JustPearlyThings - November 19, 2023


Pearl Reacts To Adam Johnson's Death


Episode Stats

Length

6 minutes

Words per Minute

206.154

Word Count

1,369

Sentence Count

97

Misogynist Sentences

1


Summary

In the wake of the death of Adam Johnson, a player in the EIHL, a person has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter related to his death. The question is, was this an accident or was it intentional?


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Okay, so speaking of wild stories, there was a story that came out of Canada of a hockey player that actually died on the ice.
00:00:07.980 Oh.
00:00:08.440 Have you seen that?
00:00:09.240 No.
00:00:09.500 No, you haven't seen it?
00:00:10.280 Okay, okay.
00:00:11.080 So this is the...
00:00:12.500 Oh, my gosh.
00:00:13.100 It looks like a routine hockey collision on the ice.
00:00:16.440 But look again.
00:00:17.600 You can see the scale of the player in red fly up and hit the other player in the net.
00:00:23.560 Yeah, so the question is, was it intentional?
00:00:25.800 And according to people in the league, this guy has a history of playing dirty and fighting rough.
00:00:32.100 Well, if that was football, he's using the spikes on his boot.
00:00:36.460 So that's straight red card foul.
00:00:39.380 Yeah, well, I think it's murder.
00:00:41.120 Well, yeah, in this case, obviously, it's resulted in that.
00:00:43.460 But to me, on the issue of intent, the intent is clearly there.
00:00:46.620 Adam Johnson, a player for the Nottingham Panthers in the EIHL, tragically died after an on incident where he was cut in the neck by another player's skate blade.
00:00:57.680 Recently, a person was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter related to his death.
00:01:02.740 Johnson's family, specifically his Aunt Carrie, spoke out for the first time, expressing a desire to let the legal process unfold.
00:01:09.680 The family had just laid Adam Johnson to rest in Minnesota when the investigation into his death began.
00:01:15.160 The South Yorkshire Police initiated an inquiry to understand the circumstances surrounding the incident, terming it a freak accident.
00:01:23.800 They've been seeking expert input and collaborating with safety departments during the investigation.
00:01:28.880 Amid this tragedy, there has been a heightened focus on player safety.
00:01:32.960 Hockey leagues worldwide are implementing mandates for players to wear neck guards with the English Ice Hockey Association set to enforce this requirement by the end of the year.
00:01:42.680 The police have urged the public to avoid speculation as they continue their investigation.
00:01:47.920 I will be speculating right now, so I'm not listening.
00:01:50.420 But I don't know.
00:01:51.600 I just watched that video and you can't tell me that wasn't intentional.
00:01:55.760 I have a hard time believing that you just—I'm not saying you intended to kill him.
00:02:00.420 That's the thing.
00:02:01.080 So the thing is with manslaughter, at least here in the UK, I don't know what the law is in Canada and America, but I do know what the law is around this in the UK.
00:02:07.300 To be found guilty of murder in the UK, it's not like in America where they need to prove motive and things like that.
00:02:12.580 It's purely intent.
00:02:13.420 It's based on intent.
00:02:14.380 So if you're found guilty of murder, it means that you have intent to kill.
00:02:17.880 I think perhaps in this case it would seem, at least under UK law, on suspicion of manslaughter makes sense because I think intent to harm is very clear and evident.
00:02:29.040 But I think it's going to be very, very hard to prove intent to kill.
00:02:32.840 So question, what would happen here if you get into like a fist fight and you kill somebody?
00:02:38.940 So it would all depend what your defense was.
00:02:41.120 Usually people who—it's just a fight and they didn't intend to kill them.
00:02:46.500 They would go down the manslaughter route, either of voluntary or involuntary manslaughter.
00:02:50.680 As far as I can remember, it's been a while since I graduated, but as far as I can remember, involuntary manslaughter, a defense you can use is loss of control.
00:02:59.540 So if you were provoked, that's either voluntary or involuntary.
00:03:03.920 So you would have to say like you were either provoked or you were under the influence or something like that.
00:03:08.680 And there are ways to go down the manslaughter route instead of murder.
00:03:12.480 Murder, the intent has to be very, very clear.
