@Galls: Ah yes, that was another thing I wanted to touch on. What will these idiots offer society once they get out? How can people think they'll be "fixed?" and offer something progressive to society? They'll be even more broken. Fuck em and chuck em. I agree 100%, fix it with fire.

Moonchilde

It's truly sickening that anyone would act in such a way to a helpless child.

DynamoMatt

@r0Be: Please don't insult animals like that. Animals are far above what these things are.

Moonchilde

A truly appalling, tragic thing.

However all you geniuses calling for the death penalty need to wake up. For a start, the problem with a society allowing the death penalty is that the justice system doesn't always get it right. Do you really trust your legal and judicial processes not to ever get the wrong person for a crime?

Secondly, the two idiots responsible for this abhorrent act are not adults - they are both under 18 so they certainly won't be getting the death penalty.

kiigan

Mortal Kombat? What year is this? This is another lame case of people saying that they're imitating art, but how many times would you kick a kid before you think "Uh oh, this kid is in serious trouble."

Maybe we should blame the underage drinking rather than the mortal kombat. Some people just should not be drinking, especially when it leads them to violence like this.

YotaruVegeta

@cooldood: Understood... But throwing it back at HowardC for doing it is one thing: he earned the response he got for doing it in the first place. Starting every one of your posts for 2 days straight with it is a bit much.

dv8godd

@Moonchilde: Not to hijack the thread or come off as a troll, but isn't asking for the death penalty for someone who murdered someone a bit hypocritical?

Denying parole and sentencing them to life in prison seems harsh enough.

I'M NOT A TROLL!

Cappy

@cooldood: here is a better fact. i think that was stupid comment, congratulations:)

the question i should really be asking how some of you bufoons can sit here and joke in light of a young girl's death? if god forbid that was one of your sisters, would it be funny? at least keep it to yourselves! you should be ashamed! i have seen idiotic commets on this site over non-trivial matters, which is ok. but this happens, and this is how you respond? i hope the editors of this site are carefully grooming through this thread......... i hope you get ban-hammered!

zanzibarlegend

First I think this is one of those things that should never happen and I can't begin to say how sorry I am for simply being a part of the same race as those two.

Second, it says in the report "Roberts, who claimed to be a martial-arts expert with his hands registered as lethal weapons" Doesn't that say that he might have been thinking of something other than Mortal Kombat techniques when he killed those kids?

Spiderbait

They cracked an egg in her mouth?

Winterbringer

Blame it on a game even though they say they were drunk. People have lost they GD minds. More people are killed by people using drug and alcohol in one year than 30+ years of games.

They to animals need to be given the chair.

chip5541

Oh so two people who none of you know deserve to be killed for a horrible horrible mistake? They are 16 and 17 years old and for this dont deserve a chance to change or even a chance to live? Great people on this site really fucking great.

Idiots...

Now to the point: Mortal Kombat? Really? Did you just say that because everybody knows it or are you actually still playing that? Drinking and videogames are a good scapegoat for someone who's underage might actually give them a shorter sentence. Here in holland people always say they can't remember or didnt know what they were doing, works too!

cchrist

Indeed, a terrible tragedy. I can only imagine what the little girl was thinking the whole time. She'll never be able to grow up and enjoy life *Lord knows she probably wanted a Wii*.
The 2 idiot teenagers can only blame themselves for abusing, well, everything *alcohol, video games ,martial arts* and deserve life sentences.
And seriously, cracking open a raw egg in her mouth? To see if she was messing around? Couldnt you get the same effect by shaking her a bit? Or, I dont know, checking to see if that's actual blood coming out of her mouth!? Sickening, they have no common sense or human decency whatsoever.

TheSonicGamer

Hey, don't skin Shin-Kaiser. We all know it was in bad taste, but c'mon... After this horrible piece of news, our minds always need a tiny bit of humor to lighten up, or else we'd be all weeping mad gamers who'd like to hang these two bastards with a couple 360 controllers...

... Actually, that last part doesn't sound too bad. At least they'd have the opportunity of resisting, something they didn't give to the por girl. And THEN we could crash an egg on their forehead to see if they're fooling us with their violet breathless skin tone and limp extremities.

Lock these fuckers up FOR LIFE. That should be enough.

REDFIELD aka The One Who Won't Beg for Followers

So he was acting out Mortal Kombat but what effing game lets you crack an egg in somebodys mouth? The sad thing is the lil girl might have survived if they had called for help seeing as how she was temporarily revived. I think Cracking the egg in her mouth suffocated her and possibly went down the wind pipe.

Right before Xmas and this happens. Also if they were drunk where did they get the alcohol, seeing as how the mother works in a bar I wouldnt be surprised if her liquor stash wasnt safe guarded.

ichiban1081

@sadkermit: I entirely agree with your sentense: they're TOTAL disregard for human life is entirely shocking, and as many have said before me, has left me unable to comprehend what kind of person could do something like this.

However, without wanting to side-line the issue with personal politics, im a strong advocate of trial-by-jury, and while i 100% understand ur concerns, all i can hope is that in this particular case, the legal system will really go to town on them and throw everything it can muster at these two degenerates.

Gypsie

@cleotis_max:

I agree wholeheartedly. Why would someone do this? Its rare that you even hear of abusive drunk parents killing their kid. This was a horrible way to for that poor kid to die. I really hope these two get the death penalty, I'm sick of shit like this going on. Maybe if the penalty was higher, people wouldn't do these things. They deserve it, they aren't even remorseful.

Moonchilde

I felt like I jumped into a time machine while reading that article.

It is no longer the 90s!

Cappy

I recommend the death penalty.And they are not supposed to be drunk anyways. The nerve of kids these days.

