GTA blamed for cop murders

By Kristan Reed Published 10 August, 2005

But jury doesn't buy it.

The controversy surrounding Grand Theft Auto continued to rumble on yesterday, following the murder conviction of 20-year old Devin Moore in the U.S.

The Moore case seemed like a pretty clear-cut incident of a man shooting three police officers dead after he managed to grab a patrolman's firearm, but Moore's defence lawyers saw it differently.

Defence lawyers blamed Moore's actions on a combination of the effects of child abuse he had endured and the hours he had spent playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City leading up to the shootings. However, jurors were not allowed to hear the testimony linking the shootings two years ago with Rockstar's game.

Nevertheless, defence lawyer Jim Standrige told the jury that after Moore's arrest he said: "Life is a videogame; everybody has to die". Moore subsequently pleaded not guilty at the trial "by reason of mental defect".

But an unconvinced jury took just over an hour to deliberate over their guilty verdict, and Moore now faces the death penalty.

The controversy doesn't end there, though, with the victims' families having filed a civil suit against Rockstar and two unnamed retail outlets that presumably sold Moore the game.

A date has yet to be set for the civil case.

More on the continuing Grand Theft Auto witch hunt in the near future.

Source: Associated Press.

Picture of Kristan.

About Kristan Reed

Kristan is a former editor of Eurogamer, dad, Stone Roses bore and Norwich City supporter who sometimes mutters optimistically about Team Silent getting back together.

Read more articles from Kristan by visiting the Kristan Reed archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (34) Latest comment 7 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • V0oD0o #1 7 years ago

    Hahahaa.

    Those Amerikans are so funny.

    Life as a computer game, hahaha.

    Now, where did I put my RPG.

    (Three dead cops isn't funny. But blaming that on a computer game is ridiculous - if the jury decided it was nothing to do with GTA:VC, then how do the families of the dead cops expect to win their civil case?)

  • dr_zoidthrob #2 7 years ago

    This is getting silly now. You can't blame videogames for society's ills.

    Here's a thought America - howsabout *not* selling guns over the counter? Maybe that might just stop a loon that fancies a killing spree getting their hands on one.

  • ishigo #3 7 years ago

    "The controversy doesn't end there, though, with the victims' families having filed a civil suit against Rockstar and two unnamed retail outlets that presumably sold Moore the game."

    or

    "the victims' families are aware that they could get a huge stack of cash off the back of their loved ones being killed if they were to jump on the Rockstar bandwagon"

    "GTA Made Me Do It!" is becoming as useful a legal defence as "Booga Booga I'm Insane!"

  • Celeborn #4 7 years ago

    If life was a video game, why the hell havent I go all the woman from that Playboy game around me? >:|

  • ishigo #5 7 years ago

    I'm buying this, i'll be invulnerable to responsibility!

    http://www.zestuff.com/product.php?productid=59&cat= 4&page=1

  • pauleyc #6 7 years ago

    Anyway, wacko Jacko...

  • tonynibbles #7 7 years ago

    "by reason of mental defect"

    They're gonna have to start a new rating. Not 'M', not '18' but '18MD'. 18 Mental Defect.
    As in, if you are over 18 and do not have a mental defect then you can buy this game.

    ffs I might go and watch Evil Dead and go stab some pedestrians in their ankles with pencils. This is getting ridiculous. If you see something and want to do it without a second thought, you're mental.

  • Aretak #8 7 years ago

    So they're suing the shop for selling a game with a 17+ rating to an 18 year-old?

    Good luck with that...

  • DaM #9 7 years ago

    but if you couldn't buy guns over the counter, then you wouldn't need the armed coppers, problem solved!

  • MoFo #10 7 years ago

    I killed 30 pedestrians today after driving my car in to them. My lawyer is blaming the car manufacturer for producing the vehicle. After all, it was the accelerator pedal that made me do it.

  • smelly #11 7 years ago

    You may all laugh. But if this keeps up then no game will be allowed to have any violence/sex/irresponsilbe driving/etc in it.

