"Video Games Made Me Do It" Defense in Alabama Murder Trial
"Video Games Made Me Do It" Defense in Alabama Murder Trial
February 28, 2008
The lawyer for a man being tried for murder is trying to convince an Alabama jury that the defendant believed he was acting out a video game when he murdered an 80-year-old man on Halloween, 2005.As reported by the Decatur Daily, Andrew Reid Lackey, 24, does not dispute that he stabbed, shot and gouged out the eye of his victim, Charlie Newman. However, Lackey's attorney, Randy Gladden, is pointing the finger at video games. From the newspaper report:
Actions that led to a deadly confrontation between a defendant and an 80-year-old widower resembled a video game to the accused...
[Attorney] Gladden described Lackey (seen at left) as a computer geek who had immersed himself in video games and lived in "a different world than you and I."
Tapes of a 911 call made by the victim during the fatal confrontation, however, indicate that old-school greed may have been the motive. Lackey is heard to demand of the victim, "Where's the vault?" seven different times. Charlie Newman's grandson had previously told Lackey that the victim kept a large sum of money in a vault under the stairs. However, no such vault existed.
No video games were specified in the news report. However, items recovered by the police from Lackey's car (ski mask, a knife, a police scanner, night vision goggles, stun gun) suggest that the defendant put a lot of real-world thought into planning the crime.
Lackey's trial resumes today.
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Comments
Totally right. I would expect Jackie boy to chime in any minute as an expert, to get this poor soul the not guilty verdict he so deserves. The sad part is, Jack seems to be so brainwashed by himself he would see letting a murderer go free as a victory, since it would have been a blow against his enemy. From all I can tell he is well beyond the ability to think rationally and to step back from his crusade and see the big picture.
Luckily, I think most of the population isn't stupid enough to fall for it.. these defenses rarely seem to work out.
I think we already all know of a lawyer who hasd proven that you don't get your license revoked for being stupid.
"Starter pistol
Knife*
Stun gun
Orange ski mask
Roll of tape
Flashlights
Night vision goggles
Police scanner
Mallet with a white towel taped around it
Sledgehammer
Hatchet
Five screwdrivers
Two tube socks stuffed with rope
Super Glue
Batteries
Utility belt that would hold extra gun clips "
Conclusion: He was influenced by MacGyver. End of discussion.
But nothing created God so . . . NOTHING IS KILLING PEOPLE.
And pieces of paper come with nothing on them so paper is killing people.
Yet trees and people make paper, so they're killing paper.
But if God created humans and trees and nothing created God.
My God I just a new paradox sort of like the who is a murderer the chicken or the egg? And if God created the chicken and gave it egg-laying powers. . .
Wait a minute humans were the victims that means no humans no murder
Humans are killing themselves!!! (Without Dr. Kevorkian)
But if God creates humans . . .
Wait a minute free will makes us kill humans, so if we had no free will.
Ah the fuck with it let's just imprison the guy.
None of us live in the same world as any of the rest of us. I live in a world of numbers and lines of code. That doesn't mean that I can hurt another person and claim that I didn't realize they were alive. It's quite simple, he heard this guy had money, he prepared himself, he broke in and hurt this man while asking where the money was, then he killed him.
In my opinion, anyone that would hurt osmeone else to take their stuff is already broken. He should be held to the same standards as everyone else. He knew what he was doing, he knew it was wrong, and it was clearly premeditated and for the purpose of gain.
Fry 'im.
Not when passing said football or helping out injured comrades involves pressing a sequence of buttons, no. Just as playing Monster Hunter wouldn't help me fight off giant monsters and playing Pokemon won't make me in to some kind of wonderous animal breeder. And as for our current murderer being 24 excludes him from the world of Santa Clause and the Boogyman.
RELIGION MADE DO IT!!
MUSIC MADE ME DO IT!!!
FILMS MADE ME DO IT!!!
These claims have failed 9 times out of ten, Tv too failed and now the the blame game levels up to games...can we say fail too?
No clue how i mistyped that
And for what? so they can get videogames banned? Remove the greatest artistic movement of our time? what does that gain?
These people should be hung drawn and quartered, and it is coming to the point where I will gladly get in on the action.
After all, no one wants the church to take the blame for murder.
But then, that's Alabama for ya.
Gee, wonder where they got the idea for the defense? :/
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
I'm just surprised lawyers haven't tried to use this more often.