KM91

The most depressing part of this has been watching the morning news cover it - the entirety of the coverage is fatalities from Mortal Kombat.

This isn't even an issue of them making a single poor decision in acting out an obviously fantastic act from a videogame. This was the systematic beating of a young child to death, while intoxicated, for no reason other than the fact that she was there to be beaten. If it wasn't Mortal Kombat, it would have been a Jackie Chan movie. If it wasn't that, it would have been Walker: Texas Ranger. If it wasn't that, it would have been some other "inspiration".

If you are so removed from reality that a cybernetic ninja hitting a lightning deity with a spear inspires you to act out literal violence on a living person, you have issues far above those a videogame might inspire.

These two are killers, plain and simple. There is no passing the buck onto virtual violence when you take another person's life.

hegemonyhog

I don't think it's alcohol that needs to be blamed, it's the parents who let underage people drink in their home.

Same with Video Games. It isn't the game itself, many times it's the parents who let their kids play the violent video game.

Maddogdw

Poor Kid

But really Mortal Kombat????

pretty Funny....

but still...poor kid....poor Ed Boon....

Another Hoorah for Hillary Clinton

kingme

Our society sucks. We don't place enough importance on the parental role in child rearing. We shout and point fingers at the so called 'corruptions' when we should be instilling the importance of a strong moral and ethical core.

A friend of mine took his 7 year old to Spiderman 3. What the fuck was he thinking. I can't find fault with most of his decisions but he obviously left his brain in bed that morning. He said that his son really wanted to see it.

No shit. At 13 I really wanted to see those cool looking R movies I heard about from my older sister. If I was watching those movies it was under severe stealth and scheming from my parents.

Kids are impressionable, hell some adults are. We as parents really need to take a hold of this situation. Its every generations responsibility to make the next a better kinder one.

invictus

very sad, especially in the holiday season..

my sympathy goes to the parents of the child.

timebombtimmy

How disgusting, is this honestly the sort of thing that goes into people's minds these days? Does anyone have common sense anymore?

Seven Is Darker

I feel utterly sick after reading the details of this horrible crime.

I hope they go to prison, get the death penalty, get viciously shanked before their scheduled execution, and then burn forever in hell.

I'm gonna have a depressing day at work today fter having read this, damn.

Tyber_Zann

Words cannot properly convey my utter disgust.

Langis

@dv8godd: tell that to the people in this post: [kotaku.com]

cooldood

@dv8godd: I think you hit spot-on the order of how blame will be placed.

jacksinn

are Those kids are retards or they just got serious psychological issues any one with sense knows games are not for real.

karmakan

@pigmartyr: The mother, most likely raising the children on her own, was at work so they could have ... you know, food and a place to live. Sorry, I think it's reasonable of a parent to leave a 16-year-old at home to babysit, and reasonable to expect that that family member would take good care of the children.

This is simply reprehensible, they deserve serious jail time for this.

jayntampa

God that's terrible :(.

Honestly, I think I believe the dumbass kids tho. Tons of people (especially kids) act out games/movies/whatever so as to have something to do. When we were like 11 or 12 or so, my siblings and I used to have playfights where we mimicked fighting game type stuff, mortal kombat being the main one.

Combine that with the fact that a lot of kids these days seem way too desensitized to fights (school, the hood, etc), and I can actually kinda see where this fucked up drunk-ass kid might've thought it wouldn't hurt her so badly.

I'm not opposed to the death penalty, but I think that's too much here. Presumably it was an accident, so I'm thinking half or maybe a quarter life sentence would be enough to make sure they never do anything like this again.

ryusage

it does sound like the name "mortal kombat" was brought up to try turn this into a bit of a circus.

you can just imagine their lawyer saying something like: "ok, lets try blame this on games, whats the name of that popular fighting game again, oh yes "Martial Kombat" or something was it?"

Mr Brolly

This kind of thing shouldn't even be tolerated in a modern world! It not only grossly disgusts me but it also is an perfect example for politicians to strike down on the gaming industry due to two completely insane individuals who committed a horrible act. Acting out MK on a child? Are you kidding me? Yeah, of course there was alcohol involved, someone would have to be drunk to beat up a 7 year old girl! But still, this is sick, on the border of insane. There was much more than just alcohol involved I suspect, maybe just plain stupidity, and complete recklessness. My thoughts and prayers go out to the family, minus the daughter who was responsible.

@beeporama: I wouldn't doubt they were sociopaths, and they were also probably just plain aggressive. This kind of thing...ugh....I really can't go on, it hurts too much to think about.

CitizenInsane27

Although immensely F'd up, why the HELL were they playing Mortal 'Combat' to boot?

I personally believed they weren't playing anything - and just used it as an excuse.

Cpryd001

Grrrr...Dude. This is seriously wrong.

WTF is their problem. Who raised these kids? How are they so out of touch with reality??

Didn't anyone ever spank these kids? Don't you know when you HIT SOMEONE, it HURTS THEM.

syp

That's just nuts. My heart goes out to the two younger sisters and I hope the accused get what they deserve.

obstacle-man

Holy what the fuck?!

Why the FUCK would cracking an egg in someone's mouth help in any way, shape, or form?!

This is disgusting. I'm terribly sorry for the parents of both parties involved, not only for the death of a child, but for the absolute stupidity of the other kids.

Sai-kun

@Blind_Evil: You forgot about the church shootings too.. I don't know.. I thought about moving out there, but seems like there are some pretty F'd-up people out there. Can anybody here defend Colorado?

fonzy

The death penalty can be great!

It is the sure fire way of preventing horrible beyond, beyond repair people from reentering society!

