Mortal Kombat killing lands teen in jail

[redact]

A US teenager has been sentenced to 36 years in prison for his role in the death of a seven-year-old girl during an apparent imitation of the Mortal Kombat video game.

Lamar Roberts was sentenced on Friday in Greeley's Weld County District Court in Colorado.

The 18-year-old pleaded guilty last month to knowingly or recklessly causing a death through child abuse.

Prosecutors said Roberts and 17-year-old Heather Trujillo were baby-sitting Zoe Garcia on December 6, 2007.

They said the two kicked, hit and slammed Trujillo's half-sister to the floor.

Garcia's family were distraught during the sentencing.

"Please consider this — she will never have a life again," Garcia's mother, Dana Trujillo, said.

"She has an older sister that will never again see her sister," Garcia's aunt, Heather Juarez.

"My granddaughter was my princess and she meant everything to me and I don't believe this should have happened," said Veronica Lara.

Trujillo pleaded guilty in July to negligently causing death through child abuse. She must serve six years in Colorado's youth offender system

Source: here

 

[GameSoul]

I can't believe so many unintelligent people are killing or hurting others because of them "trying to be like the video game". Give us a break. -.-

 

[Icey]

I have a heart and sympathy for this. But it has be said.
FATALITY!

 

[Beware]

1. That's fucked up, Icey.

2. And now a shit storm is going to launch about video games causing acts of violence and all that other bullshit.

3. It's the parents' goddamn fault. If you don't teach your fucking kid about what's going on in real life and on his TV screen then this kind of BS is bound to happen. Parents need to wake up and do their friggin' jobs.


I suggest a mod keeps an eye on this thread. I can see it exploding with all sorts of stupid comments and "FATALITY!" references.

 

[Blue Zoidberg]

Serves the collective parent's right for allowing this to happen.
No one should leave a child in the care of other children

 

[Styles420]

The problem isn't with the games. My friends and I immitated our favorite games and shows when we were young, even the violent ones - we still knew not to actually try to rip each other's hearts out. These two were probably prone to violence one way or another, and hoped that by blaming a video game, the law would go easy on them while attacking the game industry. I remember pretending to be in Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat with my friends - no one ever got kicked, punched, or slammed to the ground (okay, maybe we slipped once in a while - but accidents don't happen repeatedly like with the girl that died). They were purposefully hitting her, not just pretending. Maybe we should all go out and commit some crimes, then make some ridiculous claims about where we got the idea ("I was pretending to be the AIDs virus, just like I learned in school... so it's my health class's fault")

These claims against video games are almost as bad as the guy that tried to sue McDonald's for making him fat

 

[Pizzaroo]

Child abuse?


BABALITY

 

[Raven Darkheart]

some people cant distinguish the difference between fantasy and reality

 

[Canonbeat234]

some people cant distinguish the difference between fantasy and reality

That's not even true either, I bet you that adolescent didn't thought his strength will kill that poor girl who's now in Heaven.
The sole problem is that he played A LOT and I mean he played so much games that he tried to illustrate the graphic moves
inside a video game on a living human being. I'm glad he didn't play the Samurai Shodown series or we will see something more graphic
like 'trying to slice her in half' or 'lifting her into the air and the blade goes through her head'

This is becoming a sad age in the United States.

 

[Raven Darkheart]

some people cant distinguish the difference between fantasy and reality

That's not even true either, I bet you that adolescent didn't thought his strength will kill that poor girl who's now in Heaven.
The sole problem is that he played A LOT and I mean he played so much games that he tried to illustrate the graphic moves
inside a video game on a living human being. I'm glad he didn't play the Samurai Shodown series or we will see something more graphic
like 'trying to slice her in half' or 'lifting her into the air and the blade goes through her head'

This is becoming a sad age in the United States.

fact is games like MK, GTA take alot of unnecessary heat. dont blame the game, its an inanimate object. blame the mentally unstable people that go out and buy that game, then try to emulate things they see in real life