I like the idea, but doesn't being hung eliminate the need to draw and quarter someone? *innocent whistle*
"Oh no... it's the Mel Gibson defense"
Okay psycho hat off now. The guy's a typical modern cowardly knob trying to absolve himself of responsibility by citing whatever is remotely controversial. One day I'd like to see them say "rage & greed made me do it" as a defence, if nothing else the unprecedented burst of honesty might get a not guilty ruling simply from the shock...
@AgnostoTheo
You weren't hanged until you were dead, you were hanged until NEARLY dead. From wikipedia:
Until 1814, the full punishment for the crime of treason was to be hanged, drawn and quartered in that the condemned prisoner would be:
Dragged on a hurdle (a wooden frame) to the place of execution. (This is one possible meaning of drawn.)
Hanged by the neck for a short time or until almost dead. (hanged).
Disembowelled and emasculated and the genitalia and entrails burned before the condemned's eyes (This is another meaning of drawn — see the reference to the Oxford English Dictionary below.)[2]
Beheaded and the body divided into four parts (quartered).
Typically, the resulting five parts (i.e. the four quarters of the body and the head) were gibbeted (put on public display) in different parts of the city, town, or, in famous cases, country, to deter would-be traitors who had not seen the execution. After 1814 the convict would be hanged until dead and the mutilation would be performed after death. Gibbeting was abolished in England in 1843. Drawing and quartering was abolished in 1870.
See now that's a real man's deterrent! Bugger this girly 10 years in prison bollocks, bring it back at least for rapists, child molesters & paris hilton!
He shoulda gone with the twinkie defense. That actually worked.
No, wait! The internet can be accessed via computer. COMPUTERS ARE KILLING PEOPLE!
As has been mentioned, metal and D&D have previously been blamed for crimes, yet now people laugh about those cases and the idiots that pursued them. I just wish we could reach that stage with video games.
The games have been ditched!!!
We'll hear it when someone attaches himself to this.
But people access the computers that access the internet that access the games which means....
MY GOD!
PEOPLE ARE KILLING PEOPLE!!!!!
Hopefully someone intelligent is handling the case and can show how games had little to do with this guy's actions.
If the proscecutor doesn't have one, may I suggest "STFU N00B!"...
Love the 'God made me do it' defence people are stating on here!
Personally, based upon the items stated, I have come to the conclusion that he is guilty of Murder in the First Degree in that he planned and knew EXACTLY what he was doing.
Splinter Cell?
Splinter Cell?
In that case, they tried to blame Magnum Force (could be one of the other movies in the Dirty Harry series) for the murders.
Or it could also be another attorney riding the moral media crusade wagon to blame games for his own purposes. I dunno.
Seriously, can we blame the government for the murder, for making money so valuable? I mean, they make money. They obviously are causing others to behave irrationally because of the stuff. Ban money!
Ok... I'm going to stop being silly now.
Sorry video games made me do it.
*insert eye roll*
But God made the people who access the computers that access the internet that accesses the games which means that...
MY GOD!
GOD IS KILLING PEOPLE!
Oh, no, hold on, He actually does do that, doesn't He?
I have every hope the judiciary will be as sensible this time round.
"Disclaimer: Claiming the video game made you do it dose not legally count as a get out of jail free card and will make you seem more guilty."
What you call Beer is known to the rest of the world as Frozen Knat's Piss - Or Lager for the less well informed. Find a couple of pints of Stout and i'll take them from you.
So what was it. Did the disk physically grab your hand and force it to do things? Some people just need to be beaten with a frozen slab of meat.
"Hang him."
... over a 1000 foot cliff with a wireless video game controller.
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
do people still believe this?
unless they can categorically prove that the video games have a controlling interest in his brain patterns, i think greed can be largely associated with this.
in the words of a wikipedian : SNOW DELETE
I'll bring a keg of Guiness and a keg of Bodingtons then, or Harp if one prefers. The question is for snacks during this farce defense. Should be have crisps and Fish & chips, or just go all out and roast a pig over hog coals?
If there are any stupid impressionable kids out there? Do this.
(No, seriously, don't. I don't wanna get blamed for presenting the idea.)
Fish and Chips with a side of Crisps, although a few chops off that Hog wouldn't be unwelcome.
Haven't you heard? "Videogames made me do it" is the new pleading insanity!
@Orange Soda:
As in, taking responsiblity for his own actions? LOL. Sadly in this day and age it doesn't work that way, I'm afraid.