Galls

OMG....I can only shake my head with disgust and sadness.

ARPRINCE

Last post should have been "in *your*" head. Argh, I shouldn't post from work, heh.
Also, as for those calling for the death penalty, I have a better idea.

How about inflicting the both of them with every second of physical and mental angony that 7 y/o went through.
Times a million. A months long. Non-stop.

Iceman_B

kids still play mortal kombat??

anyways, sad news.. another day another murder

JimmyHACK

Mortal Kombat?!, "I was drunk", and a 16 year old alone and unsupervised with the 17 year old boyfriend? Seriously?!?!
For starter:
You've got to ask yourself where the parents are in this situation. You hear strange noises coming from your 16 year old daughters room and as a father you go in there with a shotgun and a shovel. Especially if the 17 year old boyfriend is over.

This sounds to me like tha kids were boning, the younger sister comes to see whats going on and the two flip out about getting caught and beat the crap out of her. Watching to much CSI makes me wonder if they are going to check for sexual trauma.

Its things like this that scare the hell out of me as a parent. For as much wisdom and guidance as you can instill in your kids there are fifty other kids with no values and poor moral fiber almost aching to ruin your kids life pulling some dumb stunt. Private schooling + being an open/honest parent = non-F'd up kids.

pigmartyr

Mortal Kombat isn't at fault here. The parents of the girls are. Immaturity didn't just kick in--it was always there.

Where the hell were the parents all 16 years of this girls life? Were they even parenting--this story screams all sorts of neglect!

Where the heck was the state to take these children away from their parent-less home?

This is such a sad, sad story.

Parents need to be made accountable for the poor actions of their children--not gaming companies.

American_N_Japan

@r0Be:

Hey Me, reading comprehension, they were baby sitting twin 3yr olds, but the girl who passed was 7.

Correcting myself so others don't have to. Doesn't change one bit of my previous sentiments.

r0Be

I'm ruthless bastard and I say that the death penalty is the easy way out. I'd want them to suffer for what they did. Maybe a good caning for the both to start and then build up from there.

They didn't show that 7 year old and sympathy, why should they get any.

hondo

Horrible tragedy. These two do not deserve sympathy or justice. Life is prison is what they deserve. I would say Death Penalty, but I think it'll be better off if they get abused in jail for the rest of their lives.

My heart goes out to the family. I hope this doesn't fuel the "crusade" against Video Games. If anything, it's the combination of idiot kids and alcohol.

Saint Anima

@Mister_Willy: Criticism accepted and digested. Still, your post does highlight my perception of a lot of us gamers. I feel we get WAY too on edge about it. They are just games, after all.

PogiJones

My heart goes out to the family and friends here... this is a really sad story to hear, further impacted by the holiday season.

tkshredder

I'm sick from reading the story, and I'm a little sick from reading some of these posts, but at least no one here acts out their video games (Assasin's Creed crowd walk aside). WTF?

It's all about parenting. Who leaves their three daughters with their oldest daughter and idiot boyfriend (who is clearly socially retarded, btw)? 20 year sentence for both hopefully.

CommanderSheppard

These kids are probably sociopaths. Something is wrong with their brains. Society will be better with them removed from it, yes, but don't try to understand their actions in the context of "normal" people.

@sadkermit: no trial required

...I wouldn't call for lenience or anything, but "no trial required" is a dangerous precedent. I hope you were kidding.

beeporama

@Fuxion:
agreed, that is disgusting

thebluick

@raddishs:

Ditto. lol =\

On the real though, this is a horrific story. Pathetic that the convicted stated that they were drunk. What a crock of shiet. Only in America would people still try and use that excuse.

def PD

@Shin-Kaiser: it is in bad taste doofus, thanks for noticing.

whats wrong with kids today? it isnt videogames,rap music, or movies. its the damn parents who neglect their most important responsibility to their children. this is one of the most senseless acts i have read about in a long time. i know people on here and in general like to talk about how the youth is going to waste.blah blah blah. what is really going to waste is horrible parenting and role model figures so that horrible things like this never happen. i grew up fatherless, in the toughest of conditions living in the inner city in NY. I witness violence on a daily basis at one point. i could have gone down the path of selflessness,but I had the luxury of having a mother to be mother/father figure to me. i pray that the youth coming up will have the same luxury.

r.i.p. zoe
where you're going, no one can ever hurt you again.

zanzibarlegend

saw it on CNN was like "wha" and now reading about it, well wtf was thier problem, for punishment? c'mon torture machine!

SkutSkut

@EddyBrentwood: The world isn't made of candy and rainbows. People cope with things differently. Would you rather have me write something along the lines of me feeling so terrible for a person that I never even met before, on top of that: on the Internet and a gaming blog?
I'd rather be sincere and say that while I feel what happened is clearly wrong and a terrible thing, I still had to smile regarding that comment. Sometimes tough truth is better than false pity.

Achaemenid

@cooldood: Annoying: Every comment you say beginning with "fact:". Please stop.

dv8godd

stupid or sociopath?

weirdly, i'm hoping their sociopaths.

relax_guy

Let alone a child

wyrfxrssn

I can't believe these people. On top of that, they're going to blame it on 'video games causing violence.' Blame alcohol, because no sober person would reenact Mortal Kombat and beat the crap out of somebody.

wyrfxrssn

The worst part about this story is how many warning signs there were that something like this might happen, and that it then could've been avoided, but wasn't. Click the links for the full story, right now there is very, very little focus on any kind of video game angle and a whole lot of emphasis on how this was a tragedy waiting to happen. How much worse that a family member would be involved at all...

