The Chokehold at the Party

A house party in Iqaluit in May 2017. One guest became very drunk, had also taken cocaine, and behaved aggressively toward the host. His own friend asked him repeatedly to hand over his truck keys and to leave. He refused both, and the two ended up in a scuffle in which the guest pushed his friend against a wall. The Accused had been asleep in a spare bedroom. He was woken and asked to help. He was 38, six feet tall and 210 pounds; the guest was 23, five foot eight and 304 pounds. They had no history with each other. The Accused came out, believed he saw the guest make a fist, and tried to pull him to the ground from behind. The guest elbowed him in the head. The Accused then put him in a chokehold and the two fell to the floor. Four people shouted at him to stop. One of them saw the guest's face turning blue and pulled the two apart. The whole thing was over quickly, and everyone present was surprised when the guest did not recover. CPR failed and he died. His hyoid bone was fractured; the pathologists disagreed on whether his enlarged heart and the alcohol and cocaine had contributed. The Accused was tried by a judge alone for second degree murder, with manslaughter as the included offence. He said he was defending himself and the others in the house.