Not guilty? What's his defence? That he played a videogame that has been played by millions before him?

If this works we can all thank Mr Thompson for stirring the hype that is his defence.

lumpi

@Llost:

"Why should someone who deliberately kills someone and may reoffend get put in a prison which normal hard working citizens have to pay for? And then he'll have most likely been in jail for over 10 years for a murder so guess what, it's harder to readjust to normal life, he's been in prison with people who aren't exactly role models and he#s got a criminal record making him less likely to get employed."

Oh please don't give me the "mercy" killing crap, because life would be hard outside doesn't justify it. I'm sure there are plenty of ex-cons who are living legitimate good lifes who can vouch for me on this.

Between a second chance or death, people would choose a second chance.

" He's quite likely to reoffend at the end of it so save us the money, stop the possibility of reoffending and get revenge and jutsice for the little girl who was murdered in one quick and easy thing."

He's not the typical violent criminal or psychotic maniac, his chances of killing again don't seem quite as likely as you make it out to be. In fact I'd say they're just about the same as the chances of a non-previous offender of commiting murder.

What he needs is reform, unfortunately America's prisons do a terrible job at that. There is a lot of problems with the justice system, and it isn't "criminals are costing the people money".

On the contrary you do know that it costs the "normal working people" even more to put this man to death right?

Deaf Mute

@aphex_twin: I guess since we havent gotten drunk as 17 year olds and beat a small girl to death we can allow our selves to be somewhat high and mighty. Most of us anyway.

More to the point just because he feels bad doesn't make it all better. Ive read some diaries of nazi's who felt bad that they killed all those people but that doesnt mean they shouldnt have been punished accordingly. The issue is not remorse or the reason why the crime was committed the issue is that these two murdered a little girl. Knocking over your xbox after a couple drinks is not the same as kicking a 7 year old to death while illegally under the influence.

snakepliskin

@aphex_twin: I remember getting drunk 3 times, one time I threw up. One time some guys came after out and looked angry (cos my friends were being loud) so I went over and talked to them and we sorted it out. On our way back my friend was being a d*ck again but I just told my friend to carry on walking and I stalled the others till he was a little far away and then just catched up. That was a perfect time to get into a fight yet I did nothing cos drinking doesn't make you violent, it's the person. Anyway third time I just threw up again, that time was different though cos I drunk about alot of after shcok (about 20 pints worth in one go).

Llost

@LittleBigPlaneteer: When there's more than enough evidence to convict, as it appears in this case; it would be dumb to plead not guilty. If you make the state go through the extra work and expense of actually going to trial, they ask for, and usually get, much higher sentences than you would get in a plea bargain.

robinandtami

The sad thing is: This kind of situation probably happens often, they just don't result in the death of the kid.

LittleBigPlaneteer

@adocious: Obviously it doesn't have to be child killing, it could be any stupid thing done while drunk. I mean, I knocked over my Xbox once while under the influence.

aphex_twin

And people ask me why I lost hope on humanity.......

ADM86

@aphex_twin: Yeah, I have a lot of sympathy for them. I mean, who hasn't had a night of drunken child killing? Everyone has at least one regretful memory of murdering a 7 year old...

adocious

@Ad-hominem: It was satisfying. ;)

Brian Crecente

Blaming things on MK is so 1994.

Spootythegameguru

@aphex_twin:

Who gets drunk around 7 year olds?

Omniel

So why don't you hear hear anything in mainstream media citing how asinine the situation is to have people who have an obvious issue blame it on games. Kinda disheartens things when media only concentrates mainly on crimes that can't be explained properly with a clear motive.

Kaizuden

@Radz: ahh. gotcha.

bigman88zz

Boy, you people sure are a high-and-mighty, morally correct bunch. Haven't any of you ever gotten drunk and done something stupid before?

I'm sure this kid feels terrible about what he did, but some of these comments are just awful. There's no reason to take a bad situation and make it worse than it already is with some of the knee-jerk reactions I'm seeing here.

aphex_twin

Not only is he using the video game made me do it defense he also combined it with the mel gibson i was drunk defense. Sadly i doubt either of them will do the time they deserve. If you go through punishments for abusing a child theyre fairly lenient even when they result in death. A major flaw in the system. Hell you should see how many offenders walk.

snakepliskin

@Ad-hominem:
It was merely a statement on the severity of a hate comment. Yes, the proper order should've been to disemvowel, delete, and then ban - but I digress...

Lazlo

Im glad that guy got banned for his comments, people think cause someone has a moral ethic, means they are religious? people are idiots.

As for this guy, I hope he serves maximum time.

Omniel

He seems pretty stupid. "I killed her by beating her up... however I did not commit child abuse resulting in death."
Well, then, what did you do?
There's no other way to take it. He killed a child. An innocent child. And now he's trying to shift the blame onto anything and everything else. He makes me sick.
A somewhat decent human being would own up to their actions. He's worse. He's a murderer who would try and walk away from the entire thing unrepentant.