DefenderShip

Their punishment should be increased considerably for claiming that being drunk contributed to them not realizing they were beating a child to death.

t0yrobo

They'll most likely both get life sentences. I saw a documentary in a criminal justice class a few weeks ago, and 3 of the 4 cases examined were from Colorado.

With those, and this, and Columbine, is something up with the school systems there?

Blind_Evil

How terrible. I can't even begin to imagine how the mother must feel being only a few blocks away from the incident. I hope these kids get their asses killed in Gen. Pub. when they go to jail. This story made me so angry because once again, the slightest mention of video games and THERES THE ISSUE! Someone call JT!

And also, who the fuck plays Mortal Kombat any more? Not saying it's a bad game... but really, when is the last time any of us played that game (outside of XBLA version of UMK3)? I'm pretty sure these morons don't have a 360 either. How sad man, fuck these kids. Throw them in a cage match with some REAL fighters and snap their necks... IM SO MAD ABOUT THIS!

nmconeway

Fatality!

Joking apart that's pretty fucked up.

Gofthick

Where is common sence in all of this? I have been drunk plenty of times and so have my friends, but that doesn't mean I feel the need to go out and do some damage.
Hell, maybe they should have blamed Lesure Suit Larry for them having sex too. "But Mama, he sayd I'z coodn't get pregnant if I rode on tops of him"

This society is screwed up when people can't use common sence and take responcibility for their own actions.

frypandan

@Gypsie: I know, problem is the 'peers' may say something like, 'oh, their just kids' 'economic situations' 'previous violence in their family led to this behaviour'

You know, the kind of shit that's just excuses - there is NO excuse for this. This literally gives me a sick feeling inside, so sad.

While it's sad, and these kids are young - they deserve to pay the ultimate price - he should be put down, she should have to watch this and live the rest of her life in prison with no chance of parole.

Man, I don't even care about the game tie-in, it's the violence that sickens me.

/rant

sadkermit

how the hell do people "reenact" mortal kombat, you cant shoot fireballs out of ur hand or throw spears that magically pop out of ur wrists. what they did was the equivalent of reenacting karate kid or and chuck norris film.

gilla

I read this just now and I just can NOT wrap my head around it.
How MAJORLY FUCKED UP IN MY GODDAMNED HEAD have you got to be, to pull a stunt like this.

Please fire them into the sun, our genepool doesn't need contributions from these 2.
Seriously, doesn't it register what happens when you KICK a SEVEN year-old.

I'm lost for more words, seriously...

Iceman_B

@Shin-Kaiser: I lol'd, but only because the internet has turned my heart into a cold unfeeling lump of coal.
+100 Internets to you, -1,000,000,000 internets from these murderous teenage drunks.

Infradead

FLAWLESS VICTORY!

(seriously though, they cracked an egg the girl's throat? that's more messed up than turning into a dragon and biting somebody's head off, if you ask me.)

evil robot ted

I'd just like to point out to all those hating on Shin-Kaiser that humor *is* one of the ways people react to and cope with bad news.

MechaTama31

@Achaemenid: yeah, I totally get it and no it doesnt make me feel better to "insult" you. I am just surprised and disappointed that anyone could find any humor at all out of such a situation.

EddyBrentwood

@cooldood: wow...

CreepyP

Aaarrgh... I hate that. And please, don't blame alcohol. Alcohol is not bad, you can abuse it, like with everything else. I blame idioticy. Is sad, very sad.

tei

disturbing! sick! unbelievable! sad! people like that don't deserve the light of day! and this all in this season..

maiky-nisute

Fact: Heather is very cute!!

cooldood

This story is absolutely disgusting. These two idiots are truly animals. I don't know how many of you have a 3 year old in your family, but this is a very small child that this person was severly beating on.

God bless the rest of the family and especially the poor little girl who passed, these two have ruined all of their lives. Hopefully the punishment is severe and the criminal justice system refuses to allow the buck to be passed on to some other remote blame. At 17....you are a man. A cowardly animal, but you knew your actions and their consequences. He should serve consecutive life sentences. No chance of parole.

r0Be

@Kiriphii: Ew lol :> Prison, the one place I hope I never have to see from the inside.

Achaemenid

@Achaemenid:

Well it probably beats a shower with 'Bubba'... >_>

Kiriphii

To even think he has the gall to try and blame this on something other than their own lack of compassion or not having even a shred of humanity. They try to blame it on being drunk and re-enacting video games. More likely, the sadistic son of a bitch got bored and decided that beating the ever living shit out of his sister was the appropriate course of action. And then, provided that their story is true, which I doubt, trying to find out if she is still breathing by cracking an egg down her throat? Seriously? They should be beaten to a bloody pulp just for being that freaking stupid. Honestly. Lets break this one down...
You're sister who is half your age has been kicked in the head and stopped breathing. Do you:
A. Call an Ambulance
B. Call 911
C. Begin CPR
D. Crack a raw egg down her throat
(P.S. The answer is NOT D)

Motherfucker still chose D.

Jackal239

So other than the fact they beat the shit out of this little girl (and then poured an egg down her throat... how fucking STUPID do you have to be), how exactly were they acting out "Mortal Kombat?" Sounds like after they realized they'd killed her, or after deliberately killing her, they came up with some half-brained "video games made me do it" excuse.

I say give them the death penalty. Either they did this in cold blood and deserve it... or they're so dangerously stupid that it would be safer for the community to get rid of them.

Mommar

I feel terrible for the mother and rest of the family.

We all know how this is going to play out in the media, as effects of violents video games. We (as in the learned Kotaku readers) know of course that violence in society is multifactorial. From these early reports, it sounds like drunk teenagers wiht absentee parents are more to blame. It's too bad for people that enjoy gaming, that the dimwitted people (JT included) who do things like this have realized that it's an easy scapegoat.

