Bertuzzi Charged - Printable Version

Bertuzzi Charged - Printable Version

+- PunBB (https://punbb.in)
+-- Forum: General Discussion - Hipbase.com (https://punbb.in/forumdisplay.php?fid=4)
+--- Forum: Non Tragically Hip Discussion (https://punbb.in/forumdisplay.php?fid=9)
+--- Thread: Bertuzzi Charged (/showthread.php?tid=2444)

Bertuzzi Charged - anesthesiologist - 06-24-2004

Todd Bertuzzi was charged in court in Vancouver this morning with assault causing bodily harm for the Steve Moore incident. He will appear in court on July 9th.
Story link:
<a class="postlink" href="http://vancouver.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=bc_bertuzzi20040624">http://vancouver.cbc.ca/regional/servle ... zi20040624</a>

cbc.ca will probably have it too!

All for now,
Aaron

- farmerdan - 06-24-2004

bullsh*t
(is what i think of that charge)

- tigerthelion - 06-24-2004

It was a punch with a glove on for f*ck sakes! 99 times out of 100 Moore doesn't get that injured. Besides, I think he's milking his injury a bit to stay in the limelight since nobody knew who the hell he was before the incident.

Yeah, hate me all you want but that's how I feel. I think the suspension should have been for the rest of the regular season. I don't know why the NHL tries to send messages like this one. NHL players are morons, just look at how many high sticks and hits from behind there still are in the game.

- MikeS - 06-24-2004

So, if found guilty, what's the range of sentencing for such an offense in BC?

Will he be looking at hard time? Or a slap on the wrist (in the form of some form of community service)? Either way, this ain't good...

M.

- farmerdan - 06-24-2004

MikeS Wrote:So, if found guilty, what's the range of sentencing for such an offense in BC?

Will he be looking at hard time? Or a slap on the wrist (in the form of some form of community service)? Either way, this ain't good...

M.

what was mcsorley's punishment, they found him guilty right?

- Stephen Dame - 06-24-2004

I would think Todd would take a plea bargin given the McSorely precident.

If he fights it and is found guilty, and again, I don't know how he could NOT be found guilty given the McSorley precident and the fact that there were 18,000 witnesses, he could be looking at anything from 5 years (HIGHLY unlikely) to Community Service or a fine.

He slugged a guy in a brutal fashion, but I think the charge stems more from Moore's injury than from Bertuzzi's actions. But far be it from me to legally seperate the two.

If he fights, I'd expect a "reasonable within the confides of a hockey rink" argument.

- MikeS - 06-24-2004

The McSorely thing was slightly different as there was a "weapon" involved, and there wasn't the same pre-meditation aspect to the case...

That said, I found this link re: McSorely's sentence, which may shed some light on where this is ultimately going:

<a class="postlink" href="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/hockey/nhl/news/2000/10/06/mcsorley_assault_ap/">http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/hockey ... ssault_ap/</a>

Excerpts:

Quote:VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- Marty McSorley was found guilty of assault with a weapon but won't be sent to jail for his two-fisted stick attack on an opponent.

Now he needs the NHL's permission to play again.

A Canadian court found McSorley guilty Friday for the February 21 blow that sent Vancouver Canucks forward Donald Brashear sprawling to the ice.

McSorley, a 17-year NHL veteran who was with the Boston Bruins at the time, won't have any charges go on his record as long as he completes 18 months of probation. He was ordered not to play against Brashear during that time, in Canada or the United States.

Ouch.

M.

- anesthesiologist - 06-24-2004

There's a wide range of sentencing factors: aggravating and mitigating factors are taken into account before the judge makes the recommendation. The range of what might happen to Todd could include, depending on how they go about this:

Summary conviction - 18 months or less (most likely since charged in Provincial Court)
Inditable offence - up to 10 yrs.
But there is no way he's going to jail.

There are issues around consent to assault, honesty of believing consent being given (overruled in the McSorley case) and whether circumstances to support that belief.

What most likely will happen is there will probably a HUGE fine and communtiy service, maybe house arrest for 6 months, but i don't think so since McSorely didn't get anything like that, Todd won't.

