Former Queen’s student Taylor Haas was found not guilty on Aug. 11 of sexually assaulting another student.
Haas, who currently resides in B.C., was attending Queen’s when he was accused of sexually assaulting another student on Feb. 21, 2018. Haas pleaded not guilty to the alleged assault.
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The verdict was delivered over teleconference by Judge Alison Wheeler.
According to Global News, Wheeler said although she believed that the woman who’d accused Haas of sexually assaulting her had no recollection of the interaction, she also believed Haas’s claim that the two had verbally established consent before intercourse.
In February, a witness testified that the victim was noticeably intoxicated and slurring her words the night of the alleged assault.
Haas testified that the victim said she didn’t everything that occurred the night of Feb. 21 and claimed he texted her the next day to make sure she was all right.
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Crown attorneys also highlighted some of Haas’ text messages to other individuals concerning the night in question, which allegedly included statements like “I knew she was too drunk.”
While Wheeler was critical of the evidence presented by Haas’s legal team, she ultimately decided that the Crown did not prove the woman lacked the capacity to consent, nor that the intercourse between Haas and the woman was non-consensual.
As a result, Haas was acquitted of the charge against him.
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