Thank the gods for Child's Play.

Cojo21

My condolences to the family. Whatever happens, they will probably end up losing two daughters over this.

MechaTama31

Disgusting and heartbreaking!:( It's also sad to see a fellow Kotaku'r poke fun and find humor ( in an event which involved a 7 year old child getting beat to death.
Not to mention, the "joke" didn't even require more than half a brain cell to come up with, so why even bother?

superflypmp

@EddyBrentwood: Fatality->Mortal Kombat impersonating. Bad taste yes, I couldn't help but smile though. Go ahead insult me if that makes you feel better...

Achaemenid

@shaunomacx: yeah, and two people actually laughed at the comment. whats wrong with people?

EddyBrentwood

@Shin-Kaiser: Thank you for making me feel like a bad person, I laughed. What can I say, I'm a scumbag... and it was so freakin' obvious too.

CreepyP

Disgusting.

Shannon1177

Can't blame alcohol because you should have enough brains to know right from wrong when your drunk, and obviously they were not that drunk if they were performing mortal kombat moves on a kid. Blame the two for being stupid no good slappatorries morons. Alcohol is good...

saturnofthesega

So they should blame being drunk then? Or maybe that they are sick in the head? Personally I think both of those would come above blaming a game.

I feel so sorry for the family :(

Mr Brolly

@PogiJones:

I think your missing the point there boy - calm down

Mister_Willy

Sad. Truly sad. My heart goes out to the family.
 
I wonder which vice gets the majority of the blame? Video games? Underage drinking? Being a fucking moron?
 
And just to clarify... I don't remember the Mortal Combat game where you savagely beat a 7-year-old girl to death and crack raw eggs in her mouth. I'm pretty sure I skipped that installment.

dv8godd

@Shin-Kaiser: You're kind of an asshole...

VendettaUF

@Kiriphii: Agreeing with what you said besides the last sentence. You don't know if death is better or worse than life imprisonment now do you :)

Achaemenid

@Achaemenid: how could you possibly laugh?

EddyBrentwood

Mortal Kombat isn't responsible for this case. What if there were watching Pres. Bush's speech?

setuzoku

@sadkermit:
@Bruzer:
@Moonchilde:

I'm sorry, I know here is not a place for (too much) political discussion, but you can't just go around crowing for the death penalty.

The death penalty fixes nothing. It is an archaic 'eye for an eye' system that should have never been brought back by the US government. The worst these two should get is full life imprisonment. They should have to live each day realising that they cannot enjoy their lives because they stopped another one so short.

The death penalty to them would just be the easy way out.

Kiriphii

This is just terrible. What a thing to happen around the Holidays. My prayers go out to the parents.

ballaboy311

Rest in peace young one.

I hope they get life for this man. That is really fucked up what they did.

Death Two ALL

OH MY GOD this just proves that people don't kill people, fifteen-year-old games kill people.

Quick, somebody pass legislation to ban XBLA and the Wii VC! Those two are just POWDERKEGS waiting to transform all of our sweet, innocent kids into mindless killing machines!

gregly

@Shin-Kaiser: thats totally out of line, consider yourself flagged for the ban hammer mate for making a sick joke at a young girls death.

you suck!

shaunomacx

@raddishs: how could you possibly laugh?

EddyBrentwood

@sadkermit:

Hey look, I can tolerate many different views on the issue of capital punishment, but are you serious about the no trial part?

WhoreofSpamylon

The other day I found myself in Iraq acting out the things I learned in Quake 3.

:rolleyes:

Arthois

@AbyssUK:

Seriously, what the hell? That's the least one should worry about when shit like this happens.

Pietepiet

Death by Norris, is what this calls for.

cleotis_max

@Majorasblaze - Now with added words!: A video game was mentioned and somebody died so there is no doubt that it will.
This is absolutely ridiculous. There are just too many fucking idiots on this planet. We need some sort of an.... idiot cleansing.

CreepyP

@Shin-Kaiser: God damn I had to laugh...does that make me a bad person?

On topic, well, why the fuck would they agree to do this in the first place. Then again, if they were drunk, they must have been deliberately SO badly drunk to not think any more (since the guy didn't stop), therefore both deserve the highest penalty if you ask me.

Achaemenid

@Mister_Willy: Equally retarded? EQUAL? Please tell me you're kidding. Did you even read the story?

Someone who points fingers is just as retarded as someone who kicks a little girl until she stops breathing, then cracks an egg down her throat?

I can't believe the paranoia that some gamers feel over games being blamed.

PogiJones

@DasKonstruct:

Seemed exactly like that to me too, I mean cmon, Mortal Kombat? not in the last decade.

Amaryllis

@DasKonstruct: That was my impression as well. There's got to be more to the story than a couple of kids beating someone to death for no good reason other than being drunk.

IronsUK

complete and utter morons.

Why was a 6 yearold with 2 drunk teens in the firstplace?

Goddamnit.. these are the same kids who used to watch jackass... watch even the warning in the beginning and the end... do something stupid... friend gets paralyzed... and then they blame the show...

Ugh. Rot in hell you little fuckers.

ChinezePanda

What's wrong with these people? Why don't you pick on someone your own size? Oh yeah, he will in jail. I would love to see if he can use his registered lethal hands when everyone in jail decides to gang rape him.

rhinojosa

@Shin-Kaiser: I hate you for making me laugh at that.