Dude, you're 24 years-old. I don't think that defense is even close to valid here... you were greedy and wanted the old man's money. You're a selfish, greedy little prick with a hint of retardation... not a misguided youth.
I really hope stupidity doesn't prevail here.
"Mr. Andrew Reid Lackey, I am sentencing you to prison, for life, without parole. Cus the game 'Who wants to a Judge', made me do it."
Of course not, the games were ditched. [/sarcasm]
Actually there's quite a funny story to that one. Back in the 30s where Mobster movies were the new ungodly thing turning kids into crooks a judge blamed a kid's crime on the movies, even though the kid said himself that he wasn't influenced by the movies.
Don't let people be killed by the electric chair.
Kill yourself so a greedy bastard won't have to do it for you.
"Defense: Lackey a ‘geek’"
http://www.enewscourier.com/local/local_story_058213742.html
"Computer geek
In his opening statement, Gladden said he could not “argue with the basics of the case,” but rather paint a portrait of a young man he called a “geek” and who spent hours daily trading over the on-line auction Web site e-Bay.
Testimony from Derrick Newman, the victim’s grandson, painted an even more bizarre picture of Lackey, who he said would have as many as four computers up and running at one time and simultaneously engaging in up to seven games with opponents around the globe.
Gladden said these activities, along with the array of items found in a rental car Lackey allegedly drove to the murder scene—hammers, mallet, hatchet, duct tape, Super Glue, stun gun, batteries, starter pistol, night-vision goggles, ski mask, screw drivers— make Lackey seem bizarre.
“You would have to say there’s got to be something wrong with this person’s mind. ""
A psychoitic genius maybe? I mean, maybe it's possible for the average player to have four computers and 7 games (of whatever) going on at once, but I could barely enjoy playing on one computer while the TV is on and enjoy both.
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
might i add, daaaaaaaaamn
And while im at it which video game is he claiming made him stab shoot gouge and look for a safe which didnt exist?
I'm not sure... was that a mission in one of the GTAs? (even if it wasn't, I'm surprised they didn't cite that as what he played.)
Unless it was Postal, god only knows what you can get away with in *that* game...
I’ll bring a keg of Guiness and a keg of Bodingtons then, or Harp if one prefers. The question is for snacks during this farce defense. Should be have crisps and Fish & chips, or just go all out and roast a pig over hog coals?
What wine goes well with fish and chips?
I wouldn't get that attorney ever even if he was the last attorney on earth. Wasn't he taught that he needs evidence before pointing fingers? The fact that no video games were mentioned, where is the evidence?
Besides, he's 24 years old, sheeesh! What they're gonna make the ESRB rating M 25+?
I hope a disciplinary action would be subjected against the attorney so it would serve an example to lawyers who love to point fingers without basis. He's a geek, so what? I have a lot of geek friends and their mad skillz and hobbies don't affect their way of thinking.
"Whatever happened to “I made me do it?”
I couldn't have said what you did any better.
I drink mostly stout, with the occasional crappy cheap american beer (like pabst, which I last drank with Nathan Maxwell, Flogging Molly's bassist).
I prefer a pint of Guinness to the local fare any day.
Lawyers use desperation tactics all the time, and who knows there may come a day when someone was so mentally unsound that he actually wasn't able to distinguish real life from the game or he really was influenced by the game.
Of course if that does happen that would in no way be justification for video game censorship since that hypothetical case would be an exception not proof of anything (also if such hypothetical case were real the game makers would probably not be held accountable).
"Computer yields clues "
"Thursday, Brian Kilmouth, a computer forensic analyst with the Regional Organized Crime Information Center in Huntsville, testified that at the request of Lt. Floyd Johnson of the Athens Police Department he made an “image file” of hard drive material on one of four computers seized from Lackey’s Sunlake Boulevard apartment a day after the murder.
Kilmouth testified that he used special software to decipher the image file he obtained and converted the information into voluminous text files that could be read.
In cross examination, Gladden asked Kilmouth if after reviewing Lackey’s online activities if he thought Lackey “lived in a fantasy world.”
Kilmouth answered that he had “never seen a computer with as much gaming on it as this.”"
----------------------------
http://www.decaturdaily.com/stories/5967.html
From this article, I call the Judge's statement a "Hooah!" (So there! :P )
"State rests case
District Attorney Kristi Valls asked if police charge suspects with robbery even if there was only a robbery attempt, and Johnson answered yes.