 

[Styles420]

blame the mentally unstable people that go out and buy that game, then try to emulate things they see in real life

Exactly. If they didn't have MK, they would have found some other violent game/movie/news event to emulate. If we didn't have all of these fictional storylines for entertainment, then it would be a case of some kid trying to reenact the war of 1812 or the guillotine of the French Revolution, there are so many real events in history that could take the place of the game... the only common factor is an individual that for some reason lacked the foresight or the concern to realize that a life could be lost - or someone who was actively trying to inflict fatal harm to another. I suppose next they'll claim that Charles Manson got his ideas from some obscure book, and have it banned from libraries because, surely, it will happen again if people continue to read it.

Another thought: If they ever do manage to ban a game on this basis, wouldn't that open the door for editing our history books? Afterall, if we stop talking about Hitler and the holocaust, then eventually, wouldn't people forget about what happened? And then, where would neo-nazis get their inspiration from? Maybe if we stopped talking about racism and slavery in America, it will all just disappear in time... yet the people who complain about it the most seem not to realize that they are only keeping it in the forefront of public attention, perpetuating the problem further.

 

[Raven Darkheart]

blame the mentally unstable people that go out and buy that game, then try to emulate things they see in real life

Exactly. If they didn't have MK, they would have found some other violent game/movie/news event to emulate. If we didn't have all of these fictional storylines for entertainment, then it would be a case of some kid trying to reenact the war of 1812 or the guillotine of the French Revolution, there are so many real events in history that could take the place of the game... the only common factor is an individual that for some reason lacked the foresight or the concern to realize that a life could be lost - or someone who was actively trying to inflict fatal harm to another. I suppose next they'll claim that Charles Manson got his ideas from some obscure book, and have it banned from libraries because, surely, it will happen again if people continue to read it.

Another thought: If they ever do manage to ban a game on this basis, wouldn't that open the door for editing our history books? Afterall, if we stop talking about Hitler and the holocaust, then eventually, wouldn't people forget about what happened? And then, where would neo-nazis get their inspiration from? Maybe if we stopped talking about racism and slavery in America, it will all just disappear in time... yet the people who complain about it the most seem not to realize that they are only keeping it in the forefront of public attention, perpetuating the problem further.

and to elaborate further on my point that styles quoted, if a person is mentally stable and sane it shouldnt matter what type of game they play. most violent video games are only the end result of giving the player the ability to do things that society as a whole would consider taboo

 

[Doomsday Forte]

Then again, didn't kids kill each other playing out Power Rangers? Then every episode from then on had a PSA of "this isn't real" and so on.

It's absolutely terrible, and of course, video games are to blame like for every murder, mishap, and crime that has happened since 1985. And unfortunately, it is the few screwed-up people who make the lot of us look bad (these people killing a little girl supposedly imitating Mortal Kombat, that kid who killed his mother and tried to kill his father when they took away his Halo 3, the kid who ran away and died when his father took away his Xbox...). The list goes on.

We're rational, sane, fairly normal people. Why can't we promote the image that we are just like everyday people and not a horde of deviants, like...well, in most cultures with said deviants? We are not bloodthirsty murdering stealing (...) crackpots, are we?

And even if every single violent video game was banned and condemned forever, there'd be something else to blame. TV. Movies. Music. Books. Even the news. Even nature itself.
"Wow, did you see that cougar tear apart that gazelle?!"
"I wanna do that to Billy!"

Of course, it's those nutjobs that get the most coverage, whereas we normals are made of myth and fiction.

 

[Styles420]

Everyone is looking for someone or something to blame these days, because they don't want to admit when they screwed up - like the parents who forget to teach their kids proper moral values, and blame GTA when their kids go out and beat someone up to take their car. It's so much easier for people to break laws and rules when they know they have a society-friendly excuse of a scapegoat. Think of the first time an insanity plea was used in court to get a murderer off the hook - suddenly lawyers are looking for any way to use that as an excuse. I believe that in the majority of cases where it is used, "temporary insanity" is a cop-out.