@The Post: Its shocking how morally vacant some people can be.

raddishs

[www.penny-arcade.com]

[www.penny-arcade.com]

[www.penny-arcade.com]

BD

@sadkermit: no, i think they should be made to stand in front of a jury of their "peers" and attempt to explain, or even justify, their actions, and see if "I dont know, i was drunk" stands up...

literally shocking, heart felt wishes to the family

Gypsie

What the hell is wrong with people?!

no name

"I was drunk."

That should get him out of trouble.

/sarcasm

Just reading that article sickened me. I wonder if Colorado has the death penalty. I wonder if they'll hire me to throw the switch.

Hardcore

this doesn't sound right. They were doing something else and killed the kid and are covering it up.

DasKonstruct

Last I heard, kids have been acting out playfights from a hell of a lot of things, including real life. I seriously hope this doesn't get used as a case against violent video games.

Majorasblaze - Now with added words!

I would love to reenact Mortal Kombat moves on this two fucking idiots. God I want to rip out his head out of his body so bad. There's no excuse for what they did and I hope Scorpion will burn them in hell. Poor girl, she didn't even had a chance. This is sickening.

thegunshow

Hope this haunts them for the rest of their lives.

Clushje

This retarded freak, may have just ruined our hobby.

AbyssUK

'he cracked an egg in her mouth "to see if she was messing around with them."'

WTF!

IronsUK

Sigh.. I don't even understand how people sober or not can hit little kids to the point of death or bone breaking.. What a world we live in.

cleotis_max

WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY THINKING?

Stefanten

nothing to do with games EVERYTHING to do with parents and education. These kids are morons or just evil.

Darkedge

Unbelievable ... "I don't know; I was drunk" - sounds like he's not really bothered by it all which is even more worrying.

My thoughts are with the family at this time of sorrow for them.

stalkeruk

This makes me really sad. Throw the book at them. Scum....pure scum.

Figcoinc

This is absolutely horrific. And let me be the first to say that these people couldn't have been acting out any video game, as no game ever has, or ever will, let you beat a helpless child to death.

luminus

I hope they give these two the death penalty.

Moonchilde

Those are some pretty retarded kids.

If someone blames video games, then they are sadly equally retarded.

Mister_Willy

That is absolutely ridiculous they should get death penalty then at the execution have people say Fatality... This is what is giving games a bad name people who don't have common sense...

Bruzer

That's sickening...

tshack

Wow that is sad.. I'm sure the guy would get his day with bubba and be turned into his Babality...

preskewl

I know it's in bad taste but....

...Fatality

Shin-Kaiser

I feel so sorry the family. One daughter murdering the other is one thing, but right before Christmas on top of that.

EmeraldDragon

death penalty for the both.

that'd be my verdict - no trial required.

sadkermit

Disgusting

Fuxion

I think I'm going to be sick...

JohnnyH87

Am I the only one who thinks the death penalty isn't that harsh? Where's the punishment when you kill someone who's taken a life? Let their mistake haunt them, let them sit in a cold cell for 40 years while they torture themselves over what they have done.

And don't give them a TV and a gym, either. People that do things like this need to truly regret their actions, on the deepest level.

unmarkedone

I love how people love to put the blame on everyone BUT the kids. My belief is simply this: We are all individuals with the ability to differentiate between right and wrong. Those two individuals knew they were in the wrong but didn't care. How do I know this? "...they put her in the bath, which temporarily revived her..." THAT one instance showed that they knew they had hurt her to some degree that they had to revive her.

But that didn't stop them. Why? Because of a simple plain truth. Most criminals (and these two are plainly criminals) have high self-esteem and are ego-centric. Meaning, they believe that they can't suffer repercussions from their actions. That, because of who they are, they are immune to the norms that everyone else is accountable to. This is clearly the case here. "Roberts, who claimed to be a martial-arts expert with his hands registered as 'lethal weapons'..." What a load of egocentric BS.

There is a reason 17 year olds can be tried as adults. As time progresses children are maturing, mentally, faster than we did when we were their ages. The fact that "adults" try to ascribe to those young adults their maturity level at that age is a sign of egotism on behalf of the "adults". Not everyone is or was like you. I mean, would YOU enact this terrible murder upon a small child?

The sheer brutality and sociopathic glee in which this murder was committed cries out for these two to be tried as adults. It also calls for the death penalty to be considered by a jury in a court of law.

Let's put the blame solely where the blame truly resides and nowhere else...with the two young adults mentioned in this article.

Graywind

@Shin-Kaiser:
I laughed, don't think it's banhammer worthy though...

As for blaming Mortal Kombat? Seems to me like trying to place blame somewhere else

nya-chama

Terrible....truly terrible.

I wonder how long it will take Senator Joe Lieberman to blame the entire industry for this one?

BOMEz

This girl had been subject to repeat abuse. And teachers claimed to have reported it. I thought we were supposed to be quick about this kind of thing?

As a gamer, I'm kind of annoyed by the prominence of of the Mortal Kombat angle over the underage drinking angle.

Tale

Condolences to the family :(

ImmortalZ

@Moonchilde:

As i said before: you don't know them, you haven't talked to them, you're making your conclusion from a newsarticlethat blames videogames! Besides it might take a while for it to sink in, that's what prison is for.

cchrist

I second whoever wrote "FATALITY", because it does come to mind.

And I actually felt bothered by the press release calling it "Mortal Combat", it's written with K for a reason. K's make everything more brutal and raw.

And as for the teenagers, they're obviously a lost cause, if they wouldn't have killed the girl, which is a tragedy, they would've eventually done something else equally detestable.

Shame video games take the blame again, but if they didn't, this probably wouldn't even have made the news in the first place.

Blue_Six

FATALITY!