@Brian Crecente: Seems kind of pointless.You're banned! And I'm disemvowling your comment.
Now, I'm going to delete the comment I just disemvowled, making the last step in question pointless. I fully support deleting his comment and banning him, but it just seems a little weird to disemvowel him too.

Ad-hominem

@RanChan03: Now that's a good prison. Sounds better than the usual crap but I still think they should go for an isolationist style in prisons too so they don't have contact with other violent and bad influence prisoners.

Llost

Such a depressing case.

sir_carrot

@Llost: that's so stupid, the sentence she got. It's like a small slap to the wrist. 18 years isn't nearly enough to spend in jail. If it were up to me, i would have BOTH of them sent to this arizona prison
[www.truthorfiction.com]

They literally live with the bare minimum and meals are less than .40 a day. And they live in tents outside in the heat.

RanChan03

@Brian Crecente:
Oh, well, sucks to be that guy....well, not really cause I don't wanna be banned. I love me some Kotaku!!

Lazlo

@LittleBigPlaneteer: You don't want to know how 'free' that is in my book.

Llost

@art_zombie: Reasonable thought like yours may not survive in this post's comment section. I wish you good luck!

baxterpunch

@Brian Crecente: Crescente, what's your opinion about those two murderers?

Grimmjow Jeagerjaques

@Deaf Mute: No I don't kill via vigalantism (not that I haven't thought about it) but I believe that if you kill you should be killed except in rare circumstances (to defend someone else, self defence, definite accident etc.). Why should someone who deliberately kills someone and may reoffend get put in a prison which normal hard working citizens have to pay for? And then he'll have most likely been in jail for over 10 years for a murder so guess what, it's harder to readjust to normal life, he's been in prison with people who aren't exactly role models and he#s got a criminal record making him less likely to get employed. He's quite likely to reoffend at the end of it so save us the money, stop the possibility of reoffending and get revenge and jutsice for the little girl who was murdered in one quick and easy thing.

Sorry if I offend anyone but I believe in capital punishment so there.

Llost

@Brian Crecente: Ah, got you.

Krondonian

@LittleBigPlaneteer: I would take full responsibility for my actions if I killed ANY of my siblings (who I've raised myself for most of my life)and beg them to give me the death sentence, if I didn't do the job myself first.

He helped take the life of a seven year old child. I don't care if he was reenacting scenes from Barbie Horse Show, the little piss ant is going to prison, and gods help him if any of his fellow inmates know why he's there.

Prisoners typically see chesters (child molesters usually, but occasionally applied to those who kill children) as worse scum then they could ever be, and make them number one targets for lots of scary shit what be scary.

Jayl3w

@art_zombie: taking the life of a child is a MASSIVE Crime. Drunk or not, Those two should be in Prison for the rest of their lives.

Grimmjow Jeagerjaques

Why always fatalities? Why never friendships? Come on people!

unknownoliver

It's guys like this that make me wish seppuku was still a socially acceptable form of repentance. Leave your family with it's honor, slime.

And if the sister gets off scott free, that's messed up, too.

A sad case, all around.

Insomnia Bob

@Llost:

That's pretty much going free in my book. She spends ZERO time in Jail. She should be part of a youth offender program in addition to spending some time in prison.

LittleBigPlaneteer

Not guilty? He must be out of his mind. What he did is cruel and unforgivable!

BlueWizard422

@Krondonian: Hate speech

Brian Crecente

@bigman88zz: Well it was 6 characters long, 1 word, all in caps, and it started with the letter n. Hope that's a good enough hint. :(

Radz

@LittleBigPlaneteer: I'd say I was guilty for a few reasons. Firstly you get a shorter sentance for admitting it, secondly they must know he did it as there'll be evidence, thirdly he did do it and if he doesn't confess then he's going to look like an even worse rat b*stard than he already is. Not to mention it's the truth.

Llost

The old "Mortal Kombat" defense.

I think lawyers need to update their law books.

Nobody plays mortal kombat anymore.

ViciousViper

Wow...Mortal Kombat

Everytime a Video Game defense is uttered a mandatory sterilization should have to take place.

Tietsu

@Llost:

What is unfortunate is that you're not drunk and would suggest beheading someone for this.

I'll be skimming the news for your name. :)

"Homicidal Net Vigilante Slays Four"

Deaf Mute

@Brian Crecente:
What did he say? Man I jumped into this post just a little too late I guess. Also, the fact that he will receive no jail time rots me to my core.

Lazlo

Still terrible, still irresponsible, still bad people.

Hopefully the system works and they can be reformed and make something of their lives after they've served their time.

Otherwise they can rot in prison for all I care.

art_zombie

They should "Finish Him" but really he should get the death penalty however, I don't know if that's possible in Colorado.

DBobMane

If he would have pleaded Guilty Gear they probably would have given him his insanity plea. it would have been way easier.

Assassin_Kensei

Do not upset Kotaku's Holy Man Jes....Mr. Crecente.

Grimmjow Jeagerjaques

Honestly now, would anyone here in his situation not say you weren't guilty? I highly doubt it. Sure none of you would be this idiotic to be put in this situation, but I'd plead non guilty to, despite knowing I was.

