Judge Burge = Fail

As with many gaming-related stories in the world of politics, when we are graced with an outcome that we deem fair and well-deserved, many of us feel the need to celebrate. When teenager Daniel Petric committed the heinous crime of murder over the mere fact that his parents would not allow him to play Halo 3, it was assumed by many of us that the mass media and the judge who would be hearing the trial would place the blame solely on video games and not on the human being who committed the murder. It seemed that fortune was smiling on the gaming populace for a good while, as the judge threw out Petric’s hackneyed and pathetic defense: that it was a mere game that drove him to insanity.

Some time passed, and then we realized that there was more to this case than initially met the eye. While Judge James Burge did find the defendant guilty of murdering his mother and attempting to murder his father, his reasoning was rather stilted. Burge ruled that Petric’s video game insanity defense held no water because the boy could not completely make the case. It appears though, that this particular judge is actually dumber than a bag of hammers. He went on to explain his thoughts on Daniel’s actions. Seriously – I want to know who allows him to keep his job after comments such as these were made:

“This Court’s opinion is that we don’t know enough about these video games. In this particular case, not so much the violence of the game because I believe in the Halo 3, what it amounts to is a contest to see who can shoot the most aliens who attack.It’s my firm belief that after a while the same physiological responses occur that occur in the ingestion of some drugs. And I believe that an addiction to these games can do the same thing. The dopamine surge, the stimulation of the nucleus accumbens – the same as an addiction. Such that when you stop, your brain won’t stand for it.

The other dangerous thing about these games, in my opinion, is that when these changes occur, they occur in an environment that is delusional. Because you can shoot these aliens, and they’re there again the next day. You have to shoot them again. And I firmly believe that Daniel Petric had no idea, at the time he hatched this plot, that if he killed his parents, they would be dead forever.”

Now, pick your jaw up from off the floor. I know. Yes, you read that correctly. Take a deep breath. We’re going to talk about it. No, don’t cry. The stupid hurts me, too.

First off, let’s examine what all is wrong with this statement:

“I firmly believe that Daniel Petric had no idea at the time he hatched this plot that if he killed his parents, they would be dead forever.”

Going solely on all the information released to the public that is available for me to read about this story, Petric was not on PCP. He was not living in an imaginary, fantasy world. He was simply lashing out in the worst of ways that his parents would not allow him to play a video game that he, by all rights, should not have been allowed to play or purchase in the first place (now seventeen, he was sixteen when the crime occurred). Second of all – he had not even played the game. That we are aware of. It was kept in his father’s lock box as soon as he made it home with the purchase. Unless he had been playing it secretly on the day he sneaked out of the house, how would he even know what happens in Halo 3? Right. He wouldn’t. Any crimes slated against a video game, namely Halo 3, should be moot at this point seeing as the child NEVER ACTUALLY PLAYED IT.

Following that, there’s more. Burge made the decision to try Petric as a sane adult, having thrown out the video game insanity defense. Why make a comment like this if the consensus of the court ruled that he was of a sound mind when he committed the murders? Though the court did not work on the judge’s personal opinions, it’s still downright ridiculous that a human being – a judge, of all people – could process thoughts such as these. Makes you hope you never have to actually rely on one. It is appalling how the fact that Petric being housebound is never really explored, as if being forced to stay home every day of your life has never caused anyone to go stark-raving mad. I forgot – we’re talking video games here, so automatically they get the blame.

I honestly do wish it ended there, but it does not. Not only do we have this “judge” employed to make real, grave rulings regarding important cases such as MURDER, but he does not even fully understand the video game that is being featured in this particular case:

“[...]we don’t know enough about these video games. In this particular case, not so much the violence of the game because I believe in the Halo 3, what it amounts to is a contest to see who can shoot the most aliens who attack.”

The judge openly admits to knowing nothing about Halo 3. Now, wouldn’t it seem reasonable to do some actual research on a video game that is going to be the center of attention in a murder trial, or at least hire some people who aren’t pants-on-head retarded to do the work for you? Apparently, “the Halo 3″ is a contest to kill as many aliens as you can. I have been playing it wrong. Furthermore, as I stated earlier, PETRIC HAD NOT BEEN PLAYING HALO 3. Perhaps if he had gotten his wish, he wouldn’t have reacted the irrational way that he did. While the judge attempts to throw out mangled attempts at sounding intellectual, all he manages to do is turn Halo 3 into a scapegoat. That’s the easy way out. He tossed in some scientific garbage that basically says that games are like drugs. Game addiction is like a drug. Oh, that would be a great defense.

If Petric actually played Halo, that is. Oh, and if video games actually did physical harm to “users,” or actually went so far as to kill them if they “took” too much.

What happened here with Petric goes beyond the confines of simple gaming addiction, Halo 3′s TERRIBLE CRAZY VIOLENT SHOOT-THE-MOST-ALIENS-AND-NEVER-DIE gameplay, or any other insipid comment the judge had the nerve to make. It’s clear that this individual is either very deeply disturbed, or a textbook case of a spoiled brat gone wrong. Either way, it just goes to show quick the uneducated are to blame gaming for problems that anyone can immediately tell are more deep-seated than any video game could ever cause.

With that, Petric can rot in jail and think about his actions that Halo did not cause, and shame on him for claiming such. This is why individuals with real problems cannot get the treatment they deserve.

[Via GamePolitics and Cleveland Plain Dealer]