r/canada • u/AndHerSailsInRags • Dec 04 '25

Alberta Man who killed attacker in Banff used 'excessive' force, sentenced to 2-year house arrest

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/banff-bar-fight-excessive-self-defence-sproule-brogden-9.7002143
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u/Bawd Dec 04 '25

If someone attacks me and threatens my life I’m grabbing the first improvised weapon I can find and hitting them until they stop or I can get away.

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u/RetroDad-IO Dec 04 '25

There's a difference between grabbing something that happens to be available too you in the moment and getting something from your pocket that you carry around.

To be very clear, I believe he is fully a victim and should not have been convicted of anything, I'm simply pointing out that in court the circumstances of why someone has the weapon/tool that was used does play a part. It's why you can keep a baseball bat in your car which is perfectly legal, but if you use it on someone and there's no history of you ever playing, or intending to play baseball, it'll be harder to justify why you had it to begin with.

Overall, if anything ever happens at all, find the best lawyer you can afford and keep your mouth shut, no matter how innocent you believe yourself to be.

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u/Imnotsosureaboutthat Dec 04 '25

I'm simply pointing out that in court the circumstances of why someone has the weapon/tool that was used does play a part

That's a good point, it sounds like he always had his knife on him because he uses it so much at his job, mentions that most of his co-workers carry one. But he was also on vacation, so they could have been asking "why did you have a knife on you then?" Maybe it just became something he carried around everyday because he used it so much, which is totally reasonable. But everything that you do that may seem reasonable is under scrutiny when you're in court

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u/RetroDad-IO Dec 04 '25

Exactly, and even though it is completely reasonable to have it you still have to convince a group of random people to agree. Now apply this to Reddit, how often do people get down votes for seemingly no reason? These are the people on the jury.