LittleBigPlaneteer

@LittleBigPlaneteer: 'She received an 18-year suspended prison sentence. As part of a plea deal, Trujillo will spend six years in a youth offender program.'

Llost

Was it WWF games or wwf wrestling. :P

zkotaku

@Brian Crecente: I thought Gawker policy was to never delete comments?

I'm in favour of getting rid of them, especially the likes of that.

I don't know all the facts of the case, but it certainly doesn't look good for him. Surely pleading not guilty will simply extended the sentence?

Krondonian

damn, i missed Freakk5's comment. now i have to guess what heartless statement he made.

i hope this thread wont turn out like the traditional kotaku threads related to death and trials

bigman88zz

Wow, trying to figure out what deluded world he's living in that would have him plead not guilty to something to blatantly obvious, that a small child could say that he kill that little girl. So what he was drunk at the time. That shouldn't be a deciding factor. "oops i was drunk so it wasn't my fault she died"

"oops i was drunk so me behind the wheel and killing the couple in the other car wasn't my fault it's the alcohol's fault"

Another thing, him being drunk at 17 should add even MORE to his charges. He needs to be locked away and have the key thrown away. Him and his retarded GF

RanChan03

Even if you were drunk you wouldn't hurt a little girl unless you were sick so just behead him and have it done with. Honestly jail is a waste of time and money for people like this.

Llost

You know if someone blamed their crimes on violent books or movies or any other art form (violent interpretive dance?) no one would give them a second glance. It's crap like this that stops video games being taken seriously as an art form.

unknownoliver

I don't really know what to say, we've discussed this case so many times before and I doubt anybody will say anything new.

Deaf Mute

And good banning by the way.

Samuri9Fingers

It's a shame that video games have to suffer and give people even more reason to doubt their validity when something like this happens. What a cop out for this moron.

Samuri9Fingers

So let me guess, she's walking free and he's going to jail? Yep I'm calling this right now.

LittleBigPlaneteer

@Radz: So very banned. And disemvoweled and deleted. Yowsa!

Brian Crecente

@Freakk5: Good luck with getting banned.

Radz

Well at least it's a change from the "Grand Theft Auto" defence.

Radz

I have nothing more to say than I hope he burns.

NitrousO

Not guilty to what charge?

Because if they're going after premeditated murder, and he's saying not guilty because it's not premeditated, that's perfectly reasonable.

Can we please have all of the facts before we froth at the mouth over this? Thanks.

Saxboy

@Jayl3w: Fine we'll do it whatever is an easy painless way and would that make you happy? Or is it just that you don't want death at all?

I never knew beheading was so painful to be honest but I'd go for a painful method if it were my choice (so beheading) since it's a punishment really and they have to suffer for what they did. Still if people largely disagreed with me I wouldn't object to a painless method since it's then merely an act of killing to prevent others suffering rather than a painful killing of that man.

Llost

@QuasarSquirrel:

really?

Do the guys in prison sit around and decide?

"hmm...he's only in here for robbing a liqour store...let's not rape him and bash his teeth in...OMG! That guy killed a little girl? GET 'EM!"

Just curious...XD

Vecha

Christ almighty, so he's going to blame Mortal Kombat and being drunk? is that seriously what he's claiming? Jesus what a senseless murder, makes me sick

Llost: @Deaf Mute: please don't turn this into a debate about the death penalty lads, c'mon

excel_excel

@Vecha: I don't blame you, not everyone wants blood on there hands but I believe there are those who'd be willing to stand up and kill the ones who would take the lives innocents. It's about self defence in my opinion, I just don't want to release people who would kill again. Normal people don't kill nowadays so the ones who do kill are clearly willing to do it and when it's a case like this where it's triggered by nothing you couldn't say you would want these men around on your streets. Possibly working with your children, hanging in the streets where your kids play or anywhere else but a prison or dead.

You don't just let those who were involved decide, it would be a judge like any other system. Only difference would be that there's a death penalty possible for those who are particularly bad or likely to reoffend.

Llost

As a father, I fully support killing both of these fucktards. I don't care whether he was under the influence or not, he took a little girls life and she's not much better. It said that she asked him to stop, eventually. When he didn't she should have escalated her wishes, preferably with something sharp and pointy. But she didn't, so screw her.

@Deaf Mute:

You mention that he shouldn't be murdered and he could be rehabilitated. So? What he did was just wrong and there is nothing that can ever make up for that. As such, I think he should be put to death. You may not agree, and that's fine. We have differing opinions on the matter.

Lastly, you mentioned the costs. While I do not know what the differences are, I think it's ridiculous that it very well may cost more. A bullet is cheap. Spending a lot of money on someone who is just going to die by the state makes no sense to me.

BrandonW

<,<,^,b+a,A Wall Hit ^ b+a

MisterMcThursday

If he ends up in prison he's gonna be in for a horrendous time. Bad things happen to child killers.