Here's a link to the McSorely case if anyone is interested, but it's just the case not the sentencing:
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.canlii.org/bc/cas/bcpc/2000/2000bcpc116.html">http://www.canlii.org/bc/cas/bcpc/2000/2000bcpc116.html</a>

All for now,
Aaron

- tigerthelion - 06-24-2004

The Marty incident had a high probability of seriously injuring Brashear. The Bertuzzi incident was a fluke in the severity of the injury. There are sucker punches almost every game and nobody gets hurt. Don't tell me bull about how it was from behind and he rammed his face into the ice either. Yes, it was from behind but I don't think he intentionally rammed his face into the ice. He had a hold of Moore and as Moore was falling he fell with him. Also, don't discount that nobody knows when Moore's serious injuries occured. Could he have broken his neck when ten guys landed on him?

- Stephen Dame - 06-24-2004

tigerthelion Wrote:He had a hold of Moore and as Moore was falling he fell with him. Also, don't discount that nobody knows when Moore's serious injuries occured. Could he have broken his neck when ten guys landed on him?

BINGO. There's your defence. If he fights, it'd be damn difficult to prove that the punch alone caused the injuries.

However, this would require admitting, "Yeah, I slugged him from behind, and yeah, I followed him to the ground... but..." which is an admission I think he'd want to avoid via pleading out.

- MikeS - 06-24-2004

tigerthelion Wrote:The Marty incident had a high probability of seriously injuring Brashear. The Bertuzzi incident was a fluke in the severity of the injury. There are sucker punches almost every game and nobody gets hurt. Don't tell me bull about how it was from behind and he rammed his face into the ice either. Yes, it was from behind but I don't think he intentionally rammed his face into the ice. He had a hold of Moore and as Moore was falling he fell with him. Also, don't discount that nobody knows when Moore's serious injuries occured. Could he have broken his neck when ten guys landed on him?

You're forgetting one crucial fact of the case...I have a feeling the pre-meditated nature of the incident will be more in the spotlight than the act and resulting injury. Bertuzzi had at least two weeks to think about what he was (or wasn't) going to do after May shot his mouth off about a "bounty" on Moore's head. The mere fact he followed through on the team's collective "threat" may put him in a far more precarious position than McSorely, who acted on a spur of the moment...

- anesthesiologist - 06-24-2004

Here are some thoughts on the issue. These are from my partner when she heard about the charges:

Quote:
"There are a few things that could skew things for Bertuzzi - the most important is if Steve Moore gets involved, or has lasting physical consequences. Here, Brashear had a wicked bad seizure and a short time away from the game, but nothing beyond that. If Moore is hurt more seriously or develops a chronic condition, then it's worse for Bertuzzi.

Also, there might be seen to be a greater need for denunciation - basically, that everyone really should have learned from the McSorley incident, especially given the judge's comments about there being a need to learn from it. And, Marc Crawford is on record in the McSorley case commenting on that kind of violence - flipped around to one of his own players, those comments read pretty harshly.

Finally, McSorley's role as a goon was well-established, and understood in the context of unwritten rules of the game. Bertuzzi isn't exactly the team enforcer, and I think it's fairly well agreed that this was pretty weird (even with the background of the Nazzy hit). I think the retributive aspect could really play into the sentencing (assuming he's found guilty). But in scale, it may just be that more restrictive conditions are imposed, or that more is expected of him in terms of "community service" stuff. Still not going to jail, in my humble opinion.

Happy reading,

Kat"
End Quote.

All for now,
Aaron

- prz - 06-24-2004

I think bertuzzi is going to convicted. He has the necessary intent to commit the crime charged. That is key.

What I am looking to next is the civil case that is going to happen down the road. Regardless of the criminal conviction Moore's lawyers are going to a field day nailing Bertuzzi in Torts. Todd, after his criminal problems are solved better be ready for a long fight.

On top of all this Moore is a well connected and educated person, his family is well known and has lots of connections. Bertuzzi really messed up going after him. Really bad judgment.

- anesthesiologist - 06-24-2004

I don't know Bert's got some pretty high powered defence people working for him, we'll see. It's gonna be knock 'em down, drag 'em out for the next while though, both crim and civil.
All for now,
Aaron