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Hedley frontman Jacob Hoggard will have to wait a few more days for his long-awaited sex assault trial to begin.
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Scheduled to get underway Monday, jury selection was delayed until Wednesday after Superior Court Justice Gillian Roberts informed the court she had some bad news — there were too many other trials in the queue ahead of them in the downtown Toronto courthouse which had yet to choose jurors .
Wearing a dark suit, slim black tie and face mask, Hoggard sat at a table behind his female legal team as preliminary legal issues were discussed in advance of jury selection.
Hoggard has waited four years for his day in court. In July 2018, the then-34-year-old singer was arrested by Toronto Police on three sexual offenses allegedly involving a woman and a teenager in 2016. The names of both complainants are covered under a routine publication ban.
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The former pop rock musician — who first came to national attention after placing third in Canadian Idol — pleaded not guilty to sexual assault causing bodily harm and sexual interference during a two-day preliminary hearing in the summer of 2019.
Hoggard was set to stand trial before a judge and jury in January 2021, but the case was postponed as jury trials were shut down due to pandemic health restrictions.
His Vancouver-based, two-time Juno winning band has been on “indefinite hiatus” since March 2018. Hedley was dropped by its management team and blacklisted by scores of radio stations.
After the allegations surfaced online in February 2018, Hoggard said he was putting his career on hold and posted a statement on Twitter denying any non-consensual sexual conduct.