NS Crown appeals against acquittal in Carrie Low sexual assault case

The Crown is appealing the acquittal of Brent Alexander Julien in the Carrie Low sexual assault case.

Julien, 35, was found not guilty on May 23 after a trial in Dartmouth County Court.

Judge Hill Hartlen accepted evidence that Low had been sexually assaulted by two men in a motor home in East Preston in May 2018 after going to a bar in Dartmouth.

But the judge said she was not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that Julien was one of those attackers.

The Crown filed an appeal with the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal on 21 June, requesting that the acquittal be set aside and replaced by a conviction or a new trial.

In the notice, the prosecution alleges that the trial judge erred “by binding the Crown to its theory rather than applying the evidence to the essential elements of the crime.”

The Crown also argues that Hartlen erred in concluding that the evidence supported a defense of a fair but erroneous belief in informed consent.

Low contacted police on May 19, 2018 to report that she had been kidnapped and raped outside Dave Doolittle’s Sports Bar and Grill the night before at an address on Upper Partridge River Road in East Preston.

Nearly two years passed before Alexander Joseph Frederick Thomas of East Preston was arrested and charged in February 2020.

Thomas, 35, was awaiting trial on charges of assault and forcible confinement when he was shot and killed at a house on Braeside Court in Dartmouth on November 13, 2021.

Low had gone to provincial court in October 2021 to have the publication ban on her identity lifted. “I have nothing to hide,” she told The Chronicle Herald at the time.

Julien was arrested in February 2022 and charged with sexual assault. The Crown did not seek a publication ban on Low’s identity when Julien was indicted.

‘Flashes of Memory’

In her hour-long trial decision, Hartlen said Low went out on the night of May 18, 2018, “with the intention of having a social night, listening to music, having a few drinks, dancing.

“She woke up the next morning in an unfamiliar RV, alone on a mattress with no sheets, no pants or underwear on, no phone or money or wallet, and with only flashes of memories of the past six hours.

“Two of these flashes involved what she believed to be unwanted sexual activity. It is about the identity of the person or persons who sexually assaulted her.”

Low was unable to identify her attackers. She had consumed alcohol that evening and blood and urine samples taken from her at a hospital on the afternoon of May 19 contained traces of the ecstasy drug.

Thomas’s DNA was found in evidence collected from Low at the hospital. DNA from someone else was also present but not enough to create a second profile.

The judge said there was no DNA linking Julien to the crime, and some of the evidence pointed to another potential suspect — a man who was at the bar with Julien and Thomas and in the RV when Low’s woke up in the morning.

That man, who has not been identified by investigators, was referred to as “T” during the trial.

Julien chose not to testify at the trial. In a text exchange with Low dated May 23, 2018, he said he stayed with her and protected her after knowing she was hurt.

“I have a lot of amnesia and it doesn’t make me feel good,” Low told Julien. “I try to remember things.”

“Yeah, that’s not good,” Julien replied. “Hopefully you figure out what to figure out.”

When Low asked who hurt her, Julien said he was “not sure who did that.”

During a phone conversation with another person in December 2021, when Julien was in Dartmouth Prison on other matters, he indicated that he had engaged in consensual sex with Low just prior to the “bad encounters.”

“I’m not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that the second man who had sex with Mrs. Low was Brent Julien,” Hartlen said. “He has been acquitted.”

‘Shocking to hear’

Low addressed reporters outside of court after the verdict.

“I was actually prepared for a decision like today,” she said. “It is still shocking to hear.

“If the police, when I reported it, took it seriously and investigated within hours and days, I don’t think we would be standing here with the same conclusion.”

Attorney Jonathan Hughes represented Julien at trial. On Monday, Hughes said he will remain in the case for an appeal.