More people blaming bad shit on games.

moshakirby

@StrangeLove:

Good god. Should have know the slippery slope argument would come into play. Yes, two pieces of human trash getting a fraction of the pain they caused that girl and the world will end up like 1984. All videogames be outlawed and we'll be executing tweens in the street. Chaos will reign and the world as we know it will end.

Destrudo

Douchebag parents/family members/friends or whoever purchased the game.

Who buys their two daughters 12 and 6 year olds Mortal Kombat?.

Fyren

Isn't it strange nowadays that they actually reveal the names and identities of minors that commit crimes. Before, they always kept the identities of minors hidden. But I guess since these kids are now being tried as adults, they can reveal their names. Still, it's pretty sickening to hear a couple teens would do something like that.

If people blame video games for this, then they are definitely mistaken. It was most likely the alcohol (which they were underaged to begin with) plus some other f'ed up things going on in their heads.

Phlycheez

@Kiriphii: Its not really the view point of eye for an eye that the death penalty vs life thing is all about. It may be barbaric but the stand point is why should the tax payers have to pay to keep these guys alive in jail so they can "live with there mistake"

Its more of they are terrible people who deserve no life and no one should ever be hurt/have to deal with them ever again.

I can tell you i dont want to pay for a "drunk" kid who cant tell the difference between right and wrong to live his life in solitary.

ShaggyB

Honestly this has nothing to do with video games, no one with an ounce of intelligence would ever think beating the living hell out of your 7 year old sister would be a good idea, I don't care how drunk you are.

_Argyle_

@meltyman:

I don't agree. It's the job of a parent to raise their children to be intelligent, productive members of society. Any child, any person, can be taught with the right degree of motivation and discipline.

It might not be easy to raise your kids, but that doesn't mean you can do a half-assed job or pass it off on video games or the friends they hang out with. It's your duty as a parent to intervene, sever unacceptable friendships, and keep your kids on the right track until they're out from under your roof.

unmarkedone

I'm in favor of the death penalty because I don't want my tax dollars going into supporting dirt like that for the rest of their lives. I see these two as nothing more than trash. That's disgusting, they are dumb, and they will contribute NOTHING to the over all being of anyone at this point.

Sorry, to have them sitting in a jail cell knowing that my money is keeping them alive? Psh. I'm normally very moderate to liberal, but on the death penalty. That should be a no tolerance issue in a case like beating someone to death.

TheKbob

i would give them double life sentences with NO possibility of Parole AND stick both of them in solitary confinement for the rest of their lives. Give them nothing but bread and water and a small pin hole of sunlight

"I didn't stop him because i was drunk"
BAH
More like you didn't stop him because you are retarded and you thought it was entertaining ><

"Roberts, who claimed to be a martial-arts expert with his hands registered as "lethal weapons"
Keyword in this is CLAIMED for all we know he could be making up this shit to make himself better than he already is, but here's something if you have nothing, and you are nothing, you can't turn nothing into nothing. That's what he is making himself out to be a NOTHING.

It's times like these i fear for our future. The new generation of kids are nothing but white kids who are wannabe black people, that have no common sense whatsoever, and are slowly becoming more and more retarded

For you intelligent ones out there, i thank you for straying from the path and not sticking with the norm.

RanChan03

@CapnSpank: Yeah, I really hope cooldood gets hammered. Calling that girl cute? Gross. Being irreverent is funny, but some people just don't know when they've crossed the line.

marissa_melee

@sadkermit:

The death penalty? Wow. They are horrible people, but this is a manslaughter case. Also, you know, the sister and her boyfriend are both MINORS. I'm not defending what they did, but if you start executing minors for manslaughter, it's a pretty slippery slope. It's no mistake that the Western world has taken a stance against giving minors the death penalty.

StrangeLove

@cchrist: yes let's give them another chance, while we're at it, let's let everyone else out of prison, I'm sure they didn't *mean* to do what they did /sarcasm.

SkutSkut

@Throtex: Yep, that's exactly what I meant. A lot of the commenters around here would mindlessly, uncritically come to the defense of nearly anything if they felt their hobby threatened.

However, for once this particular accusation isn't even worthy of anyone playing devil's advocate. It's absurd. It's like someone blaming gang violence on the Sugarhill Gang.

futurebiblehero

The sad thing is that the older sister was probably babysitting the other two.

Somehow, BOTH perpetrators seem to lack the most basic common sense: don't hit little kids. Especially not hard enough to give them bruises. You know that little girl must have been crying after the first hit.

VipingViper

Just truly horrible. A seven year-old child, hardly more than toddler. What posses someone to do something like this? People are really fucked up to each other but I could never, for any possible circumstance, hurt one of my siblings.

My condolences go out to the mother, my hatred to the the two teens. They really deserve to suffer for cutting short a life that never even really got to start. I don't think there's any suitable punishment short of torture that would be fit for those two monsters.

Destrudo

Video games seem to have become the new insanity plea. Mortal Kombat seems like a pretty obvious scapegoat.

HJungle

What do their actions even have to do with Mortal Kombat? Did THEY say they were acting out the game? There are no excuses for beating a small child to death. Games didn't do it!

unclean0ne

There are some kids that are just too stupid to play videogames. And then they have to do things like these. In this generation of ADD riddled, youtube addicted dumbass youth, I don't know what else I'm going to see in the future that disturbs me this much. But I hope I never have to. And the traditional remark that all gamers go back to is that parents should be doing their fucking jobs. But if your kids are this goddam stupid, what the fuck exactly CAN you do? This is just so sad. These kids won't get death but their lives mean nothing nonetheless and for the most part, they're over.

