Halo Killer Sentenced to Life

[paragon1]

This is just some retarded attempt to shift the blame on videogames. He must have been mentally disturbed to have killed his parents over something like this.
The way i see it, its just an attempt to shift the blame from inadequate gun control laws. The americans can't lose their guns now can they. Lets blame all the violence on games instead of giving out guns like candy.

Sirs, have you been to America? Are you aware of the gun control laws in each state (they vary)?
1. Guns are not the least bit cheap. Even a .22 rifle is going to cost more than than the average console (except maybe a PS3). So I doubt anyone is "handing out guns like candy".
2.To be able to buy a gun, you have to clear background checks, and to sell guns you have to be licensed. So most dangerous people have to get their weapons through some very illegal means.
3. Several states (New York, California, and Florida among them) require you to obtain a permit that can require as long as 3 months to obtain, and many cities have a similar process.
4. The U.S. is not an island. It has two very large coast lines as well as very large borders with Mexico and Canada (the largest unguarded border in the world as a matter of fact, thanks for not trying to invade Canadians, you've saved us a SHITLOAD of time and money). So even if we were to ban guns, they wouldn't just go away, and lawful citizens would lose the ability to protect themselves.
5. The U.S. constitution, which is the highest law in the land. This contains the 2nd Amendment, which states "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

So, yeah, do some research before you spout rhetoric about something you know absolutely nothing about.

 

[Booze Zombie]

Just to reiterrate my point: I thought it was established that the boy could not access the game, which is why he shot his parents?

How did the game influence him if he didn't play it and that was his entire reason for shooting his parents?!
A selfish brat shot his prudish parents and people blame it on a game, not him?

 

[experiment0789]

Did the kid drink orange juice?

Yes.

And he killed his parents?

Yes.

HOLY FUCK ORANGE JUICE CAUSED HIM TO KILL HIS PARENTS!!!!

Grow up.


Come on people.

Just what this guy said.

It's like .... Blaming my pencil for a spelling error on my home work,are my textbook for a bad grade on a test. As much as this might be nice, since no one likes to be wrong, it doesn't work like that.
I could not spell not my pencil,I got the bad grade because I didn't study enough not my textbook, and he killed his parents not the game!
All though I'm not sure why he was not allowed to play Halo3, if some one could figure out for me,and send me a message I would appreciate it.

 

[experiment0789]

Just to reiterrate my point: I thought it was established that the boy could not access the game, which is why he shot his parents?

How did the game influence him if he didn't play it and that was his entire reason for shooting his parents?!
A selfish brat shot his prudish parents and people blame it on a game, not him?

But why was the lockbox unlocked, and the kid have the experience with a gun to load it with ammo and fire it?

I was just about to say those things...... O well,at least some out there is thinking

 

[Dooly95]

The human race is full of these people. It doesn't matter who you respect and who respects you back: if there is more than one person, one person will disagree with the other one on one point or another, and so long as there is a way to kill someone, mankind will use it. Whether it's guns, knives, fire, poison, bare hands, if it exists, humans use it. Taking an optimistic stance on this issue is folly because it's absolutely ridiculous. You can't possibly expect everyone in the entire world to get along while more than one person roams this earth.

Okay, in that case, order some nukes for me, because hey, I don't know if the US, China, Russia, or any other country that owns one might attack me for no apparent reason. Gotta have protection, yeah?

Oh wait, hang on, that's ridiculous. So is taking a gun out in an argument. Not getting along is something we have to live with; living in the fear that disagreement will lead to death is something you don't.

snip

Who's going to kill me!? So far we have the unlikely event that a stranger will do it. Even then I'm pretty sure you can talk your way out of those situations. Remember that thing? Talking? Apparently my words can be bullets.

"Ohh, you're gonna git it when dem big angry men come froo with dem guns and whatnot."

Please. Have more respect for the human race.

...

I'd rather live in my optimisstic world where people are, you know, real and care about things, rather then be so paranoid and jaded as to think people are going to jump you every alley you walk past. I've walked down dark alleys alone at night passed groups of people, guess what? My bum is yet unraped and my chest has yet to catch a bullet.

Add one to the tally.


Also, somewhere in this thread, there was something about the lockbox being locked, the kid just found the key somewhere.

 

[Klagermeister]

but shifted the blame onto his youth and "videogame addiction," which they said diminished his responsibility for the crime. The judge in the case rejected the claim as a valid defense

Well, thank freaking God. What someone does as a hobby shouldn't be to blame for a killing.

 

[Jezzy54]

He obviously killed his parents because he's a psycho. I'd also like to mention that while the gun didn't make him want to do it either, it is what made it possible. People need to think about a killer's access to lethal weapons more than their pastimes.

Still, the judge has some sense at least. I just thank God that Jack Thompson's lost every kind of credibility.

 

[Kajt]

shot them with a 9 mm handgun his father kept in an unlocked lock box

What's up with Americans and keeping loaded guns in unlocked containers?

 

[Ninja_daemon117]

Guys while I don't blame video games, it was because of a game that he killed his mother/shot his father. While i don't agree with what he did (or all of what the judge said), he did without a doubt kill his parents over a video game.

Just to say that video games are the reason he killed his parents is wrong, sure he did because of them taking the game off him, but who is to say he wouldn't do the same thing if his parents took his (insert something small and meaningless here) off him?

 

[rangerchandller]

Guesse you dont my brother was on drugs and attempted to stab me with a knife and we still hang out on weekends

 

[Pyro Paul]

shot them with a 9 mm handgun his father kept in an unlocked lock box

What's up with Americans and keeping loaded guns in unlocked containers?

it's darwinism at its best.

