September 18, 2007
A man who brutally murdered two police officers and a police dispatcher in 2003 will appear in court later today to appeal his conviction.Devin Moore currently sits on death row in Alabama. His attorneys will argue before the state's Court of Criminal Appeals that chilhood abuse and video games led him to commit the rampage killing inside the Fayette police station.
Moore, then 18, was being processed for driving a stolen car when he grabbed the sidearm of Fayette Officer Arnold Strickland and used it to kill Strickland, Corporal James Crump and Dispatcher Ace Mealer.
As reported by the Tuscaloosa News:
Moore, now 22, claimed the video game “Grand Theft Auto" and childhood abuse influenced his decision-making. His theory was rejected and the video game defense was disallowed during trial...
At the time he was arrested, Moore is reported to have told police, “Life is a video game. Everybody has to die sometime."
Moore’s attorney, James Standridge... argued that when Moore was in a “dissociative state" he automatically reverted to scripted behavior influenced by his repetitive video game exposure and childhood abuse.
The triple murders form the basis of Strickland vs. Sony, a wrongful death suit brought against several video game companies by Miami attorney Jack Thompson.
GamePolitics has extensive coverage of Moore's 2005 criminal trial in our archives.
Comments
The only thing that anyone can blame for their crimes is themselves....
Or pay a bribe to keep your weapons.
But seriously, though, Devin "Lionel Tate" Moore will more than likely lose his appeal.
The fact remains that either Devin Moore, James Standridge, or Jack Thompson changed Moore's story:
When Moore was arrested, it was stated he made the comment, "Everybody has got to die sometime." This was later amended in December 2004 during a motion hearing claiming the statement was, "Life’s a video game. You’ve got to die sometimes.”
http://cathodetan.blogspot.com/2005/06/what-they-arent-saying.html
In an earlier interview, Thompson's(Devin Moore) father, Kenneth Moore and Fayette County High School Principal Radford Hester told The Tuscaloosa News the teen had many discipline problems at home and school.
Kenneth Moore describes his son as someone who loved trouble, stealing
cars and dabbling in drugs.
"He was a good kid to people in town, but as soon as you get to know him
he would change for worse," Kenneth Moore said.
-------
Story from 2003 at the time of the arrest:
Kenneth Moore said he sent his son to live with the young man's mother two years ago because he couldn't control him. He said that his son would often steal his car and that last year his mother found a gun in the house belonging to him.
http://www.tremcopoliceproducts.com/fayette.htm
Note that there's zero mention of video games at all until Jacky Boy stuck his nose where it didn't belong.
Childhood abuse, or video games?
Is this really suppose to be such a difficult question?
So are we taking bets when a certain Florida lawyer chimes in on this?
Video games are the new insanity plea, nothing more, nothing less, just a scapegoat for eveyone to exploit.
"John Bruce is always bragging about his involvement. To such a point that it wouldn’t be a surprise that he, John Bruce, was actually the one who suggested the idea of video games being used as scapegoats."
He even tried getting Cody Posey to scapegoat videogames as a plea bargain. I read that Posey refused, saying that if anyone was to blame, it was he alone.
with copious amounts of tears,
Hooah!
After all the priest was exposed to religion all his life and GOD made religion so in other words would someone be willing to make a statemnt like: "god makes people rape little childen"?
Because Jack Thopmson's logic is exactly this....
Hey Jack I would love to see you sue GOD... Your arguments would be almost exactly the same, and since some churches are now using video games to show the glory of their religion your comments may just be exactly the same as before...Except you would have way way more cases on your hands so more money for you...
I would argue sueing god only a little more idiotic than sueing game companys...
Except you would finally be sent to a mental institution where you belong jack...
That's the sorriest excuse for an excuse I ever heard.
It'd sound more plausible if he said "It wasn't me, it was the one-armed man!"
The childhood abuse, plus many other emotional and personaility factors, as was true of Cho, Eric and Dylan, Gil, etc, were the primary factors of how these individuals followed their paths. "Video Games" could easily have been filled by something else, and that stimuli would have been as much to blame. "God made me do it", "Satan made me do it", "horror books made me do it", "injustice (specific or otherwise) in the world made me do it", and so on and so on. Were their abusers or their medication, or whatever to BLAME for their crimes then? No. They were to blame for the paths they followed throughout their lives, yes. But they are solely responsible for their actions in the end. They DID have choices, whether they admit them or not. Even Cody Posey had choices. As much as we can sympathize with him, he DID have choices. And he, like Moore and others who didn't die yet, are being held responsible for those choices.
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
According to Tuscaloosa News, in this letter, Moore claimed he didn't have a fair trial, partly because his "compulsive play" of GTA wasn't taken into account by the judge.
No video game has any bearing on this case. The man was a criminal who was arrested for stealing a car. He panicked and due to what seems to be a combination of lapsed concentration on behalf of the officers and desperate action on behalf of the criminal, 3 people were killed.
