Jacob Hoggard seeking to appeal his sexual assault conviction to the Supreme Court

Hoggard seeks Supreme Court appeal Hedley singer Jacob Hoggard is seeking permission to appeal his sexual assault conviction to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Former Hedley frontman Jacob Hoggard is seeking leave to appeal his sexual assault conviction to the Supreme Court of Canada.

CTV News has learned that the disgraced musician will seek bail as he waits for the high court to decide if it will hear his case.

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The Ontario Court of Appeal confirms that there is a motion seeking bail from Hoggard's legal team. Arguments will be heard on Sept. 10.

Lawyer Gerald Chan, part of the singer's four-person legal team, says they cannot comment on the case at this time.

The legal manoeuvres come less than one month after a panel of three Ontario appeal judges upheld Hoggard's conviction from June 2022.

A jury found Hoggard guilty of raping an Ottawa woman in an incident that took place in 2016 in a Toronto hotel room.

In its decision, the appellate court said that the trial judge, Gillian Roberts, "erred in admitting the evidence" of a clinical psychologist who testified about the neurobiology of trauma.

Dr. Lori Haskell described to jurors how victims can respond to sexual assault in various ways.

As a witness for the prosecution, Haskell gave the jury a "generic science lesson" and did not link the evidence to the complainants, whom she did not assess, the appellate court's decision said.

The appeal judges agreed with Hoggard's lawyers that Haskell's testimony was not necessary, and that a strong caution by Justice Roberts to the jury about stereotyping victims and their responses to sexual trauma would have been sufficient.

However, despite some concerns, the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled on Aug. 16 that there was "no substantial wrong or miscarriage of justice" and unanimously dismissed Hoggard's appeal.

Affer his criminal trial, Hoggard was sentenced to five years in prison, but was released after just a few hours. His lawyers had secured him bail pending leave to appeal at the provincial level.

Next week, Hoggard will once again seek bail pending leave to appeal. This time he's hoping to argue his case before the highest court in the land, after serving less than a month behind bars.