Murder Defence: Video Game Violence

[Nightshade]

Again, video games and not the individual comitting the acts of violence are blamed.

Ohio Teen Gets 23 Years in Prison for Killing Mother Over Video Game

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

ELYRIA, Ohio — A northeast Ohio teen who shot and killed his mother and wounded his minister father was sentenced Tuesday to 23 years in prison for crimes rooted in his obsession with video games with violent themes.

Daniel Petric, 17, who could have gotten life without parole, shook his head slightly, sniffled and held back tears but sat down without saying a word when given the chance by Lorain County Common Pleas Judge James Burge.

Petric's eyes were red from crying when his father, Mark Petric, asked the judge to be lenient and said his son regrets killing his mother and reminds his father often that he is glad his father survived.

\"He's told me that many times,\" said Mark Petric. As for his mother, Daniel Petric's frequent comment is \"Dad, I miss mom. I miss mom,\" the father said.

\"He still does not understand why he did something so terrible,\" Mark Petric told the judge.

The prosecution disputed the contention that Petric had shown remorse for the crimes and asked for the maximum sentence.

Besides his father, Petric's sister, grandfather and other family members attended the hearing in Elyria, about 20 miles southeast of Cleveland. Some wiped away tears.

Petric was convicted of shooting his parents in October 2007 after they took the game \"Halo 3\" away from him. The judge had said the teen was so obsessed over a video game that he may have believed that, like the characters in the game, death wasn't real.

The defense claimed his age and addiction to the game made him less responsible.

In the video game \"Halo 3,\" players shoot alien monsters that have taken over the Earth.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,526725,00.html

[Will Robinson]

I don't know, they gave the guy 23 years, it seems to me he is getting blamed although he's probably eligible for parole in 5 .
I understand you're pointing out the attempt by the lawyer to play to the victim status blaming the game but your title should read:
'court blames kid-kids lawyer tries to blame game-jury says hell no'.

[Tunnelcat]

This blame game has been going on for as long as I can remember. Once upon a time it was pool halls, then comic books, then music lyrics and now video games. It's getting to be a tired, overused canard to place blame on someone else's bad behavior.

[Gooberman]

With a capital T, that rhymes with P, that stands for...

[Insurrectionist]

With a capital T, that rhymes with P, that stands for...

That stands for pool.
We've surely got trouble!
Right here in River City,
Right here!

[Foil]

Interesting.

I remember blame being put on lyrics and comic books, but I'm apparently too young to remember pool halls being vilified that way. How long ago would that have been?

[TechPro]

River City, the place where the musical \"The Music Man\" takes place at.

[Foil]

Ah, of course. Silly me.

[woodchip]

This blame game has been going on for as long as I can remember. Once upon a time it was pool halls, then comic books, then music lyrics and now video games. It's getting to be a tired, overused canard to place blame on someone else's bad behavior.

And I can remember Rock n Roll being blamed for girls getting pregnant

[Tunnelcat]

Interesting.

I remember blame being put on lyrics and comic books, but I'm apparently too young to remember pool halls being vilified that way. How long ago would that have been?

You obviously haven't seen all the post-WWII movies that always showed juvenile gangs haunting around pool halls, planning their next rumble or criminal job. For example, there was 'City Across the River' in 1949 and 'Juvenile Jungle' in 1958. Most of the movies I remember seeing that dealt with gangs and pool halls in were from the 1950's. Pool halls were a common hang-out place for underage kids with nothing to do but get in trouble, hence the stigma.

In fact, pool halls were even specified in the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act in 1974.

[Dakatsu]

As far as I'm concerned, the kid should be sent to life without parole simply because it was over Halo 3. Any other game would merit his current sentence, but Halo 3?.

Of course, if he killed someone to play Descent, he would get a $5,000 bonus

[Foil]

You obviously haven't seen all the post-WWII movies that always showed juvenile gangs haunting around pool halls, planning their next rumble or criminal job...

Actually, I've seen a number of films around that era (I grew up watching older films with my family). I certainly remember at least a couple where pool halls were the setting for the 'gangs', but I never really saw that connection before.