Teen Kills Mom and injures dad over HALO 3

[bbwtrench]

ELYRIA, Ohio (Jan. 13) - Although a teenager's obsession with a violent video game may have warped his sense of reality, the boy is guilty of murdering his mother and wounding his father after they took "Halo 3" away from him, a judge ruled Monday.
"I firmly believe that Daniel Petric had no idea at the time he hatched this plot that if he killed his parents they would be dead forever," Lorain County Common Pleas Judge James Burge said.

Rejecting an insanity defense, a judge in Elyria, Ohio, ruled Monday that a 17-year-old was guilty of fatally shooting his mother and wounding his father after they took away his "Halo 3" video game. Daniel Petric, here in 2007, faces the possibility of being sentenced to life without parole.

Nonetheless, Burge rejected the defense attorneys' argument that Petric, 17, was not guilty by reason of insanity.

The defense didn't contest that Petric shot his parents in October 2007 after they took the game away from him, but insisted that the teen's youth and addiction made him less responsible.

Petric may have been addicted, but the evidence also showed he planned the crime for weeks, said Burge, who found the teenager guilty of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder and other charges.

Tried as an adult, Petric faces a maximum possible penalty of life in prison without parole. The judge didn't set a sentencing date.

The teen's mother, Susan Petric, 43, died of a gunshot wound to the head. Her husband, Mark Petric, a minister at New Life Assembly of God in Wellington, also was shot in the head but survived.

After the verdict was announced, Petric turned to look at his father seated behind him in the courtroom. Mark Petric, who previously said he has forgiven his son, gave an encouraging nod.

Mark Petric and other relatives left the court without comment.

Prosecutors said Petric planned to kill his parents because he was angry that his father would not allow him to play the video game, in which players shoot alien monsters that have taken over the Earth.

On the night of the shooting, Petric used his father's key to open a lockbox and remove a 9 mm handgun and the game.

Mark Petric testified that his son came into the room and asked: "Would you guys close your eyes? I have a surprise for you." He testified that he expected a pleasant surprise. Then his head went numb from the gunshot.

Deputy prosecuting attorney Anthony Cillo argued during the trial that the teenager had planned to make it appear to be a murder-suicide by putting the gun in his father's hand.
Defense Attorney James Kersey said that when the teenager fled the grisly scene, he only took one item with him: the "Halo 3" game.

Bungie LLC, once part of Microsoft, developed the Xbox 360-exclusive Halo 3, and Microsoft owns the game's intellectual property. Microsoft declined to comment beyond a statement: "We are aware of the situation and it is a tragic case."

<a href="http://news.aol.com/article/ohio-te...e/302589?icid=100214839x1217065866x1201098906">Full Story</a>

 

[JE]

Ugh. Just gives fuel to the whole 'video games are bad' thing. Stupid fuck, hope he's put to death.

 

[NattaNerNuttaMan]

And that is the bad part...This situation is gonna be picked up and ran with....knowing damn well, it has nothing to do with the playing of the game itself...but just a crazy spoiled kid who didn't get what he wanted...so he lashed out in an extreme way. It's not the game's or the gaming cultures fault the kid is not right in the head!

 

[speeds]

Guns are good, games with guns are bad. Try to run with that story.

 

[NattaNerNuttaMan]

Guns are good, games with guns are bad. Try to run with that story.

lol...so true...but you know they'll try to....

 

[Hudge]

The thing is, I get home and I'm pissed off, so I turn on Mercenaries and blow stuff up, rather than going out onto the street to "shank" someone

 

[speeds]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/feb/12/computer-games-eu-study

Video games are good for children - EU report

Children who spend hours every day on their Playstation or Xbox video consoles may not be rotting their brains, as many parents fear. A report from the European parliament concluded yesterday that computer games are good for children and teach them essential life skills.

Contrary to fears about the violent reputation of some games, there is no firm proof that playing them has an automatic negative impact on children's behaviour, for example by causing aggression, said the report from the committee on the internal market and consumer protection.

Instead, "video games can stimulate learning of facts and skills such as strategic thinking, creativity, cooperation and innovative thinking, which are important skills in the information society."

Toine Manders, the Dutch liberal MEP who drafted the report, said: "Video games are in most cases not dangerous. We heard evidence from experts on computer games and psychologists from France, the US, Germany and the Netherlands and they told us that video games have a positive contribution to make to the education of minors."

The study called for schools across Europe to consider using games for educational purposes and urged parents to take a greater interest in them.

"Schools should pay attention to video games and inform children and parents about benefits and disadvantages that video games can have," the report said.

The findings are likely to surprise supporters of tougher regulation of computer games, some of which have been blamed for influencing violent crime among children.

Last year the mother of Stefan Pakeerah, a 14-year-old boy from Leicester who was murdered by a 17-year old wielding a knife and a claw hammer, claimed her son's killer was influenced by the computer game Manhunt in which players earn points for stealth killings.

Keith Vaz, who chairs the Commons home affairs select committee, has called for tighter controls and described Grand Theft Auto, a popular "shoot 'em up" game, as "violent and nasty".

The European parliament conceded that "violence in video games can in certain situations stimulate violent behaviour," but said there was no need for Europe-wide legislation. It called for a Europe-wide approach to prevent the sale to children of games intended for adults and urged the introduction of stricter identity checks at the point of sale and a wider application of the age-rating system that currently applies to computer games in many European countries.

Total revenues from the video gaming sector amounted to more than €7bn (£6.25bn) last year, the report said and in the UK, video games outsold music and other video products for the first time last year, according to separate research.

The growing market for online games needed to be better controlled, the MEPs said, and online games should include a red button on the screen which children or parents could click to disable the game.

Manders said the button could also be linked to the administrators of the Pan-European Game Information age rating system, so that when a game player presses it, PEGI is informed and can investigate potentially disturbing games that are available through the internet.