#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
use feature qw/ say /;
use Data::Dumper;
use JSON;

my $data =  qq# 
{
    "items" : [
        {   "name" : "Theodor Nelson",
            "id": "_333301"
        },
        {   "name": "Morton Heilig",
            "id": "_13204"
         }
        ]
}
#;

my $obj = from_json( $data );

say ${ $obj->{'items'}->[1] }{'name'};
#   ^  ^             ^   ^   ^      ^
#   |  |             |   |   |      |
#   |  is an  arrayref   |    -----------
#   |                    |               |
#   |  first element of which is a hash  |
#   |                                    |
#   the variable is value of the 'name' key    

__END__