Childhood abuse? Sure, I'll buy that, it can have a severe impact on a person's emotional and social development. But video games? Pressing buttons to make a little imaginary man jump up and down on a screen? Please, don't make me laugh.
Video Games have no direct control on your life. They do not, and never can, tell you to do things outside of the game. Not even Metal Gear Solid 2's Colonel A.I bit convinced me to turn the Playstation 2 off, and you think us gamers will be so easily convinced by a video game of all things to go out and shoot people in real life?
You're wrong for even thinking so. Such a case presented here should have no leverage for the prosecution in court. If you say "*video game* made me do it" then guess what, you shouldn't even be held accountable for the game you played, what you did is what you should be held accountable for!
Video Games, I will say it again, are not responsible for anything you do in your life. Pinning the blame on them is only pinning the blame on yourself. You can't say "GTA made me do it" because guess what? GTA didn't tell you to do anything but kill a mob boss in the game as a side mission.
Now, a message to John Bruce Thompson, Attorney at Law:
I play a game where a lot of street racing is involved. Does that mean I'll be street racing in the near future? If so, how will a Playstation 2 controller teach me to race in real life? Please enlighten me if you can.
I'm 19 years old, and I'd like to hear your opinion on my comment, if you care to give a reply.
"Moore, now 22, claimed the video game “Grand Theft Auto" and childhood abuse influenced his decision-making. His theory was rejected and the video game defense was disallowed during trial."
So why does he think that this will suddenly be allowed?
Also someone needs to send a letter in to the Tuscaloosa news to amend the last line in the story:
"Thompson enlisted local attorneys in the civil case because he’s not licensed in Alabama."
to include "He is also set to loose his license in an upcoming hearing in Florida."
What a load of crap. That's like saying Cooking Mama made me want to become a world-class chef.
do the crime, do the time.
Who wants to bet that Mr. Thompson will completely ignore the words 'child abuse' in that article?
Thats not a bet, that a guarantee!!
And that "Life is a video game..." line, that made about as much sense as if I were to say "Life is like a box of chocolates, you'll go bald when you get old."
Actually, I bet JT will read it like this:
Moore...claimed the video game “Grand Theft Auto”...influenced his decision-making, and that Take Two Interactive repeatedly called his cell phone, telling him to "smack dem bitches up."
At the time he was arrested, Moore...told police, “Life is a video game...I'll just respawn a little bit after I die. Jack Thompson is my god."
Moore’s attorney, James Standridge… argued that when Moore was in a “dissociative state” he automatically reverted to scripted behavior influenced by his repetitive video game exposure and...abuse.
-Devin Moore was arrested in June 2003
-Moore's father sent him to live with Moore's mother "two years earlier".
-Moore's father described Moore as a person who "loved trouble, stealing cars, and dabbling in drugs". Meaning that Moore was stealing cars BEFORE GTA3 was even released.
Whatever the case, in the end, it was still Moore who decided to do what he did that's got him in this pickle. No excuses - it was his choice.
People would find whatever is at hand to get motivation. Hell, if video games never existed, those Columbine students would've planned out their operation with a pen and paper RPG, and then D&D would've probably been blamed.
why is it when you claim Helter Skelter or your dog made you kill people, you're crazy
BUT
when you claim that video games made you kill people, you're a victim?
On another note, how does James Standridge sleep at night, defending the slime of humanity?
Honestly, this is the biggest bullshit ever. I have no sympathy for you, cop killer. You have brought the walls down around yourself, and now you will reap what you have sewn.
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
Random Tower: Game News and Commentary
At least if you're diabetic you can claim the sugar surge impaired your judgment. That much is provable in court, it's almost considered the same as driving drunk it's effects are so serious.
But "teh videos gave me bad thoughts..."???
So, if he was "programmed" by the game to react, why wasn't his thumb spasming when they grabbed him? He should have been flabbergasted that the "target" button wasn't working, and been looking around furiously for a health powerup...
The video game defense will get him nowhere.
Take some personal responsibility. YOU committed the crime and YOU are going to die because of it. At least try to go with some dignity.
You expect a man who killed three police officers to have any kind of dignity?
Not really.
John Bruce is always bragging about his involvement. To such a point that it wouldn't be a surprise that he, John Bruce, was actually the one who suggested the idea of video games being used as scapegoats.
After all, he's tried numerous times, with little to no success, of influencing witnesses and investigations in other cases to try to get video games to be used as the sole blame for why a crime was committed. Look for criminal cases referred to on GP, among other locations, for John Bruce's involvment, in one fashion or another. One of his biggest failures to date, and others may disagree, was the Robida case. Really, you need to see that one on Wikipedia and the old GP blog from Livejournal to get the absolute stupidity of John Bruce's massacre chasing efforts. You'll notice, he never mentions it any more. Like many of his other failures.
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
I read somethign back whent he VT shooting occured, it basically said maybe video games did finish him off but there were plenty of other things that drove him mad, and sick enough to do what he did