The state rested its case Thursday evening.
Gladden asked Circuit Court Judge Bob Baker to dismiss the charges of burglary, robbery and capital murder, saying the prosecution had not proven a robbery or burglary occurred.
Baker denied that request.
Baker also warned Gladden that because there was no plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, he will not let Lackey's mental competency become an issue.
Gladden has said Lackey had four computers and played up to seven online games at one time, and immersed himself in gaming. Gladden told reporters that Lackey lived "in a different world than you and I."
Baker said, "You can present your defense but whether he spends a lot of time gaming is not a consideration for mental competency."
The defense was to begin its case Friday at 9 a.m. "
-------------------------------------------
Note that though I quoted the references to gaming, there is a great deal more information reported. And this particular paper has a lot of articles on the case.
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
He's sure as hell never seen mine! Until recently I had most of the games I ever bought installed. Oh no, I'm a psychopath!
Why this comes as a shock to me, I'm not quite sure...
hahaha
oh boy shouting 'wheres the vault ' several times, then saying the money had nothing to do with it... d*ck head
um and oh by the way , i havent played a game ever, where on halloween you rob a guy shouting 'wheres the vault' then shoot him and hauge out his eye...
please tell me the name of this game.. oh oh.. thats right you cant because it DOESNT EXIST
i hope they lock him up n throw away the key
You killed an 80 year old man to get at his vault because you thought you were in a video game. You are clearly insane and a danger to society, and need to be incarcerated for the rest of your life.
Next case, please...
You are the smartest American I have ever met. I would be honoured to steal your beer and toss it in the pool when you go for a piss.
Does the question video games made me do it put doubt into your mind that this person is an innocent victim of a distorted reality claiming the defendant mentally ill? Without evidence as an attorney I would pursue that as a cause without a doubt in my mind. However, I am not an attorney and I don't know the evidence of the trial nor am I in the courtroom. I can see why the attorney would like to use video games that depict murder scenarios as a reasonable cause for a young man to commit an atrocity especially if the victim is caught red handed in the situation and has had no prior mental illness. What choice do you have to defend this guy? He has a right to legal counsel just because you want him dead isn't a reason for him not to get a trial. That is why we live here in America to be allowed the right to a trial guilty or not guilty of the crime that was committed. Too many times in our history have innocent people been put to death because of a media person placing blame based on race, or misleading information. Too many times in our history have we put people to death for just being a different color than the rest of the jurors. Think about it.
Just because the average person hasn't been effected by video games to commit murder, doesn't mean a conclusive study has been performed. The military uses video games to train its soldiers to deal with death easier before entering the battlefield. The military is composed of civillians and the games used aren't barney and dragon tales. Just so realize that games do have an actual benefit they're being used to simulate situations even in college football. Gaming has come really far in the last 20 years. The military uses a background and pyschological background check before admitting civillians to carry a weapon used for the primary purpose of killing. Weapons are dangerous and if they fall into the wrong hands they will be used for wrong purposes. The idea here is to keep weapons out of the hands of people who don't deserve them. Yet, the same kind of games the military uses to train its army that defends the US can be found at your local video store. A weapon used for subliminal images to let down the guard of death before death arrives is a weapon and it's a weapon that every civillian in America can get a hold of. There is no law stopping a 5 yr old kid from playing a video game that shows murder however there is a law for a 5 yr old kid from purchasing and firing a weapon. Just because you don't see the video game as a lethal weapon that may destroy humanity doesn't mean it couldn't be used to do so. Think outside of the box and look at the defense for what it is. You're telling me a simulated reality can't help out your fellow soldiers when dealing with death? You're telling me that a college football player can't use a video game to enhance his ability to throw a football to an open receiver? Yet these are already in practice so why can't it be conceivable that a person who had voices in the game telling him to kill *the sufferring for example* all of a sudden starts losing grip on reality... Did you ever watch scary movies as a kid? Did you ever believe Jason or Freddy or something was coming for you? They weren't real. Kids believe in Santa Clause living in the north pole with reindeer that fly with elves making presents for them because we tell them that is our world. We are the teacher, they are the student. A game could have been that kids only friend you don't know him and neither do I, but I could easily see how a video game could cause a tragedy to occur.
He didn't specifiy a game.
There was no evidence.
This leads me to the conclusion that the lawyer told him to say it.
ff7bef38bf4ced6e6617...
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