Any of the lawyers on the site want to comment on the fact that these guys are given 12 days to turn themselves in? If they are currently outside Canada - considering that 25 of the 32 NHL teams are based in the US, that seems like a high probability - what legal mechanisms do the prosecution have to prevent these guys from finding a safe place outside North America? If they're inside Canada, CBSA could be flagged to keep them from leaving the country, but if they're in the US, what stops them from just jetting off to Havana or someplace?
So usual disclaimer: I am a lawyer. I'm not authorized to practice in Ontario (although Criminal law is federal and the same all across Canada).
It's not unusual for police to say "we have grounds to arrest you and we'd like you to turn yourself in". When a person does turn themselves in they're also much more likely to get released on more favourable Judicial Interim Release than if the police have to hunt you down.
There are three grounds to potentially deny someone bail in Canada, all found in s. 515(10) of the Criminal Code. The Primary ground is whether someone will show up for court. If you've voluntarily turned yourself in that's an excellent example that you'll show up for subsequent court dates. (the other grounds are the likelihood to commit further offences, and a catch-all to maintain confidence in the administration of justice).
The players are all Canadian citizens with significant ties to Canada. Even if they did in turn jet off to Cuba, we do have an extradition treaty with Cuba and we could request the Cuban authorities hand the person over.
And the thing is - sexual assault is a really hard offence to prove - in particular if you have a good lawyer (and I'm sure these players will have great lawyers). They'd have a LOT to lose by suddenly going on the run.
Because ultimately if the players don't turn themselves in police will just get an arrest warrant and proceed in that fashion.
I mean it's not unheard of for people to go on the lam, but it's more typical of people who are already have citizenship in another country and few ties to Canada. Because even in the worst case scenario if any of these players are convicted - they're facing what - three years (at least in Alberta R v Sandercock (1985), 62 A.R. 382 (CA)? Even after they serve that sentence they still have decades more to live in Canada. If you go on the lam that's forever - and Canada has extradition treaties with pretty much every country you'd want to live in. The idea of having to live the rest of your life in Russia doesn't sound all that appealling to me...