QuasarSquirrel

@Llost: Actually, beheading is possibly the most painful death you could ever receive. You're taking deep panicked breaths, bringing high oxygen levels to the blood pumping through your brain, which stays alive between 15-30 seconds after your head is separated from your body. Through what tests have been done on the matter, for that entire time it's the most unbelievable agony you can ever feel.

I'm okay with certain situations calling for the death penalty, I mean I'm one of those 'everything in moderation' kind of blokes but beheading... ahhh, no. Something a little less horrifying, please and thanks.

Jayl3w

@You Are My Friend!: "We can't just treat these guys like they're are scum.. regardless of what they did.

You can't just divide people into winners and losers.
"

Yes you can. Current western society is too weak/scared/mediocre to commit to making such decisions.

Those two are scum and I sincerely hope they have no small amount of tragedy in their lives and are routinely subjected to things they find impossible to enjoy or endure.

Some things shouldn't be forgiven.

EndersGame

@lumpi: You're basing your assumptions on the fact we still have old, outdated technology. The police, the forensics, the courts are all improving and all learning how to better tell what really happened and yet on the chance we might kill one innocent man you'd let every violent murderer go out and possibly reoffend?

I'm not inflexible, capital punishment isn't here and I'm ok with that. I'd just prefer they either do isolationist prisons (keep prisoners seperated) with constant reformation while there in there or they kill them.

Llost

@aphex_twin: @Omniel: Not only drunk around seven year olds. Drunk while babysitting seven year olds.
And it's one thing to get drunk and crash your car or pour lemon juice in your eyes. While drunk driving is awful, it's a whole other level to pound a little girl to death as she screams for mercy.

Ad-hominem

@Llost:

I'm not saying I'm against...but I'm not for it either.

I couldn't stomach pointing at someone and saying, "you die!"...

Of course...that isn't my little girl...so again...another reason I think my opinion matters little.

Then again just letting those involved choose the fate would be more vengence then justice..hmmm

Vecha

I kinda feel bad for the girl more then the guy...

I was watching a documentary...and it said the chances that a woman is the "mastermind" is low...

I'm sure he came up with the idea to drink and act like a complete moron.

I had a member of my family die...because her b/f persuaded her to take acid.

So yea. Bias against men in crimes...sorry.lol

Vecha

@Deaf Mute: It's not a mercy kill, it's nothing to do with mercy on his side. He's a pathetic murderer but I'd rather chuck him to his death than pray that reformation can work. I wouldn't risk another child getting killed just so I can say I gave him a second chance. Yeah and I'm sure there's plenty of reoffenders too. The point is you can't tell who reoffends and who doesn't and I'm only suggesting you kill the most vile people like this man who brutally beat to death a 7 year old girl. He probably didn't even kill her the first hit but he most likely carried on hitting her till she did die.

I'm a person and I'd choose death for that man.

He's not psychotic? He just beat to death a little girl, no provocation, no reason, no allibi. WTF????

I'm suggesting several reasons why we're better off killing them, real well done reformation is expensive and may not even work if you do it. Face it your hoping he won't kill another person, you can't say he won't and you'd let him out on a whim and if he killed again you'd take no responsibility cos liberal people like you just want to pretend everyone deserves a second chance. That girl got no chance against a 17 year old yet he beat her to death and claimed he was innocent.

Not with a beheading it doesn't. Chop.

Llost

We can't just treat these guys like they're are scum.. regardless of what they did.

You can't just divide people into winners and losers.

You Are My Friend!

@Llost: I don't agree. I'm against "capital punishment" (stupid euphemisms, let's call it governmental vengeance-murder) in general, though.

You can make a law for one person. There are people in this world, I have no trouble seeing on the electric chair. But that's not the reason I am against death penalty.

The way I see it, one in a hundred, or even more people who were killed on the electric chair (or whatever sick instrument was used) were innocent. Things like DNA tests proved the innocence of people in death row many years after they were imprisoned. And sometimes, well, sometimes the judge is plain wrong.

You can't say, we should have this because here's a guy I believe 100% deserves it. Not unless we can be sure that 100% of the people killed were actual criminals. And that will never be the case.

lumpi

@aphex_twin: Are you srsly comparing the beating to death of a 7 year old child to knocking your XBox off the shelf?

Really?

Jayl3w

Then again... if this guys is guilty just hang him. In public.

taduman

@Amazon_Chris: Yeah, just like you can't accidentally do anything. If they regret it, then it was a mistake on there part

You Are My Friend!

Come on guys, what the heck happened to "Homo praesumitur bonus donec probetur malus"

Seriously the ["Mortal Kombat Killer" Pleads Not Guilty]. WTF.

taduman

What case is he trying to make that would make him "not guilty" after he already told the police he did it?

mrplow8

@Vecha: There is, prison life has a strict hierarchy and code-of-conduct amongst inmates. The usual punishment for breaking one of those rules is a beating, but some garner harsher treatment.

Jayl3w

Do the right thing.

concrete_d

@Amazon_Chris: Sorry, hit submit too soon:

It ain't a mistake, it's outright murder and I think either life in the slammer or death is calling them both.

