This is a sad day for gamers everywhere. Apparently the "video games made me do it" excuse has finally worked as Daniel Petric had his prison sentence reduced to life with a possibility of parol in 23 years after being arrested and convicted for murdering one of his parents and shooting the other in the head when they took away his copy of Halo 3.
How was this accomplished exactly? Petric's defense lawyers played the angle of video game obsession being the root cause of the killing. Now I'm sorry, but that's ridiculous. There are millions of people in the world that are technically obsessed with video games. People who have broken up with their girlfriend/ boyfriend because the new Zelda game is coming out. People who've taken a week's vacation from work, not to take a trip, but to play World of Warcraft. People who risk driving 20 miles over the speed limit to rush to buy Ghostbusters: The Video Game (spoiler: cops caught me). That's video game obsession. Not having your copy of Halo 3 taken away from you and throwing a temper tantrum that results in killing your own mother. That's just called "murder."
In response to Lorain County Common Pleas Judge James Bruge's ruling, Assistant Lorain County Prosecutor Tony Cillo said, "Daniel Petric received the only break that he's entitled to under the law, that he was too young to risk a death specification." However, Cillo did voice his concern stating, "I remain fearful if Danny gets out of prison and somebody else takes away his new pasttime, whether it's a girlfriend that leaves him, this may be the next thing that happens."
If this case begins a landslide of murderers and rapists getting off light because they target video games as the instigator to their crimes, I'm going to be pissed. There is no reason why video games are being judged like this as opposed to film or music. And truthfully, none of these forms of entertainment should even have to deal with this kind of persecution. Instead, why don't we just lock up these nutjobs on the merits that they are batshit insane in the first place.
