Suit blames video game for N.M. slayings

[RO56]

Liberalism at its finest, folks ... :rolleyes:

===

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Family members of three people slain by a 14-year-old on newsman Sam Donaldson's New Mexico ranch sued the makers of the video game "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City" on Monday, claiming the crimes would not have occurred had the teenager never played the violent game.

The $600 million lawsuit names several companies and Cody Posey, who it alleges played the game "obsessively" for several months before he shot his father, stepmother and stepsister in July 2004. Posey, now 16, was sentenced earlier this year to state custody until he is 21.

The games and others in the "Grand Theft Auto" series depict police killings and other acts of violence. The lawsuit calls various editions of the game "virtual reality murder simulators."

"But for Posey's use of these products ... he would not have killed," the lawsuit claims.

The game trained him "how to point and shoot a gun in a fashion making him an extraordinarily effective killer without teaching him any of the constraints or responsibilities needed to inhibit such a killing capacity," according to the suit.

According to the suit, plaintiffs' lawyer Jack Thompson was told by a sheriff's deputy that the game and a Sony PlayStation 2 were found at the ranch.

Posey had told police he shot his family after his father, the ranch foreman, slapped him for not cleaning horse stalls fast enough. Prosecutors described Posey as a ruthless killer, but his lawyers claimed his father had abused him for years.

The plaintiffs accuse the corporate defendants — Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news)oration of America, Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. and its subsidiary, Rockstar Games — of a "civil conspiracy," saying they should have foreseen their entertainment "would spawn such copycat violence."

"We believe the suit is without merit and we will strongly defend the company," Take-Two spokesman Jim Ankner said.

The Associated Press left a message Monday at Sony's New York headquarters seeking comment.

The lawsuit was filed by Verlin Posey of Texline, Texas, representing the estate of the teen's father, Delbert Posey; and Pat and Leona Basham of Elephant Butte, parents of Tryone Posey and grandparents of Marilea Schmid.

Thompson also is the attorney in a $600 million Alabama lawsuit against Rockstar, Take-Two and Sony that blames "Grand Theft Auto" for the 2003 murders of two police officers and a dispatcher at a rural police department. Devin Moore, now 20, was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in that case.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060925/...ideo_game_suit

[RO56]

We've owned this game for years. Nobody in my family has gone out and murdered anybody because of it.

[Norm357]

We've owned this game for years. Nobody in my family has gone out and murdered anybody because of it.

Try harder. Jeez.:D

[Rabbit23]

claiming the crimes would not have occurred had the teenager never played the violent game.

Complete bullsh*t, out of the millions of copies sold, this is the one kid it effected negatively. Such a cop out statement. Let's go find the deep pockets we could put our hands in.

"how to point and shoot a gun in a fashion making him an extraordinarily effective killer without teaching him any of the constraints or responsibilities needed to inhibit such a killing capacity,"

If a 14 year old kid doesn't know how a gun works in this day and age he should be riding the short bus to school.

lawyers claimed his father had abused him for years.

ding ding ding, we have a winner...... could this be the reason he was a wacko?

[RO56]

Try harder. Jeez.:D

ROTF! Word. :cool:

[chewy]

What is it with our society where everyone looks for someone or something to blame instead of just accepting responsibility? Video games and rap music don't cause people to do crap. It's not REAL! If your kid can't tell the difference between reality and games then you should put them in a bag full of rocks and pitch it off a pier... then go get sterilized because obviously there is some serious defective genes in the family!!!! I get sooooo sick and tired of parents and others blaming everything under the sun because their kid flipped out! If you can't tell any change in your children before they end up on a shooting spree then YOUR NOT SPENDING ENOUGH TIME AND ATTENTION WITH THEM!!! And it's YOUR friggin fault for not being there when they needed you. Maybe instead of being their "best friend" or worrying that poor jimmy will be upset if you "violate his privacy" by looking in his room, you should focus on being a friggin parent! If you're kid seems to be acting weird or unusual then go search his crap and find out what's going on. They are minors and under your care therefore they HAVE NO PRIVACY! We all had times when we got ticked at our parents or said we hated them because they wouldn't let us dress in all black like some freak and bring our AK-47's to school or go to an all night binge drinking festival but we grew older, got over it, and eventually came to realize they WERE doing what's best for us after all!


Anyway, that's how I feel.

[mxwelch]

I wonder... did the murderer also like crashing expensive sports cars and running over pedestrians?:rolleyes:

[Movementarian]

I watched Tom and Jerry as a kid. Anyone want to volunteer to be whacked over the head with a mallet so I can sue MGM for giving me the idea? I'll split the cash 50-50!

What a country we have, where a person is not responsible for thier own actions.

[CTUCop]

I was playing one of those games once and it drove me to violence.

I couldn't get past level one..... so I took the game cartridge outside.... and shot it. Maybe my son could sue Nintendo for the loss of the game. :D

[ngcsubutterbar]

See, 'this' is the kind of thing we need tort reform on, not the damn 10s of thousands of people that die every year and the hundreds of thousands more that are harmed by iatrogenic illnesses.

[pmfc]

*sigh*

More greed and failure to take responsibility for one's actions.

Next thing you know people who get speeding tickets will try to blame the automakers for selling fast cars :rolleyes:

[Coastie 585]

Ok...

So if it is the games fault, then maybe a 14 year old shouldn't be playing it. Thats not Rockstar's fault, its the parents.

Ive played the game for as long as I can remember, and im not some psycho slayer.

[Penguin]

We've owned this game for years. Nobody in my family has gone out and murdered anybody because of it.

Same here. These f*ck ups need to stop blaming sh*t on GTA games. Especially Vice City- that's the best damn one! I can't tell you how many hours I wasted...

[CPDlife4ME]

I know for a fact GTA is dangerous, just look at this!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6sXYdTXQCU














:D

[DB839282]

I agree and disagree.

First, I disagree that this game made this kid kill people. You should know the difference between reality and fiction. If this kid was going to kill, it was already in his head before he played. Plus, this kid should have never been playing this game since it was rated M and that falls completely on the parents.

But I do agree that video games desensitize people and when someone gets a gun, it makes it that much easier to pull the trigger.

I used to never buy into this, but I watched a program on the discovery channel about humans in war.

Basiclly, humans have this little instinct that says dont kill other humans. In the civil war when the two sides were lined up ready to shoot one another, they would actually aim high-above the heads of the other side. When they fired, it was stray bullets hitting targets.

In WWI (my numbers are off) some study showed that in battle, only 30% or some low number were actually firing their weapons at the enemy. The same held true for WWII.

How did they fix that? They went from a normal circle target for shooting practice and replaced it with the human sillouete you see today. So now when an enemy pops up, your training kicks in and you shoot.

Same holds true for video games. The target comes, you shoot.

But you still have to actually consciously want to kill, which a video game does not make you do.