 

[Doomsday Forte]

Everyone is looking for someone or something to blame these days, because they don't want to admit when they screwed up - like the parents who forget to teach their kids proper moral values, and blame GTA when their kids go out and beat someone up to take their car. It's so much easier for people to break laws and rules when they know they have a society-friendly excuse of a scapegoat. Think of the first time an insanity plea was used in court to get a murderer off the hook - suddenly lawyers are looking for any way to use that as an excuse. I believe that in the majority of cases where it is used, "temporary insanity" is a cop-out.

That is excessively true, though. And video games already have bad press as it is. What's more fuel to the fire?

Video games are obviously corrupting our youth. So let's make everyone involved in making or enjoying video games drink hemlock juice!

Bonus points if you catch to whom I'm referring here.

If I go on a killing spree, I'm going to pin the blame on Sunday Funday or that Noah's Ark-themed Wolfenstein 3D hack by the same company. :3

 

[Raven Darkheart]

Everyone is looking for someone or something to blame these days, because they don't want to admit when they screwed up - like the parents who forget to teach their kids proper moral values, and blame GTA when their kids go out and beat someone up to take their car. It's so much easier for people to break laws and rules when they know they have a society-friendly excuse of a scapegoat. Think of the first time an insanity plea was used in court to get a murderer off the hook - suddenly lawyers are looking for any way to use that as an excuse. I believe that in the majority of cases where it is used, "temporary insanity" is a cop-out.

That is excessively true, though. And video games already have bad press as it is. What's more fuel to the fire?

Video games are obviously corrupting our youth. So let's make everyone involved in making or enjoying video games drink hemlock juice!

Bonus points if you catch to whom I'm referring here.

If I go on a killing spree, I'm going to pin the blame on Sunday Funday or that Noah's Ark-themed Wolfenstein 3D hack by the same company. :3

its the conservative idiots like jack thompson that give video games a bad nameand besides if videogames were to blame then how do you explain their 21 billion dollar profit in the midst of this depression

 

[Just Joe]

Firstly I don't see were the financial profitability of the games industry protect the industry from blame from incidents like this.

Secondly stating that it not the games fault if someone who is mentally unstable goes out and commits a crime because of a violent video game doesn't help the cause either, because if anything it actually improves the argument for violent video games to be banned.

Protecting a child from violent video games is one thing but how do you stop the mentally unbalanced?

Other than having to undergo a regular psychological evaluation to be allowed to play them, the only easy alternative would be censorship and removal.

There is no argument against this case except that the perpetrators of this nasty crime made their own choices, and whether or not they were influenced by a game, they ultimately had the option not to kill the child but instead chose to do so.

 

[Styles420]

Everyone is looking for someone or something to blame these days, because they don't want to admit when they screwed up - like the parents who forget to teach their kids proper moral values, and blame GTA when their kids go out and beat someone up to take their car. It's so much easier for people to break laws and rules when they know they have a society-friendly excuse of a scapegoat. Think of the first time an insanity plea was used in court to get a murderer off the hook - suddenly lawyers are looking for any way to use that as an excuse. I believe that in the majority of cases where it is used, "temporary insanity" is a cop-out.

That is excessively true, though. And video games already have bad press as it is. What's more fuel to the fire?

Video games are obviously corrupting our youth. So let's make everyone involved in making or enjoying video games drink hemlock juice!

Bonus points if you catch to whom I'm referring here.

If I go on a killing spree, I'm going to pin the blame on Sunday Funday or that Noah's Ark-themed Wolfenstein 3D hack by the same company. :3

Wasn't that Socrates? And correct me if I'm wrong, but that was sarcasm when you said they're corruption our youth, right? (Sometimes the emphasis is lost in text that was meant to be spoken...)

 

[Edgedancer]

I just don't understand what is gong through peoples heads when they do this type of stuff. I think the same thing happened a couple of years ago.