While it may be a holiday weekend in the States, it certainly isn’t in Canada.
A lawyer for James appeared by phone in Swift Current Provincial Court today. James is charged with repeated acts of sexual assault under Section 271, Subsection 1, Paragraph (A) of the Criminal Code of Canada.
James is perhaps the most infamous sexual assault predator to ever enter the ranks of junior hockey.
In 1996, Sheldon Kennedy and another unnamed player came forward with complaints about sexual abuse they had suffered between 1984 and 1995, and in November 1996, James was charged with sexual assault. On January 2, 1997, James pleaded guilty to 350 sexual assaults against the two players, and was sentenced to three and a half years in jail. He was paroled in 2001.
On October 25, 2010, James was taken into custody in Toronto. He was wanted in Winnipeg on nine counts of sexual assault, and was released on bail in December of that same year.
On March 20, 2012 he was sentenced to 2 years in prison. That sentence was overturned on a prosecution appeal and he was given his current sentence.
Currently serving his latest sentence of five years, James did not appear in court, or on the phone with his lawyer.
If convicted again on these new charges, it is likely James will spend his remaining years in a prison cell. It is unlikely that any of his victims would object.
Joe Hughes
