B.C. jury finds former Vancouver Canucks forward Jake Virtanen not guilty in sexual assault trial
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, B.C. 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 of 2021.
BREAKING: a jury has found former Vancouver Canucks forward Jake Virtanen not guilty of sexually assaulting a then 18 year old woman in his hotel room in September 2017. Virtanen, who was let go by the Canucks when the allegations came to light, testified the sex was consensual.
— Shannon Paterson (@ctv_shannon) July 26, 2022In 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.