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GTA blamed for cop murders

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.