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[Infernal Mass]

Hasn't this tired excuse been used enough ? If nothing else, be creative.

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Monday, May 13, 2002
US youth says video games led him to shoot friend
DALLAS (Reuters) - Jury selection started Monday in the trial of a 13-year-old Dallas-area youth charged with shooting his friend twice in a deadly attack the suspect's lawyer said was prompted by a day-long binge on violent video games.

The boy's attorney is arguing the shooting occurred when his client cut school with his friend to spend a day playing video games. The suspect mimicked the actions of violent games the pair had been playing, and used his mother's gun to shoot his friend to death as he acted out the video game action, he said.

Police say the suspect knew the difference between video games and reality and have joined law enforcement authorities in charging the boy with juvenile murder. If convicted, he could face up to 40 years in jail.

The victim, 13-year-old Jonathan Hogan, was shot in the head and chest on March 5. The gun was placed next to the victim's skin for one of the shots, police said.

Police seized 11 video games from the home of the suspect but did not list the titles in initial documents submitted to a Dallas juvenile court, court sources said.

The two teenagers from DeSoto, about 10 miles (15 km) south of Dallas, were alone in the house at the time of the shooting. Opening arguments in the case are expected to start Tuesday or Wednesday. Hogan's family has filed a civil suit against the suspect's mother in a separate legal action, accusing her of negligence for allegedly leaving a loaded weapon in a place where it was accessible to children.

The name of the suspect has been withheld because of his age.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is in the process of preparing a report on both media violence and the ability of minors to access such content.

A report on the same subject last December praised the video game business for its self-imposed system of game ratings and its compliance efforts but said more could be done to strengthen controls at the retail level.

[happy_doughnut]

Oh man...not this again. How many times has it been now? Excuses such as this one are so dumb. It's just ludicrous. People are responsible for their own actions. It is true that sometimes bad influences may be pushing them towards the wrong direction but in the end, it only us who really make the decision.
These things really make me mad . It's just like that thing with Pokemon, it's utter nonsense and even more dumb are the people who actually believe this and take is as being true.
In my opinion, that guy had problems. Now, he has gotten himself into a problem too hard for him to handle and is just looking for an excuse to set him free.

[IcyMourdor]

This crap is Bull****!

1. Skipping school to play video games

This shouldn't have happened at all. I like video games and all, but there is no reason to be skipping school just play them with friends.

2. The gun

Why is there a loaded gun in reach of children? There are gun locks and many other items to prevent it from being used. Hell, she could have put it in a safe. I think the civil case about neglagence(sp?) will be won.

3. Blaming games for the reason

This part really gets me. GAMES AREN'T REAL LIFE!!!!!!

I don't care what anyone thinks, this is crap. Imatating characters from games is just insane.

"OOH! I'm gonna go steal a sword and use Omnislash on my best friend because Cloud did it."

For all I care, the kid can rot in jail. He killed someone. His own friend. This is way too unforgivable and the jury in no way will let this kid go.

[Infernal Mass]

Absolutely, I tend to agree. Video games probably don't cause an otherwise well-adjusted person to engage in acts of violence. However, they may, at the margins, act as a catalyst for those who are already mentally troubled( someone susceptible to violent imagery in any medium.)
That being said, a free society cannot lower all forms of entertainment to a " mentally disturbed person " standard. Much would be lost and little would be gained.

[IcyMourdor]

Thing is though, publishers will now be a target of many angry parents. There will be a huge controversy about the ESRB not doing their jobs about the ratings. Maybe nothing will happen, which I hope. The mother should have known something about this mental illness. If not, than the kid commited 2nd degree murder at the minimum. I highly doubt that it'll go to manslaughter.

[Mana]

Saying it's because of videogames is really stupid. Not all guys that play videogames shoot their friends... and there are also othe influences in life, like movies, cartoons, books and so on, not only videogames.
If the person who acts in this way is not a balanced person doesn't really matters: he will do something silly and unpredictable like it happened in this case, videogames or not.

[Pu the Owl]

Originally posted by Mourdor

2. The gun

Why is there a loaded gun in reach of children? There are gun locks and many other items to prevent it from being used. Hell, she could have put it in a safe. I think the civil case about neglagence(sp?) will be won.

Exactly. The evil influence here is not because of videogames, but because of parents that are leaving really dangerous weapons in reach of their son, like if these weapons were toys. They still keep on saying it's because of videogames, but in a family where parents are aware of dangers weapons can cause, these things wouldn't happen.

[Infernal Mass]

If i were a parent, I wouldn't buy games for children who showed signs of being seriously disturbed. What I meant to say was that games probably don't cause any normal person to engage in violence. Those who are " set off " are likely those who were mentally unsound in the first instance, ready to go off with the slightest nudge, be it from a lurid book, television program or video game.

[Pu the Owl]

You can forbid videogames, but what about all the rest? If the child is disturbed, he'll find other influences and with all the violence around you won't be able to stop him.
In cases like this one the child needs a cure or constant attention, but very often perents don't even notice there are troubles involving their children...

[merylsilverburg]

I agree with all of you, so I don't need to bore you guys with my thoughts. The kid should go to jail and burn in hell because of his stupidity and acting out a scene from a video game. Whatever. And the parent needs to get slapped in the face for allowing a gun to be in the house without a lock of any sort. How retarded is that? No surprise the kid turned out that way then...

[IcyMourdor]

Here's a question. Where is the father in all of this?

Divorce, deceased? No father in the home can be hard for any kid. That may have been a logical reason for his disturbance.

[Pu the Owl]

Many kids are raised without a father in the house, and most of the time are good kids... Depends on the situation. Maybe that family wasn't all that normal for several reasons we don't know
Maybe it's just the boy that was a little disturbed and simply parents or relatives didn't care very much because he looked perfectly normal.

[Sword 4 Hire]

I agree with all of you...if somebody is that stupid than they shouldn't even be playing such games. I mean the parents should be responsible for checking the rating on the cover and realizing that "M" means mature, and therefor not allowing they're screwed up in the head children to be playing those games.

[Black Heart]

Yeah the parents are responsible, they should've known their kid had troubles. But some parents don't really know who their kids are. Because they think it's all ok, their kids are not different from the others and they think some habits are just a kids' way of expressing themselves.