Ferland Trial

[Beatle17]

Originally Posted by Weitz

I'm no lawyer or anything, but is there not a cap for money/damages in Alberta on civil suits for things of this nature? Or is that purely for car accidents? Or am I just way off base?

I am not sure on the amount they can will in a civil trial, but to me it is fishy when the plaintiff did nothing until they realized who the guy was.

[Drury18]

Ferland on the witness stand today:

Calgary Herald: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/ca...898/story.html

“I came walking outside, I got to the road and I got struck on the right side of my face. There were so many people that I had had to go around them.

“After I got struck on the face, the first person I turned and looked at, I assume it was Jayson Eyma. I turned and punched and knocked him out.”

When asked why he assumed it was Eyma, as he did not know him or had ever met him, Ferland replied: “That’s the reason I’m here.”

Testimony from one of the people he was accused of assaulting, Wesley Bunn:

Bunn testified that he and Eyma had walked across a street to the bar to inquire why another man had pushed a woman during an argument.

He said he and Eyma had reached the accused, who then pushed him to the ground. Bunn said before he could get up, Eyma was on the ground beside him.

Bunn told the jury he did not know who struck him or who punched Eyma, but identified Ferland as his assailant a few days later after another friend who was there that night pointed out Ferland’s picture on the Internet.

[ToraToraTora]

Originally Posted by Weitz

I'm no lawyer or anything, but is there not a cap for money/damages in Alberta on civil suits for things of this nature? Or is that purely for car accidents? Or am I just way off base?

Just for car accidents. No statutory cap these types of injuries.

[OzSome]

Originally Posted by Weitz

The whole thing is there is only one guy throwing punches, from my understanding. If I am at a bar and some idiot starts wildly throwing punches at me (not saying this is the case here) you are damn right I am suing or pressing charges. The average person is out for a good time not to be sucker punched as is the alleged case here.

I don't think anyone even see someone throwing a punch. If I am at the bar and if it's really true someone was throwing wildly punches, I would walk away from it. We don't even know (if it's true) why Ferland was throwing punches. Was he provoked or just simply being drunk and stupid? Like I mentioned before I cannot say if Ferland is guilty or not because I did not witness the incident. I am just basing things on what I hear/read so far and to tell you the truth I don't think these guys are credible so far.

[djsFlames]

Honestly I've heard far worse stories of people having things happen to them outside of bars in the early hours of the morning that ended up in trips to the hospital, yet they sucked it up because even then they knew both sides willingly partook in the exchange and they stupidly underestimated their opponent and got the worse of it. But it didn't end up in people getting sued.

This guy obviously had the misfortune of starting something or getting involved with one of the best fighters in the WHL, who was from what it sounds like extremely intoxicated, and got his ### beat. Even if it only took one punch. Sounds like it happened really fast and it was more or less a reactionary thing. Unfortunate, but to me it's not something you take this far. If Ferland had involved friends or weapons with the intention of physically put this person in danger, then that's another situation.

Hope this passes quickly and he can move on.

[FAN]

I don't understand why this is going to trial. I am not trying to downplay the severity of what Ferland allegedly did, but he's a young kid who I assume has no prior history of violence and the circumstances surrounding the incident was that people have been drinking.

[combustiblefuel]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

Honestly I've heard far worse stories of people having things happen to them outside of bars in the early hours of the morning that ended up in trips to the hospital, yet they sucked it up because even then they knew both sides willingly partook in the exchange and they stupidly underestimated their opponent and got the worse of it. But it didn't end up in people getting sued.

This guy obviously had the misfortune of starting something or getting involved with one of the best fighters in the WHL, who was from what it sounds like extremely intoxicated, and got his ### beat. Even if it only took one punch. Sounds like it happened really fast and it was more or less a reactionary thing. Unfortunate, but to me it's not something you take this far. If Ferland had involved friends or weapons with the intention of physically put this person in danger, then that's another situation.

Hope this passes quickly and he can move on.

Does not matter if Its a bar fight or not . Assault is an assault . I've seen tons of cops Here crack down on bar fights here. We have no idea if Ferland is guiltyor not. Your idea that assault is OK just because your drunk at a bar is 1950's mentality. That logic dose not make sense. If you got In a fight at the park or your neighborhood because you were drinking you'd be charged the same .

[djsFlames]

I'm just saying if they both willingly got involved in an exchange (for whatever reason) to the point where they physically confronted each other and one happened to be much stronger than the other and one guy gets hurt, then he lost a fight instigated probably by accusations and likely furthered by heavy drinking. But he should suck it up, he got involved in the first place, and paid the price for it. I don't know the exact details of the situation, this is just what it sounds like to me from these quotes.

Then let's say a person casually walking by the bar on a midnight stroll gets suddenly attacked by the accused party and sustains serious injuries, then to me that's a whole different matter. That sounds like assault. This sounds like two drunk idiots confronting each other and one making a dumb mistake provoking the other to act out.

I'm going by my own terms here, I'm no lawyer. But this just sounds like a classic case of intoxicated stupidity that got a bit ugly over a perpetrator viciously assaulting a victim. It's not something that sticks out as heinous because it literally happens all the time, this just happened to involve a professional hockey player who's physically going to have the upper hand, but the 'victim' was ignorant enough to disregard it.