    And we'll all be playing "barbie goes shopping" games.

  • rinoaMW #12 7 years ago

    "Life is a videogame; everybody has to die"

    so he got the death-sentance, he probably thinks 2 lives left.....

    won't he feel stupid when he doesn't start off in front of the hospital again :p

  • T4RG4 #13 7 years ago

    This is just a stupid phase, it wont change games dramatically. If films can get away with X, games should and will be allowed to as well. The problem with selling violent games in America is that people can file a civil suit against anyone/anything... totally stupid.

    Rockstar do play on all this though, I mean even *I* would complain if they released a game called "Murder Kids" or something.

  • T4RG4 #14 7 years ago

    This is just a stupid phase, it wont change games dramatically. If films can get away with X, games should and will be allowed to as well. The problem with selling violent games in America is that people can file a civil suit against anyone/anything... totally stupid.

    Rockstar do play on all this though, I mean even *I* would complain if they released a game called "Murder Kids" or something.

  • jellyhead #15 7 years ago

    You may all laugh. But if this keeps up then no game will be allowed to have any violence/sex/irresponsilbe driving/etc in it.

    And we'll all be playing "barbie goes shopping" games.

    If that happens then i would start going postal with guns due to the happy, singing voices in my head and the overdose or loveliness.

    Why don't Rockstar blame the public for making them make the game?
    After all it was the public who wanted the game right.
    Then we can all go around in a big buck-passing circle and no-one has to take responsibility for their own actions.
    Lovely.

    Shooting Police and then blaming it on a videogame, bloody mentalist.
    Edited by 1 at 10/08/05 @ 10:53

  • Furbs #16 7 years ago

    "Rockstar do play on all this though, I mean even *I* would complain if they released a game called "Murder Kids" or something."

    I'd preorder it. Could be set in a city center at lunchtime during the summer holidays. Your objectives are things like getting something from McD's and getting time to look around Game without little shits standing in front of the section you want to look at with no intention of buying anything.

  • Madder-Max #17 7 years ago

    If you couldn't buy guns over the counter, you could buy them on the blackmarket as you can here in the UK...

  • deaner #18 7 years ago

    The sad fact is that to avoid tough sentencing, a lawyer will advise a defendant to plea mental inbalance.

    Of course, in order to make the judge/jury more likely to take the claim seriously, you need to have a cause. As the guy will have no history of mental illness - you pick one out of a hat.

    Videogames are a good target for this because claims can't be easily refuted by prosecutors, claims play on the current videogame violence hysteria... etc, etc.

  • alpha-0ne #19 7 years ago

    what about the lack of gun control in america? anyone watched bowling for columbine they will know what i mean
    Edited by 1 at 10/08/05 @ 12:09

  • zErOb_cOOl #20 7 years ago

    If somebody is found to have a mental defect which caused them to cimmit a crime, I thought they had to be sent to the loon house and weren't allowed to be given the death sentence, as it wasn't their fault they commited the crime.

  • TurdBreaker #21 7 years ago

    You do have to feel sorry for those wanky Yanks sometimes. I don't mean the scum-bag killer of 3 police officers, but just America in general. They used to be the "envy" of many people around the world, living the "dream" as people have often put it.

    Oh well, I suppose they'll just jump in their 5 litre V8 Ford Bronco trucks, travel their highways at "excessive speeds of 80 miles an hour" (so says Worlds Scariest Police Chases where they speed up the film to make it look about half as fast as a daily trip on the m25!) and pop into k-mart and pick up a few more shotguns and weapons to make themselves feel more "safe"...

    sigh.. wanky Yanks..

  • Genji #22 7 years ago

    "(example, Charlton Heston is shown at a pro NRA rally supposedly being held just weeks after a major shooting, when in fact that footage predates the shooting by over a year)"

    I think the message of the later rally would have been much the same. I dunno, maybe the soundbites weren't as good as "*holds up gun* FROM MY COLD, DEAD HANDS!"