00:03:15.580 And the way to usually prove that is a chain of causation, which means that there's a chain of events before that proves that that person had the intent to kill.
00:03:23.200 Oh, so they would have to look at like maybe they had a history of going at each other.
00:03:27.680 See, because what I think happened, I think he was trying to hurt him severely.
00:03:31.760 Agreed.
00:03:32.200 I don't know if he was trying to kill him.
00:03:34.300 That's the thing.
00:03:34.840 But I almost would equate this.
00:03:37.060 Have you ever seen a video?
00:03:38.480 It's like Twitter has kind of scarred me a bit.
00:03:40.700 I see videos of violence that I would never have seen in my life.
00:03:44.080 Like I saw a video of a guy hitting a guy in the back of the head like super hard.
00:03:48.580 And I think this is almost the equivalent because if you're putting a sharp object like next to his face.
00:03:54.440 That's where it gets sticky because it's like how can you argue that that's not intent to kill?
00:04:00.600 Because on the one side, you could say, well, I'm playing a sport.
00:04:03.280 Of course, I'm not going to intend to kill someone on the ice.
00:04:06.040 But on the other hand, you could say that you are forcing a sharp object into someone's neck where their arteries are.
00:04:12.320 So that would perhaps imply intent to kill.
00:04:15.640 And they also, he had a history of playing rough.
00:04:19.800 So that would come under evidence of, say, bad character to prove that maybe.
00:04:23.860 But then again, he could easily use that in his defense and sort of say like, I'm unstable.
00:04:28.800 Yeah, I don't think he meant to kill him.
00:04:32.040 I do think he meant to severely hurt him.
00:04:34.380 Yes.
00:04:34.740 I think it deserves prison time for a long time.
00:04:37.740 If someone dies as a result of your actions, it deserves prison time.
00:04:42.160 I mean, there's been multiple cases here in the UK where tragic, you know, freak accidents have happened.
00:04:48.320 But there has been incidents of freak accidents where people have died as the result of someone's actions.
00:04:54.720 And it's very, very clear that those person's actions were in no way intending to kill people.
00:05:00.500 But when people die, someone has to pay the price.
00:05:04.000 Yeah.
00:05:04.300 People need to go to prison.
00:05:05.360 Yeah, because you can't, there has to be a clear message sent that that will not be tolerated.
00:05:10.860 Absolutely.
00:05:11.280 Like if somebody gets drunk and drives, you know, they might not have meant to kill anybody.
00:05:15.780 But they did.
00:05:16.260 But you did.
00:05:17.180 Absolutely.
00:05:17.640 Or even, you know, actually a question is, you remember the Alex Baldwin case?
00:05:22.180 Yeah.
00:05:22.360 I didn't follow it close enough, but it kind of begs the question of, should he have gone to jail?
00:05:29.200 It's a difficult one, that, because, I mean, as far, I didn't follow the case very closely.
00:05:33.220 But as far as I'm aware, it was a case of sort of negligence on the part of the company that was providing the gun.
00:05:39.660 Because it should have been a prop and it was a real gun.
00:05:41.840 Yeah, I think, I think their counter argument was that he had a lot of experience with guns.
00:05:48.220 So he should have known to check.
00:05:50.520 Oh, okay.
00:05:51.180 I don't, I'm not saying it's right or wrong, I don't really know.
00:05:53.860 That does play a factor, though.
00:05:55.020 But I could see why if it was like my brother that that happened to, I would be pissed.
00:06:00.100 Like if it's somebody that has had experience with guns that knows what they are and you didn't even check.
00:06:06.080 When you pulled a trigger at somebody.
00:06:09.300 I would argue that that would then be an answer to him.
00:06:10.920 If it was my relative, I would be so pissed, I would want to see jail time.
00:06:15.060 Yeah.
00:06:15.500 But on the other hand, you could also argue that that was not his job.
00:06:18.960 True, but I think that the point that you're making, the context of, you know, have they handled a gun before?
00:06:24.340 Do they know what a real gun looks like?
00:06:26.060 Do they know what a loaded gun feels like?
00:06:27.960 I do think that that, at least in my personal opinion, that I would definitely take that into account as a judge if I was deciding on whether there should be prison time or not.
00:06:35.740 And if they were experienced, I would definitely say prison time.