[5] The Globe and Mail described Huyser-Wierenga as "one of the city’s most senior Crown prosecutors" and Fraser as "a young lawyer with an interest in sexual-assault prosecutions.

The Globe and Mail referred to Bottos as "a prominent defence lawyer who’d been involved in a number of controversial and high-profile cases, including representing Bradley Barton in the death of Cindy Gladue in 2011.

[8] On 15 August 2016, McKnight was released from the Edmonton provincial law courts on $20,000 bail with conditions that he was to stay home from 21:00h each night until 7:00h the following morning.

Many immediately told friends, family or boyfriends, and some searched for information about date-rape drugs, called the police or initiated sexual-assault examinations in the hours and days after leaving his apartment, even if they ultimately decided not to proceed.

He zeroed in on gaps in their memories and inconsistencies in their stories, pulling at each detail and thread, picking at small holes until they gaped and glared.

"[4] Expert witnesses were called by the Crown including RCMP toxicologist Gillian Sayer and multiple sexual-assault nurse examiners.

Sayer testified about the effects of the date rape drug GHB, specifically discussing memory loss, blackouts, and physical impairment.

In a longform piece in the Globe and Mail, Jana G. Pruden stated that the Crown's closing arguments "urged the jury to believe the women.

He argued a woman who had been telling people in the bar scene that McKnight drugged and raped women had become “patient zero” in a dangerous rumour, which exploded in the #MeToo environment, fuelled by gossip, social-media mobs and a shoddy police investigation.

He said the announcement of the first three charges established McKnight as a threat and that the women who came forward after that were either lying or recasting their experiences, having 'buyer’s remorse' about an encounter with a man now publicly accused of being a predator."