Gagamus

This is unbelievable. No matter how drunk I've ever been, I've never lost my humanity. I hope they're not able to use that as a mitigating circumstance. Just disgusting.

marissa_melee

All I have to say is that the Ban-Hammer will feed on some of these posts.

CapnSpank

@cchrist: Wait, why should these two be forgiven? They don't regret, and shrugged it off to being drunk. Perhaps if they showed even a little remorse, maybe they'd deserve forgiveness.

But if you'd read the article, you'd see the girl Zoe was constantly neglected, constantly had bruises on her, was beaten to death, and when the boyfriend was asked he shrugged and said he was drunk. Real remorseful!

Like I said, I'm sick of degenerate fucks like this in society, getting away with shit because the system will be abused by an attorney. When they get out of prison, do you think they'll have something to offer to society? If so, I'm glad you're up for polluting society with filth like this, because these types of people don't change.

Moonchilde

@unmarkedone:

Come on, are you serious? Its the mother's fault she trusted her 16 year old to take care of her sisters. I wish my parents trusted me enough when i was that old. Regardless of if its bad parenting or just bad eggs (bonnie and clyde types) finding each other, its highly judgemental to come out and blame the parents because they didnt raise the kids right. sometimes the kid is just fucking mental and no amount of parenting changes that

meltyman

Who gives a rat's ass about the blame that will be put on videogames?!

Is that really the first thing that people thought of when they saw this?? Now THAT is sickening...

mdgalaxy

This is pure BS! They are blaming the game so the juri has pity on them... omg its manhunt 2 or mortal kombat or wateva! They cant be blamed for this, its the games bad influence!!
omg what a bunch of crap!
Hope who ever is convicting them looks beyond all this BS!

LostHorizon

They are way too young for the death penalty. Give them 10 years, no chance for parole. It'll allow them to feel the pain for the rest of their lives, but still allow them to be functioning human beings with life left to live.

Quik

I fail to see any humor in the death of a 7 year old child.

Some of you here (you know who you are) should be ashamed at your responses.

ToastyBuffoon

@Mister_Willy: Expect John Bruce to be here in 5... 4... 3...

Papa Midnight

why do we test human medication on animals when we have people like these?

Dirkcee

"Jack Thompson,
Jack Thompson,
Jack Thompson."

::poof!::

Bastard11

a) the fact is they *were* acting out moves from Mortal Kombat. To say games had "nothing to do with this" is disingenuous.

b) They're 16 and 17 years old. "Maturity" doesn't enter into it. There's a reason why 18 is the age of legal adulthood; yes, it's somewhat arbitrary, but clearly most people are still kids before that age.

c) Those saying their parents should have been there are idiots. Parents cannot be around their kids 24 hours a day, nor should they be. (It's kind of difficult to prepare your child for real life if you're coddling them 24 hours a day.) Most babysitters are around the same age these kids were. Without further evidence, it's a little difficult to blame the parents here. Sure, maybe they're neglectful, but then again, maybe they were having their first night out together in 5 years... which they're as entitled to as anybody else.

d) Those calling for the death penalty are part of the problem. What we need is respect for human life here; clearly, there's not enough of that in this country. Unless your own life is in mortal danger, there is never any valid reason to take the life of another human being. All the death penalty does is continue to foster a society that's cavalier about killing.

badasscat

@sadkermit:

an armed society is a society based on fear. respect for one another will give you a polite society. you dont respect a gun. you fear it.

also american crime figures prove that your society is far from polite.

Latonone

Its crazy to me how people will say anything to keep from taking responsibility for a mistake. " oh i don't know i was drunk, we were imitating a game ", grow up. People not taking resp. for their actions is part of the reason games and other forms entertainment are being censored.

zato1

@djblackice: amen to that.@cooldood: and i don't need to go and complain to anyone, i have better things to do like calling out fools like yourself who speak rubbish. yes there are far worse crimes in the world, thanks for informing my dumbass. but does it lessen what happened here? and is this thread about this incident, or the problems in the world abroad? this was senseless, i apologize for not sharing your sense of humor in a moment of tradegy. Wow she's so cute, and how old are you might i ask? exactly, STFU.

zanzibarlegend

Interesting, the news titles on both sites mentions Mortal Kombat but not Alcohol. I hate how the media seems to "draw attention and make a profit" form cases like this one. This is far beyond what the press should be.

Wyld

Ugh. People can be so fucking stupid. Jesus Christ. I've been a party to some serious drinking, but never in my ENTIRE FUCKING LIFE, even in my most senseless state, would I think harming a child is something to do.

Crap like this just makes me want to curl up into a ball and fucking weep.

And what's worse is some dipshit politician is going to take advantage of this to further his/her career.

heretrix

IF anyone bothers to read the actual news reports, you'll find something even more chilling: This was not the first time something like this has happened to the girl:

"Rhonda Simonetti said she baby-sat Zoe and her twin sisters twice, for four days each time, when she noticed bruises on Zoe.

"The first time I asked her, she said she fell down the stairs," Simonetti said. "The second time, she started crying and said Lamar had been hitting her." "

Where was the mother in all this? Surely you don't leave your kid home alone with someone who was reported to have beaten her! Sure, this Lamar character is dastardly for using video games as a scapegoat for drunkenly killing a little girl, but this could have been prevented by the mother stepping in and doing something about it.

Nevertheless, I'm sure our favorite anti-gaming lawyers and politicians are going to come crawling out of the woodworks to condemn video games once again, because clearly it's the video games and not poor parenting or excessive drinking/stupidity.

I'm with everyone else in saying the two killers should somehow be stricken from the gene pool. They aren't fit to be parents, ever. Plus, why allow psychopathy to propogate?

TheRockingDead