Court gives go-ahead to GTA murder lawsuit

[wraggster]

Source Gamesindustry

Alabama's Supreme Court has given the go-ahead to the lawsuit filed against Sony, Take-Two and US retailers by relatives of police officers murdered by a Grand Theft Auto fan.

A trial judge refused to dismiss the suit, and the defendants have been given no leave to appeal the decision. As a result, the trial could commence later this year or some time in early 2007.

However, the defendants do have the option to launch a challenge over whether the Alabama courts have the power to try the case - which could mean further delays.

The lawsuit was filed by the families of two police officers and a dispatcher who were murdered by 18 year old Devin Moore in June 2003. Moore pled not guilty by reason of mental defect, but was convicted of the crimes and sentenced to death. The plaintiffs claim that Moore trained to become a killer by playing Grand Theft Auto.

Their case was initially presented by anti-videogames campaigner and lawyer Jack Thompson - but he withdrew from the case last November following accusations that he had violated legal ethics.

[DraconumPB]

stupid, stupid people. a very sad story, but sadder is that people are starting to become able to blame entertainment as a corrupting media.. leave it Orrin Hatch and freinds to blame everybody except the people actually committing the crimes and/or their parents, depending on age.

I think that if GTA had any sort of detrimental effect on the killer, he MUST have had a mental defect. because, most normal people can handle that sort of thing...

[felonyr301]

well if a kid uhmm excuse me i mean adult cause you have to be 17 and up to play this game doesnt know the difference between game and real then he really has a mental defect and was just trying to accuse something else besides himself to maybe get a less worse sentence like any lil kid would blame something else for their actions and these parents oh my god thats another topic for another day (stop complaining dumb adults the game says its for 17 and up)

[felonyr301]

its funny that this society trys to ban any sex related things but violence is A ok to some when i rather have my kid know about the sex then violence because duh violence hurts others in massive effect than sex in a general view i mean.

[shenske37]

i think it is absolutely insane for people to continually point the finger at gta. i'm tired of the constants slander. people know the difference between real life and a videogame.

heres an extreme similarity:

1
gta you kill people(not the only thing but still)
murderers obviuosly kill people
gta nust have trained him to kill people. there is no chance that that his background could have affected his motive to kill.

2
pacman eats dots
cannibles eat people
what if a cannible eats someone and police find a copy of pacman in his appartment. Oh no pacman must have trained him to eat people.

as extreme as that may be its basically the same situation only a childish comparison (so what).

its very easy for people to point the finger at violent videogames its a giant target to turn to. guess what i love to play gta and i don't act violently and i don't kill people, it didn't train me to do anything but get better at playing the game.

by the way, pacman didn't influence my either

[rock_light]

Sounds very typical to me. Maybe if the violence wasn't so rampant in the world we wouldn't even HAVE games like GTA. The world is affecting video games not the other way around.

Not to say that playing GTA did not in fact affect the boy's choice to kill. That may be true, but you are going to have to blame a hell of a lot more people than are just in the video game industry.

Who's fault was it that guns were accessible to a 18 year old?!?

-Blame rockstar. Its gotta be them

What made this kid want to play GTA in the 1st place?

-Gotta be all the GTA ads all over the place! Cartoon pictures of slum folk and palm trees always makes me wanna $#@!, shoot n' steal! Don't you?

What made him ssSSoOO mad at the officer in the 1st place?

-Maybe it's that damn chopper hovering over his Sentinal and chippin his new spray job? Those things they drop in the road to damage yer tires?

Gee sounds like a good reason to get off the couch go grab some shells and await a fresh victim to me.

OBVIOUSLY it must be GTA I'm so glad I realized this before I let my nephew touch my PSP. Cuz you never know what a 3 1/2 year old will be capable of after playing a few hours of GTA:LCS.

Sounds like some typical greeedy folk to me. No matter what happens in america you always hear of somebody getting sued. Funniest true story about that is the guy who rode his new RV off the road while making coffee with cruise control.

"Whadda ya mean cruise control doesnt drive it for you!? I couldda been KILLED!"

[sroon]

I got my Gta from the SONY STORE and im 5 foot 2 and 16 years old.
its kinda odd isnt tit.

[felonyr301]

ill be more impressed that if they sue the money doesnt go to these people who are suing and just put that money somewhere else like donation you know and if that ever happens these people will go crazy like wheres the money and then they show their true faces greedy *******s

[pinkpanther]

this is exactly why kids/adults with mental disorders should not be given these games. watch over your kids people!!

[NeoXCS]

America is sue happy, thats just how it is. Too much greed. It's quite insane to sue someone because the person played a game and then kills someone. The vast majority of games have violence to some degree. Just because gta shows a realistic senario and someone plays it doesnt mean its to blame for their actions. I think things are getting way outta hand blamming games. I mean movies are more real and depict much worse, and yet noone really blames them. Also how could you train on gta, seriously? "Press the circle button to fire, where the hell is that???" ~holding a gun~ Eh, thats my two cents.