NHL player pleads guilty to killing a bear.

This story finally has come to a close.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 8 years ago
NHL player pleads guilty to killing a bear.

It was probably mixed emotions for Anaheim Ducks defenseman Clayton Stoner this week after his legal battle over a illegal hunting incident came to a close.

One the one hand, Stoner was forced to pay a $10,000 fine for killing the bear on what the court deemed an illegal hunt, and furthermore he was given a three year hunting ban. The CBC covered the trial and based on their report it sounds more like a case of a misunderstanding rather than malicious intent from Stoner.

From the CBC report:

Stoner, who was a member of the Minnesota Wild at the time, has never denied shooting a grizzly, but his lawyer Marvin Stern disputed the allegation that Stoner improperly obtained the hunting permits.

Stern argued that his client is a British Columbian who had to work in the U.S. for his job as an NHL defenceman. Stern also argued that because of the NHL lockout, which ran into January 2013, Stoner was probably in B.C. more than usual in the year leading up to the grizzly hunt.

On the other hand, Stoner is likely to be content putting this whole incident behind him as this case has dragged on for nearly thee years, and $6,000 of his $10,000 fine will be given to a wildlife conservation effort.

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