Amazon_Chris

@Llost: cool, It wasn't directed at just you, its just that it happens in most of these posts about stuff like this, and people go on and on about the damn death penalty forgetting about everything else

excel_excel

@Vecha: [www.freerepublic.com]

There's a certain kind of totem pole of respect/loathing.

QuasarSquirrel

@You Are My Friend!:

LOL! Killing a kid isn't a mistake.

Amazon_Chris

@Llost: I'm all for death, even somewhat painful if need be, but not torture, which would make us just as bad as them. Gaining pleasure from the pain of another isn't justice, it's sick.

Jayl3w

@EndersGame: They can't be scum because if they are scum, then everyone is scum. This people are the same type of people as everyone here. They just made a mistake.

You Are My Friend!

@excel_excel: Okay I'm done now, I'm actually going to go to bed so seriously I'll stop.

(back on topic)
Anyway the killer may blame mortal kombat but it's obvious that if a little alcohol and a violent game was enough to trigger murderous intent that he was simply a violent individual to begin with.
and now I'm leaving.

Llost

What the crap?

"The devil made me do it" doesn't work as a defense when you also cop to being drunk.

Also, what's up with no jail time for the other waste of life?

GorbyGipper

@You Are My Friend!: Yeah, happens to me all the time.
I'll be drunkely babysitting my girlfriend's seven year old cousin, when I accidentally kick her. Then, while she's lying on the ground, I accidentally kick and punch her again as she begs me to stop. After she falls to the ground unconscious, I accidentally cracked raw eggs down her throat.
And then throw her in a bathtub. Accidentally. And I regretted it so much that when I was going to be punished I tried lying, shifting the blame onto others, including Grand Theft Auto, and my girlfriend.

Yeah right. Stop trying to defend this guy. Even convicted murderers, even SATANISTS don't try and defend child-killers.
This guy didn't do it by accident. He chose to beat a child, and he "accidentally went too far". You can't accidentally do something like that when you're already doing something that's the height of moral repugnance.

Ad-hominem

Seriously, why doesn't that many states support captial punishment? If a criminal killed a person and evidence is proven, then that scum bag should be given the death penalty.

Lawl01

@QuasarSquirrel:

@Jayl3w:

wow...

Never heard of anything like that...damn

Vecha

For those wondering Colorado does support Capital Punishment. It's hard to get sentenced and there was actually a case last year where a man was sentenced to life instead of death because of a technical error (paperwork wasn't filed on time.) There was a couple here that was just found guilty this week for starving a child to death and neither of them got the death penalty for what ever reason.

I don't care if you're drunk and fall off a 3 story building on to a toddler, it's never an excuse for even telling someone off let alone killing a child.

Final

another bloke who thinks he can pin his crime on a game. such bullshit.

shade-black

I didn't know about the being drunk bit, even still, it just makes it that much more worse.

HoxtonHero

DEATH!!! I give him death!!!!

...or life in prison would suffice.

KM91

@Lawl01:

Study law and philosophy and you'll find out why, as of now in the U.S. (due to citizens demand for "results") nearly 30% of all convicted criminals are innocent.

Deaf Mute

@Llost:

"He's a pathetic murderer but I'd rather chuck him to his death than pray that reformation can work. I wouldn't risk another child getting killed just so I can say I gave him a second chance."

What makes you think this guy's profile is killing children?

Because he did it once?

Convince me why you think there is any threat of this guy killing again more so then the threat of any regular joe commiting murder.

If you can come up with a good argument then you would have a point about "punishment over reformation" otherwise all I can see is someone who is quick to condemn and is too uncaring to give the boy a chance.

You spout "justice" while all the same claiming that it's too dangerous to let this guy live. We're not talking about a man who just snapped one day and went on a killing spree, we're not talking about a violent drug dealer or thug, we're talking about a boy who was under the influence of alcohol and did a VERY stupid and terrible thing.

Yet you INSIST that he will kill again, my argument isn't as you put it, praying he doesn't kill again and letting him off so i can feel self-righteous about giving him a second chance,because I'm not hoping.

There is a possibility he will kill again, but the chance of that is significantly lower to him NOT killing anyone again. Hell, if he does kill someone it could even be in a situation completely dissimilar to this.

This is not a person with a past violent record, this is not a person with mental issues, this is an ORDINARY person who did a terrible thing.

Also please avoid any assumptions about my political affiliation, already you calling me a liberal makes me question whether this can be a mature debate. -_-;

"That girl got no chance against a 17 year old yet he beat her to death and claimed he was innocent."

Irrelevant to the point, we both already know the crime.

Also you're incredibly amoral (head chop to solve all problems)

@BrandonW:
"So? What he did was just wrong and there is nothing that can ever make up for that. As such, I think he should be put to death."

That's a funny contradiction, you acknowledge there is nothing anyone could do to make up for it and suggest that as such putting another person to death is the only solution.

One life has been taken, another wouldn't do any more good.
Despite what some people have chosen to label me as, I'm not against the Death Penalty entirely. For violent individuals, gang activity, treason, and other personal profiles I'm in support of it. There are people that are dangerous and it is too big of a risk to let out on the street.

