Trigger warning: This article discusses sexual assault.
A British Columbia jury has found former Vancouver Canucks forward Jake Virtanen not guilty of sexual assault.
The 25-year-old from New Westminster, British Columbia, stood trial before the province’s Supreme Court over the past week.
Virtanen was charged with one count of sexual assault in January of this year after allegations came to light in May 2021.
In court, a 23-year-old woman — who was 18 in September 2017, the time of the alleged assault — testified that she repeatedly said “no” and did not consent to having sex with Virtanen.
Virtanen, who was 21 at the time of the alleged assault, testified that the encounter was consensual and that the woman was an “enthusiastic participant.”
The Canucks suspended Virtanen when the sexual assault allegations first surfaced and subsequently bought out the final year of his contract. He spent the 2021-22 season playing for the Kontinental Hockey League club Moscow Spartak.
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