 

[jozaud]

i think everyone here is missing the point... the point isn't that Halo caused him to be a violent person, its that because his parents didn't want him to play Halo for fear that it would make him a violent person, he became a violent person (IRONY!). the real moral of this story is that NOT playing video games like halo is bad for a child's mental health and causes them to go crazy and try to murder their parents.

also, Halo? VIOLENT??? are people on CRACK?? Halo isn't violent AT ALL!! OMG ITS GOT BLOOD IT IS CLEARLY EVIL ETC. ETC.!!! nooooooooooo
if the game were manhunt, or left 4 dead, or madworld etc, then the arguement that violent games are bad is legitimate, but NOT if the game is halo.

in germany or some such place i forget, they have a law saying that no game can include murdering other humans, unless they are zombies. also, the blood can not be red.

 

[Flying Pilgrim]

I find it odd that his father requested leniency despite being shot by him. Just doesn't make sense to me.

Its still his son.

Well have fun playing in jail. Poor kid, i hope they gave him the psychological treatment he needed instead of just locking him up.

Halo Killer Sentenced to Life

Daniel Petric, the teenager who killed his mother and wounded his father after they refused to let him play Halo 3 [http://www.halo3.com], has been sentenced to life in prison.

Petric purchased a copy of Halo 3 and tried to sneak it into his house despite being told by his parents that he wasn't allowed to own or play the game. They caught him and took the game away; in response, Petric shot them [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/88151] with a 9 mm handgun his father kept in an unlocked lock box, killing his mother and severely wounding his father, and then tried to pin the murder on his father.

Petric's attorneys admitted their client had pulled the trigger but shifted the blame onto his youth and "videogame addiction," which they said diminished his responsibility for the crime. The judge in the case rejected the claim as a valid defense when he found Petric guilty [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/88598-Teenager-Who-Killed-Parents-Over-Halo-3-Found-Guilty] of aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder and despite a request for leniency from the teen's father sentenced him today to life in prison for the attack, with eligibility for parole in 23 years.

Interestingly, the judge did express serious reservations [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/88653-Videogames-Made-Halo-3-Killer-Do-It-After-All] about the impact of videogames on the mental well-being of kids in January when he announced the guilty verdict and said he believed they were in large part responsible for turning Petric into a killer. "It's my firm belief that after a while the same physiological responses occur that occur in the ingestion of some drugs. And I believe that an addiction to these games can do the same thing," he said. "And 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."

The judge also implied at the time that he didn't necessarily consider the guilty verdict the end of the matter. "I believe there is hope here," he continued. "I believe that it will start here and at some point, when all is known about Daniel and what occurred here, we will be able to achieve a greater sense of justice."

Source: GamePolitics [http://www.cleveland.com/crime/index.ssf/2009/06/lorain_county_teen_who_killed.html]


Permalink

A game is not worth killing for.

 

[The Great JT]

This kid likes to play space shooters and his parents said no so he killed him? Okay, here's his punishment: Shoot him into space without a space suit and let his head explode from the vacuum of space.

 

[Lexodus]

The way i see it, its just an attempt to shift the blame from inadequate gun control laws. The americans can't lose their guns now can they. Lets blame all the violence on games instead of giving out guns like candy.

This could have been easily avoided if the box the gun was in was locked.

This could have been avoided if the guy had no gun. What, was he scared the king of england was going to come and start pushing him around?

Keep guns in the hands of the police and armed forces not millions of retarded americans too stupid to even lock up a gun.

No gun control+retarded parents=videogames are evil and must be banned

We have a queen, 'England' is capitalised, and the last two sentences mirror my sentiments exactly.

 

[Hamster at Dawn]

So he shot them because he wasn't playing the game?
Jack Thomson can put that in his pipe and smoke it.

 

[pyros550]

But why was the lockbox unlocked, and the kid have the experience with a gun to load it with ammo and fire it?

He obviously learned from his short time playing Halo 3.

But not enough time to learn how to dual wield

 

[Lexodus]

Did the kid drink orange juice?

Yes.

And he killed his parents?

Yes.

HOLY FUCK ORANGE JUICE CAUSED HIM TO KILL HIS PARENTS!!!!

Grow up.


Come on people.

I hope they don't put you on the team when it comes time to debate this in public. Your analogy is completely irrelevant and does nothing to shed light on the situation. It's not like they randomly targeted video games simply because he happened to play them. The murder was directly related to a disagreement over a video game and this kid's refusal to accept his parents' authority.

If he was getting hammered on screwdrivers every day and they took away his orange juice because they knew he'd never drink vodka straight and then he killed them to get his orange juice back don't you think people would be scrutinizing teenage alcohol consumption and the affects it has on proper judgement?

No, they'd be after games again. They're ALWAYS after games

 

[Lexodus]

snip

Straying now from the topic. Aside from the mentally ill, if there were no weapons that points and shoots, I'm finding it hard for people to come and actually kill. Guns have distance. You don't need to see the pain you're causing to the defender.

Unless you are mentally ill, I see no person enjoying that experience. A contorted expression for their own need. No sir, I believe that you see life in a horribly depressing view.

Perhaps I'm seeing it in a different, maybe even in a foolish light.

Different light. You don't have to mentally unstable, though it helps: People get shot every day, in such things as robberies. If you wish to defend yourself at all, a knife won't help against a gun, and are you really sure you'll not want to shoot the man pointing the pistol at you to save your own life and perhaps that of others?

If you have a good arm you can try and no-scope him.