But I want you to look at this boy's case and tell me straight that he is a danger to anyone around him. There still is justice being served, whether you'd accept it or not, and reformation would further lower his chances of drunken violence. Death isn't some blanket solution people, the US law system is already pretty bad and wouldn't get any better if we adopted such an ideology.

Luckily we don't.

Deaf Mute

@Jayl3w:

Thanks for your reply, I respectfully disagree that it shows he has a violent predeposition towards children. But it is definitely a possibility.

Deaf Mute

@Ad-hominem: Nice descripition, you must have seen it first-hand. I'm counting plenty of "scum" that would like someone else to suffer, even die. But won't do it themselves, would rather someone else do it.

Do you get my point about all humans being equal regardless of what they do? Or do you want to talk about how these kids should be punished some more?

You Are My Friend!

@Deaf Mute: I can give a tentative reason why we could be worried about this guy reoffending, but keep in mind it's just a consideration, as much as reformation is just a consideration.

While he says he didn't intend to kill the child, he hasn't said anything against the fact that he DID intend to hurt her. He consciously chose to punch, kick, and hurt a defenseless 7 year old little girl.

While that doesn't show that he'll kill anyone again, it does show that he has violent tendencies towards children, likely part of the classic 'bully' mentality. He's bigger, so he feels better about himself when he can use that against those weaker then him.

Is he a sociopathic killer? Probably not.

Is he a sick boy who needs some sort of serious therapy or, for lack of that working, prison/death? Yes, indeed he is.

Jayl3w

Yes this was awful. But people are forgetting that
he hit the girl twice HARD but his girlfriend also
punched and pushed the little girl. I'm not saying what
they did was right, but I dont think they beat her to
death on purpose, I think they hit her too hard and she
died. Very sad

TrackerTrem

@Playstation:

You find it hard to believe that under alcohol, the most abused drug in the US, that someone could commit an accidental murder?

Are you aware of what exactly alcohol does? Inhibits judgement, motor skills, etc.

I mean come on man.

Deaf Mute

@aphex_twin: Feels terrible? Feel terrible is ie: when you accidentally drop somebody else's lunch or when you accidentally crash your co-worker's computer and they lost their 8 hours of work.

This is beyond repair man. I just find it hard to believe that under alcohol people can commit that type of crime.

Playstation

I changed my mind:

Death is too good for this bastard. Let him rot for life in the same cell as a guy named Sally.

Amazon_Chris

@Jayl3w:

I think his defense accurately reflects that, people are complex and I'm sure he knows being found guilty is a death penalty (if not by the authorities it is so by the inmates).

It doesn't necessarily means he lacks remorse or ignores what he has done.

If he does fit your profile and reformation fails, yes I would say take him out of the equation.

Deaf Mute

So, he's an underage drinker, who happens to violently kill a child, and uses the "videogame" story to try and save his sorry ass.

What a loser.

g8or8de

I would just like to point out that nowhere in this article is it stated that this kid explicitly placed the blame for his actions on either a video game or alcohol. All it's indicated he said is that (A) he was recreating moves from Mortal Kombat, and (B) that he was under the influence of alcohol while doing so.

I have no reason to doubt the veracity of either of these claims.

aphex_twin

@TryonicPrinv: of course it's not looking good for him he is black. why do you think it's always HIS pic every site puts up? Black guy and you are completely fucked.

MisterMcThursday

@Deaf Mute: (Didn't see this before I'd hit post, damn you timing!)

I didn't necessarily mean children themselves, but those less capable of defending themselves against him. People who portray an enjoyment of violence and behave destructively or, in this case, violently, are given an extremely high likelihood of eventually moving on to enjoy killing or becoming serial rapists (since rape isn't about the sex so much as the power).

I'm not saying this is entirely the case, but his willingness to actually say he's not guilty 'because a game made me do it' or 'I was drunk' is showing an extreme lack of remorse or acknowledgment of what he's done.

Psychologically speaking, he's a ticking timebomb. It's not to say he's promised to go off, but would it not be better to defuse the possible (if not probable) situation before it happens? If he can go through reformation and it works, thats fantastic and I'm glad it could happen, if not... well, would you rather him hurt other people, or to be taken out of the equation entirely?

Jayl3w

So, his (ex?)girlfriend is still going to testify against him, right? Isn't looking so good for him...

TryonicPrinv

@You Are My Friend!: I have a question about this theory of yours.

Lets say we have two people, Jack and Thom.

Thom is a member of the Peace Corp and is currently in Darfur helping to keep refugees alive by driving a truck of food through highly dangerous territory. He's not getting paid, and he's doing this only to help these people whom he's never met.

Now, Thom is a young man who has some odd tastes, particularly he enjoys to molest his young siblings and torturing boys who are younger then him. Theres no real cause and effect to explain this away, he just does it because he finds it amusing.

Now, lets say these two people are put into separate rooms and you are handed a controller with two buttons. Each button is wired to one of the two rooms, and if pressed the corresponding room will fill with gas, killing the occupant. You're given a complete summery of these two people's actions and personality, and told that you have to pick one.

