As reported by Gamepolitics.com and Fox 28, Daniel Petric, the teenager from Ohio convicted of killing his mother and wounding his father after being forbidden from playing Halo 3, will be sentenced today. Petric's defense was that of an insanity plea in which his youth and addiction to videogames absolved him of all responsibility for the crimes. Update: The sentencing has happened. Daniel Petric has been sentenced to life in prison with parole eligible in 23 years. This i say is ****ed up the judge say that the blame for all of this is the halo it self with to much obsession to the game its gonna cause insanity DOES VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES CAUSE INSANITY?
Apparently, there was already something wrong with him. It's not like he was an amazingly nice, normal kid untill he got Halo. I mean..really?
its **** like this that make overproctective parents. Something like this happened in canada, a 14 year old ran away and died cause his mom took away COD 4.
That was the kid who got me 50 in Doubles! Damn, too bad he can't get me one in MLG now... =( But in all seriousness, I could see why he killed his mom. She was a *****, and he obviously had some emotional problems. If you push someone over the edge, they'll do things they will regret. I don't think it was because of his restriction from Halo 3 that made him go crazy, his mom probably had done things prior to build his anger up to this point, and the murder was just the icing on the cake.
I'm going to say we should keep the discussion in this thread, because it is a more precise topic that the general "do video games cause violence?" In this case, it's "did video games cause this violence?" I say no. It's not because of Halo that he committed those crimes. Someone capable of doing such things in obviously an unstable person; anything could have pushed him over the edge. What if he had really enjoyed, lets say, surfing? If his parents had taken away his surfboard, he would have done the same thing. It annoys me that the media chooses to single out these cases involving video games to falsely prove that video games cause violence.
The ruling of the court is sensible as the kid killed someone. However, blaming it upon videogames without any evidence to support the claim is not. 50 years ago, it would have been blamed upon TV or comic books. The blame always falls upon the trends of a generation. In the end the blame should probably be spread between the parents, the kid, and society itself. We live in a time where it is ok to let your child waste away their time in front of computers and TVs instead of interacting physically (face-to-face) with others. I don't know anything about their living situation, but I wouldn't be surprised if his parents weren't always there for him. I feel sorry for the kid. He ruined his life because of his immaturity.
Well don't take something away from someone if it means alot to them. He obviously already has problems mentaly so this probably just set him off.
While the kid still shouldnt go unpunished, It wasnt the game fault completely, He was probly at a point where taking away a dessert would set him off.
Tea Bag Horribly Insensitive Joke: Do you think the kid tea bagged her after the murder? Serious Response: He belongs in jail. It could have been anything that set him off. Blaming it on Halo would be absurd, although there is something to be said for over exposure to violence growing up. Halo is like the mildest shooter out there though. It's like the Disney of 1st person shooters.
I'm sure the kid knew his mom wouldn't respawn... the lamest **** they can find to use as an excuse. As many people have said, it's stupid to blame this murder on the violence brought by Halo 3; this kid would have had to have been in a bad situation for a long time to kill the woman that gave birth to him.
its not the games fault, he already had a problem. if he never found halo, he wouldve found something else, and once him mom took that away he wouldve killed her. the game couldve been pokemon for all we know.
Blame the kid, not halo. If anything, tv and video games desensitizes people, it doesn't make them violent. If a kid goes berserk like that, it's because of something bigger than some game disk. If you kill for a video game then you would kill for other little insignificant things. The fact that this kid did this makes him insane. The games don't make kids violent damnit!
At least he's not a Christian. Then he would be thinking everyone has a respawn time of three days. *snickersnicker* I agree with you Shea. If someone becomes addicted to video games in the first place, he's already messed up. The way I see it, video games don't create the killers, video games attract the killers.
I have two theories based on just reading this topic. Abusive family. Depression. Kid used his Xbox as a getaway from his tragic life. Finally blew after she yelled at him for being on the Xbox. Kid got way too competitive on the game. Probably played it non-stop because he wanted to win everygame in a row. (This can happen. A guy murdered his girlfriend just because he got too competitive with the game after she kept kicking his butt.)
A murder is a murder. That his mom toke away his Halo 3 just before he did it might be the trigger but it sure was not the reason. Unfortunately cases like this gives the "Video games are violent remove nao!!!!" ppl more "evidence" that video games and violence a connected somehow (which they are not IMO) And that Judge obviously never played a video game in his entire life.
Maybe his life was already terrible, maybe the only time he didn't have to think about his terrible life was when he was on halo. Now the one thing that he loved was taken away. It's like having a terrible job but its just enough to support yourself with what your getting payed. Then one day they take your paycheck away.
i want to put this on a plak and hang it over my fire place. seriously if the kid should've killed anyone it should've been his lawyer and the judge. they are the biggest idiots i know.