Edit: Upon further reading it appears it was more a freak incident that was reactionary. That is if there actually was no exchange between the parties before hits were being thrown. But if some random person strikes you in the face, you bet your first instinct is going to be to protect yourself. It's just not clear if this Eyma guy was the one to hit him in the eye or if it was someone else..

[combustiblefuel]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

I'm just saying if they both willingly got involved in an exchange (for whatever reason) to the point where they physically confronted each other and one happened to be much stronger than the other and one guy gets hurt, then he lost a fight instigated probably by accusations and likely furthered by heavy drinking. But he should suck it up, he got involved in the first place, and paid the price for it. I don't know the exact details of the situation, this is just what it sounds like to me from these quotes.

Then let's say a person casually walking by the bar on a midnight stroll gets suddenly attacked by the accused party and sustains serious injuries, then to me that's a whole different matter. That sounds like assault. This sounds like two drunk idiots confronting each other and one making a dumb mistake provoking the other to act out.

I'm going by my own terms here, I'm no lawyer. But this just sounds like a classic case of intoxicated stupidity that got a bit ugly over a perpetrator viciously assaulting a victim. It's not something that sticks out as heinous because it literally happens all the time, this just happened to involve a professional hockey player who's physically going to have the upper hand, but the 'victim' was ignorant enough to disregard it.

Edit: Upon further reading it appears it was more a freak incident that was reactionary. That is if there actually was no exchange between the parties before hits were being thrown. But if some random person strikes you in the face, you bet your first instinct is going to be to protect yourself. It's just not clear if this Eyma guy was the one to hit him in the eye or if it was someone else..

This is why I I questioned your first post. In this case he might be responsible.

[FAN]

Originally Posted by fotze

Because he is pleading not-guilty.

Right. What I meant was I am surprised that an acceptable plea deal (e.g. community service) wasn't offered/made.

[Resolute 14]

“After I got struck on the face, the first person I turned and looked at, I assume it was Jayson Eyma. I turned and punched and knocked him out.”

I wonder if the full testimony provides more context on this, because "someone hit me, so I cold-cocked the first guy I saw" is not going to be a valid self-defence argument, I don't think. Wonder if he is angling for the Eddie Shore defence. "I was dazed and didn't quite know what I was doing"?

[IgiTang]

Where is the woman who was "pushed" in all of this? Im sure she could serve pretty usefull in sorting some of this out. If there was infact a woman involved. I can see someone saying he was coming to the aid of a woman to justify to police as to why he got in some dudes face.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by IgiTang

Where is the woman who was "pushed" in all of this? Im sure she could serve pretty usefull in sorting some of this out. If there was infact a woman involved. I can see someone saying he was coming to the aid of a woman to justify to police as to why he got in some dudes face.

I'd guess the woman was his aunt, who was trying to get him out of the bar, and the drunks across the street misinterpreted what was going on.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by combustiblefuel

Does not matter if Its a bar fight or not . Assault is an assault . I've seen tons of cops Here crack down on bar fights here. We have no idea if Ferland is guiltyor not. Your idea that assault is OK just because your drunk at a bar is 1950's mentality. That logic dose not make sense. If you got In a fight at the park or your neighborhood because you were drinking you'd be charged the same .

Very true, however the likelihood of getting into a fight outside of a bar is significantly higher than any of the other locations you mentioned.

Secondly, what is the correlation of the number of bar fights in total compared to the number of bar fights that go to trial?

Total # of Bar Fights = ??
Total # of Bar Fights that go to trial = ??

I'd be willing to bet that those two numbers are going to be significantly different. Likely by a vast margin.

Further, in terms of logic making sense, just because you knocked a guy out in an altercation shouldnt mean that you should be financially liable beyond all reason.

How much is getting knocked out worth? The guy isnt a prizefighter, no one paid to see it and he doesnt have any radical medical bills or complications, he just got knocked out.

What does he want? Does he want Ferland to go to jail? That seems unlikely. Does he want to develop some doubt in order to civilly sue Ferland afterwards? Maybe. But then we go back to the original question: how much is getting knocked out worth?

[CaptainCrunch]

I would doubt that he will see jail time over this incident. The judge will probably take into account his prior history though, I'm not sure if Ferland has previous convictions. Most he'll probably get is some kind of conditional sentencing that will allow him to escape without a criminal record.

I think the judge will take into account that a criminal record or jail time would probably destroy Ferland's career outlook.

[Weitz]

There is also the point of trying to prevent and stop bar fights, and trials are one step towards attempting to do that. Not that i think it ever will, booze + idiots = trouble.

Just look at Spruce Grove, where there was a bar fight breaking out and the bouncer stepped in to break it up and got sucker punched once and died.

[tvp2003]

Originally Posted by Locke

How much is getting knocked out worth? The guy isnt a prizefighter, no one paid to see it and he doesnt have any radical medical bills or complications, he just got knocked out.

I believe it was reported that he had a broken orbital bone and had to have a plate and screws inserted into his cheek. Not life threatening but not trivial either.

[AcGold]

This is why I hate drinking. Every time I drink someone wants to prove how tough they are and I have to talk them out of it because screw going to court or jail. Ferlands career is at risk (if only minimally) because of a dumb drunken argument.

[strombad]

Every time I drink everyone has a great time and then we all just go home.

[AcGold]

Well aren't you special