You don't have the luxury of not choosing, and you have to pick one. Are you telling me that you couldn't see a difference in these two people, that one is simply, as stated, 'scum' and the other a genuinely good person?

I thought not. Idealism is pretty in theory, but it's not so accurate as you'd like to believe.

Jayl3w

@ half the people in this thread
The Death penalty is Hypocrisy at it's worst... "Killing is so wrong that if i you do it, we can murder you" that's bullshit. If killing is so wrong no one should be allowed to do it, for any reason. not the government, not anybody..
But people do it anyway and that's what prisons are for, evil muthafucker storage.. one of the problems with prison is we've flooded it with people who haven't committed a real crime. Drug dealing? that's not a crime.. Prostitution? Pimping? the only real crime these people are committing is tax evasion, and the proper punishment is community service until your debt to society is paid. Instead they lock you in a box with the human equivalent of pit bulls and rottweiler's and expect you to come out a better person.
That's another problem, all they do Lock you up for a time limit and they tell you what that is before you go in!.. I think if you Rape, Abuse, or Murder someone then your prison sentence is until you can show that you've reformed and you can become a productive member of society, otherwise you stay in prison (they should also have mandatory therapy and educational programmes to help that along).
Otherwise you're just doing your time until you're released out into the public again, changed, but seldom for the better.

luigilogik

@Vecha:

Yeah, they honestly do. God help any inmate who goes to jail for molesting a child or a rapist. They get it way way worse than anyone.

jello44

@aphex_twin:

I was thinking the same thing, everyone kept mentioning it as if it was noteworthy.

Deaf Mute

correction: "I DON'T think his defense...

Deaf Mute

@g8or8de: Would you prefer that he had been drinking legally when he committed murder? I wonder why the fact that he happened to be underage when he did what he did is worth mentioning at all..

aphex_twin

@Llost:

"Your a fool"

okay good day to you too sir!

Deaf Mute

@Deaf Mute: Your a fool, the proof is that he's already done it without provacation. If it's so easy for him to kill without provocation what methods would he resort to when he's provoked, depressed or angry? Seriously that's like asking me to trust the guy who just slit my wifes throat to guard my son. Well you do bring a point that his profile may not be killing kids but then again I wouldn't say I want him to kill anyone else either so that's not really gonna have me want him free.

I've already stated that there's the problem of money, reformation only works when it's well funded and done well but even after spending lots of money on keeping them for years and then reforming them they can still reoffend. Also as I said they've been to jail where many prisoners only get to speak with other violent inmates, not good role models. And as I also pointed out I'd rather have a murderer die than let them out with a chance they could kill someone else. My main point for punishment over reformation is merely that punishment is 100% effective where reformation isn't and can cause more innocents to lose there lives.

funny how you say he was under the influence of alcohol but you condemn the man who's under the influence of drugs. Quite simply there both drugs, although alcohol doesn't cause hallucinations or odd behaviour due to mind effecting substances. I don't see why someone who kills a helpless child is not deamed a threat, he killed a child with no provocation so there's no motive, no reason, no malice and no objective. There was nothing guiding him to this killing yet he did it so why couldn't he do it again with no reason?

No I insist we kill him on the chance he kills again. even if it were dissimilar it would still most likely be due to his violent tendancies. He's clearly displayed he's not a good person so I'd assume he's more likely to kill someone innocent again. So what your saying is assuming 20% of prisoners reoffend we should still let them go? I'd rather avoid those innocents dying but I suppose putting the killers back on the streets has higher priority in your mind. liberals.

He's 17 you idiot, this is his first murder, he now has a violent past and he was drinking under age. Just because he hasn't done it before, because guess what no ones done it before the first time, doesn't mean he can't do it again or is a good person.

the point was to clarify his attitude, firstly he's drunk underage, he's murdered an innocent girl and he's tried to claim he was innocent. Three strikes in one game means your out. He's dead in my eyes. It's not amoral to punish someone. Is it amoral to punish your kids? I admit my punishments are more extreme but I don't exactly expect my daughter to be murdering anyone.

Llost

Fucking savages. Dumb bitch rolled on her boyfriend and got a slap on the wrist. Their iniquities were tantamount. Both should get 1st degree murder. Not guilty? Hope he is tried as an adult and found guilty. Pick on someone your own size. If that was my babygirl that got killed, I would have personally beat the shit out of these two. If I sound cantankerous it is because I am tired of poor excuses for human beings delegating their heinous crimes to video games. Fucking ridiculous. I don't give 2-shits how young he is. When motherfuckers commits certain crimes, they lose their right to live among "normal citizens". I can understand killing in self-defense, war, and even gang banging. A toddler? Damn, she didn't even have a chance to live. BTW, I love MK to death and I turned out ok.

