying is, ‘I don’t know.’”

When Howden spoke with the investigative lawyer on July 3rd, 2018, he also described hearing E.M. cry.

“I just heard her kind of weeping, and I didn’t know, like, what was going on. I went to my room because I didn’t want to be part of anything… I didn’t physically see her crying, but I heard — it sounded like crying anyway.”