After 6 weeks of waiting, it’s judgment day for Ghomeshi
When he arrives at Old City Hall this morning, Jian Ghomeshi will march past a crush of blinding cameras and step toward his future.
This is it. Judgment day. Guilty or not guilty?
For the past six weeks, Justice William B. Horkins was hunkered down in an undisclosed location — I’m picturing oak-panelled walls with shelves of legal tomes, an ornate hourglass and a Lord Denning thermos full of Red Bull — where he weighed the evidence that emerged in Courtroom 125 last month.
That is where Ghomeshi stood trial on four counts of sexual assault and one of overcoming resistance by choking. Despite the serious nature of the charges, the trial had the feel of a Molière farce as reimagined by producers of The Bachelor.
Pre-sold as the Trial of The Year, it’s possible it wasn’t even the Trial of The Month.
The three complainants, two of whom can’t be named under a publication ban, alleged Ghomeshi was a Jekyll and Hyde. One minute he was flirty and charming and humble-bragging, the next he was punching and slapping and choking.
The accused in this courtroom drama has big challenges ahead — no matter the verdict
But when the complainants were cross-examined by Ghomeshi’s lead counsel, Marie Henein, inconsistencies bubbled to the surface like drops of oil in water. The women were blindsided by details they never disclosed to authorities about their own relationships with Ghomeshi: emails, photos, conversations, love letters and, in one case, a sexual act after the alleged assault.
This wasn’t about past behaviour. It was about lying under oath in the present.
On the stand, one by one, body language telegraphed an identical shift in mood. When first responding to questions from the Crown attorneys, Michael Callaghan and Corie Langdon, the complainants were as calm as mall greeters offering directions: “Yes, Banana Republic is on the second floor. Take the escalator up, turn right and walk 20 paces. Then he punched me.”
Then Ms. Henein rose on her heels, removed her glasses and systematically drilled holes into the previously heard directions: “Come on. This mall doesn’t even have a Banana Republic, does it?”
The complainants slouched, coughed, blinked rapidly, exhaled loudly, sniffled, played with their hair, glowered and eventually stepped down from the stand looking as calm as rescue workers in the aftermath of an earthquake.
This was a magnitude 9.0 on their credibility.
Even still, as Callaghan pointed out in his closing arguments, the inconsistencies don’t mean these women were not assaulted, were not victims of abuse. That’s precisely what Justice Horkins was tasked with untangling in the weeds of so much discrepancy: Is Ghomeshi guilty beyond all reasonable doubt?
The conventional wisdom before the trial started on Feb. 1 was this was a slam-dunk case for the Crown. The conventional wisdom after the trial ended on Feb. 11 was the Crown hit the court with their shoes tied together and face-planted before getting off a shot and now Ghomeshi will walk. Even if he does, there is another trial looming in June. Is it possible an acquittal on Thursday could mean that charge, related to a workplace incident, gets dropped? The Ministry of the Attorney General refused to comment as the matter is before the courts. But even if Ghomeshi is acquitted on Thursday and his summer trial is scuttled, there is still a festering boil the size of P.E.I. on his reputation.
Other women levelled allegations of assault against Ghomeshi in 2014. It wasn’t just these three complainants. As CBC spokesman Chuck Thompson reminded me this week: “The charges that were before the court in this trial are unrelated to our decision to terminate Mr. Ghomeshi’s employment with the CBC. Based on the evidence that came to our attention, Mr. Ghomeshi’s actions were not compatible with the values of the public broadcaster, nor with our employee code of conduct. Irrespective of the judge’s ruling on Thursday, we stand by our decision.”
Which means that even if he’s found innocent in a criminal court, Ghomeshi might still be seen as guilty in the court of public opinion. He didn’t testify at his trial. He has yet to address the allegations beyond the notorious Facebook post that kick-started the scandal. He’s become a living hologram.
If he’s found guilty, even on some charges, all of this becomes moot. But if he’s cleared of the charges brought by the three complainants, including actress Lucy DeCoutere, he still has a lot of explaining to do.
That’s why the verdict on Thursday is a potential starting block, not a finishing line. Whatever the decision, the future of Jian Ghomeshi still remains unclear. vmenon@thestar.ca