Graham James, convicted in junior hockey sex assaults, gets day parole

A former Canadian junior hockey coach who was convicted of molesting several of his players has been granted day parole. 

Graham James had nearly completed a five-year sentence in June for sex-related charges connected to five players during his time as a coach in the Western Hockey League when he pleaded guilty to a sexual assault involving another player.

He was sentenced to two years for that assault, which took place between 1990 and 1991 when James was with the Swift Current Broncos in Saskatchewan. That time was tacked on to the sentence he was already serving.

James was a much-heralded coach while with the WHL. (Bill Becker/Canadian Press)

James used his position, and stature, as a coach to abuse the player, according to the prosecutor in the case.

In 1997, James pleaded guilty to 300 counts of abuse against former NHL player Sheldon Kennedy and 50 counts against another player.

Pardon sparks reform

After he was released from prison following his conviction in the late 1990s, James was pardoned by the National Parole Board in 2007, a fact that didn't come to light until another victim came forward to The Canadian Press in 2010.

The federal government later tightened up the rules surrounding federal pardons, now known as record suspensions, to make anyone in a position of authority over a victim ineligible. 

James was living in Mexico when another NHL star, Theo Fleury, released his 2009 autobiography, Playing with Fire, and said James had molested him.

In his autobiography, Theo Fleury says that he was 14 years old when Graham James started abusing him. Fleury went on to a career in the NHL. (Jeff McIntosh/Canadian Press)

In January 2010, Fleury filed a criminal complaint. James was convicted in 2012 for repeatedly assaulting Fleury and his cousin, Todd Holt, when they played for him in the WHL.

In 2013, the Manitoba Court of Appeals made an unsual move, extending James's sentence to five years. 

He pleaded guilty to the latest charges, involving a victim who has not been identified, while in custody in Laval, Que. 

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