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Jurors officially don’t buy the GTA defense

I hate that this kind of news story is out there, but at least it turned out alright. Guess what, kids? Games don't make you kill people. Games aren't an excuse. Stop trying to use them as a catch-all for all the world's ailments. Don't even try, because no one who matters is going to buy it.

Today's case-in-point: an Alabama jury took just over an hour yesterday to convict Devin Moore, a 20 year old guy who killed three officers and then proceeded to attempt to escape by stealing a police car. His crack defense team came up with the wonderful plea of not guilty by reason of mental defect, further claiming that his actions were in part due to spending hours upon hours playing Grand Theft Auto.

The jury didn't buy it at all, and convicted him on all three counts of murder after just over an hour of deliberations. However, despite this fast conviction, the victims' families have filed a civil lawsuit against Take-Two, publishers of Rockstar's GTA series. I feel sorry for the victims and their families, but using the now-convicted killer's own failed defense as basis for a civil suit just seems incredibly dumb and greedy to me. You've got your justice, the guilty party will be heading to jail and even has a chance for the death penalty, and you got it because the defense was flimsy and the GTA tie was irrelevant. Don't turn right around and use it to try and make some cash.

Source: AP story via Wired News

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