GameCasa

@You Are My Friend!: If you'll note, which apparently nobody else in this forum has, there are nearly a dozen Kotaku articles about the subject, including the one linked in this very article, describing how he murdered the kid, and how little he's cared about it.
And, if you've noticed, I never advocated the death penalty. I've never been in favor of it. It just disgusts me when people try and defend scum like him. There's no defense.
And "punish these kids some more"? He hasn't actually suffered at all. He murdered a little kid, and he's sat back with no repercussions since.

Oh, and "everybody is equal" is a idiotic line of BS fed to children throughout Kindergarten as to not damage their egos. Face it- most people aren't equal.

@MisterMcThursday: Because he was the one who actually beat the little girl to death? His girlfriend was there, but she only sat back and watched. Oh, and the girl's picture was posted in the first article. And in the article about her trial, which already went through. It's funny. In all the stories about when he murdered a little girl, and his subsequent trial, his picture is shown.

Ad-hominem

@Llost: You make all of our responses look bad by making it a personal thing.

Attacking someone for their opinion with things like 'You're a fool' and 'He's 17 you idiot' isn't the way things work in an intelligent discussion. Thats the kind of thing ol' Mr. Thompson does.

You really want to take debate suggestions from him?

Jayl3w

@sandal-hat17: Sorry, clicked the wrong button.

sandal-hat17

@Brian Crecente:

sandal-hat17

@Ad-hominem: you say there is no defense for a guy like this but actually...there is. It's the United States of America everyone gets a defense. The guy could be guilty or not, but all these Lay-Z-Boy Commandos with the "I would kill him with my own bare hands" bullshit is comical at best.

The above statement would be more true pre-Bush when all people actually got a trial. If Russia doesnt fex everything up, hopefully we can get back to our Constitution and get him out of there.

MisterMcThursday

I'm a liberal, but I agree with you to a certain extent. Killing a toddler WITH or WITHOUT provocation is inexcusable. @Llost:

GameCasa

@Ad-hominem:

Well I read that supposed "events" article and it clearly says that the girl did not sit back and watch but hit
the girl in some way. And just because he's black
doesn't make him a ''savage''. White kids have done far
worse and gotten little to no time at all. Remember
Columbine? Reporters were apprehensive of showing the
pictures of the teens for a long time. People do horrible
things, but to say that he deserves to be hung or have
his head chopped off his gruesome.

TrackerTrem

@TrackerTrem: He didn't say that he was a savage because he was black, I think he was referring to the guy and girl as being savage human beings.

Awful quick to jump to racism, aren't we?

Jayl3w

This is injustice and full of Bullcrap. Who cares if he was drunk. He murdered a little girl, and on top of that is it illegal that he was drunk and underage? So under the influence and underage. That would be more time right there. Stupid ass judge.

shrek187

@Assassin_Kensei:

I'm sorry, but... LOL

expansionsss

Bullshit.

cluster1990

If ever there was proof that video games make people violent, its the comments posted here. Not only are many condoning murder, torture is also being advocated. These comments make me feel just as sick as I did reading about the child's death.

2c-b

@You Are My Friend!: How do you consider killing someone a mistake? They knew exactly what they were doing. I don't think you bodyslam, punch or kick a poor innocent little girl by mistake.

CoverD

@Deaf Mute: "That's a funny contradiction, you acknowledge there is nothing anyone could do to make up for it and suggest that as such putting another person to death is the only solution."

I honestly thought this would get mentioned and I should have made my thoughts clear on this.

I have no problems with people dying if I think they deserve it. I don't believe all life is sacred, there are some people out there that aren't deserving enough to breathe. My reasoning is that this bastard took the life of an innocent girl. Innocent is the keyword for me. I have no problems when bad or stupid people die. It's callous, but it is honestly how I feel. It's when an innocent is the victim that I have a problem with it.

I'm not saying that putting him to death would make up for it. I'm just saying that to me, death is an adequate punishment suitably fitting the crime in this case.

BrandonW

I just feel uneasy about putting a 17 year old behind bars for the rest of his life for what could have been a very simple and stupid mistake. Especially when it was deemed that the girl could walk.

Either deem him guilty of being a raging psychotic, whose brutality was equal to even the worst of the famous serial killers, and hand down that death penalty. OR throw his ass into a reform program and try to salvage some kid's life?

It seems everything is simply a kneejerk reaction for "justice" anymore.

HioMrSan

I hope he's sentenced to death from an MK3 machine being dropped on his head.

newsocks

I think that you people are insane. This isn't because of them or video games. Did you ever think of the beer? Sure they are insane and should get about 5-10 years in the can. But you people saying "hang them...in puplic" is insane. Maybe they were really drunk? I mean you are saying "oh the family...HANG THEM!!!!". Do you think the family wants to lose two members of the family?

tommyscomics

@aphex_twin: yes, but the trouble is, a human being with mental stability would know that getting drunk with your girlfriend while babysitting a 7 year old isn't a good idea. Where you babysitting whilst drunk and knocking over your Xbox?

koopamaster

The only appropriate punishment I can think of is so violent, I would probably be banned from the site for saying it, so I'll just say death penalty.

koopamaster

In the words of Mr. Garrison "You go to HELL! You go to Hell and you DIE!"

Ryodestined