    Anyway, everyone does this, even major news networks. Taking things out of context to try and prove a point. When watching anything at all these days, I have to keep my bullshit-detector on full alert.
    Edited by 1 at 10/08/05 @ 13:21

  • Freek #23 7 years ago

    Why could you actually blame GTA for this though?
    Anybody who has played GTA for any extended periode of time knows that killing cops makes you go game over.
    It triggers a chain reaction of more cops, helicopters, the Feds, the military, it leads to your death.
    Any seriouse player knows that the best way to go about playing the game is to aviode the law at all costs, you are after all a criminal.
    So if there's any of this "training" going on, it would train you to not kill cops since that means loosing money and all your guns.

  • Xerx3s #24 7 years ago

    "Life is a videogame; everybody has to die" - Meh. I'd recon that life is more like a pc game, high quality gameplay with awesome graphics & 7.1 surround. Imagine playing 'life' with ps2 graphics...

    Here is a question though. If america has 10 000 murders a year, why does Europe have less than a 1000 (our population size is almost twice their size)? Here is an even more radical idea, perhaps its because we dont sell guns to every nut? Heh, or perhaps its just because we shipped all the wacko's to them colonies;p

  • PES_Fanboy #25 7 years ago

    Yeah, but playing 'life' with a keyboard sucks.

  • L42yB #26 7 years ago

    I love the fact that there's a link to "Buy This Game" at the bottom of the story :)

  • Golgo #27 7 years ago

    think i'm gonna go sue me a mcdonalds for making me fat...

    the abandonment of personal responsibility in all walks of our terminally litigous world-society is becoming sinister. it's equivalent to saying "i am a moron, can't think for myself, it was the blurb on the ... that made me do it".

    humanity is something that homo sapiens are not born with. it takes years of emotional and intellectual effort. it seems that more and more homo sapiens are failing to attain that basic standard. what to do with them?

    Edited by 1 at 10/08/05 @ 17:09

  • tenma #28 7 years ago

    ""GTA Made Me Do It!" is becoming as useful a legal defence as "Booga Booga I'm Insane!""


    Haha, that's so true.

  • admir #29 7 years ago

    man iam getting sick and tiered of that shit
    I dont see kids jumping of buildings when they watch cartoons
    assholes like that make games look bad
    how stupid are people he killed someone cause he played a game you have to be insane to belive that shit
    that fucking clinton bitch is going to use that shit
    man why do i have to live in the usa i feel sorry for my self

  • tengu #30 7 years ago

    Admir is an American? Well, that explains why you're such an illiterate retard :)

  • admir #31 7 years ago

    this illiterate retard is not americana iam just living there
    adn fuck you for calling me retard

    P.S. Fuck all fanboys

  • SlackMaster #32 7 years ago

    I didn't think Vice city was that bad cos it was all done toungue in cheek with a bit of humor. San Adreas tho I thought was different and with the whole 'Plastic Gangster' thing going on at the moment, I felt it was a bit irresponsible. I think timing and the proper regulation through certification is the only way forward with parents and retailers taking a responsible role in the whole thing.

    Personally I want to be able to play 'adult' themed games **and I'm not talking porn** alongside lighter more 'kiddie' games as some people may see them. I therefore don't think it's right for people to ban them, but just be more responsible with their distribution and make people take responsibility for their own actions and stop trying to pawn it off on other things all the time.

    If you shoot someone = it's your fault and you should go to jail as it's no one elses fault and it's not related to a film or videogame.

  • PES_Fanboy #33 7 years ago

    I agree with Slack, I felt the same about San Andreas, it had lost its pseudo-innocenti charm of VC. I think Vice City is my favourite in the series for sure.

  • Corben_Dallas #34 7 years ago

    They start a seperate Judicary for 'Sueing idiots' with jail terms, Like u can sue anyone u like but if if fails yur case goes to the Sueing Idiot courts and If the court finds u guilty of being a sueing idiot u get locked up and when u come out u loose the right to sue anyone for 10 years.
    sorted :)