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The Courts Government News Entertainment Games

Acquittal in Drunken Homicide via GTA 80

Posted by Zonk from the mario-made-me-do-it dept.
The Wisconsin State Journal has the news of an acquittal in a drunken homicide charge against a Madison-area 30 year old. The defendant admitted to being intoxicated before the crash that killed his passenger. The jury found him innocent after he presented his defense: the passenger caused the crash by forcing him to attempt a manuever they'd done in Grand Theft Auto. "In an emotional testimony on Thursday, DeMeo said that Alexander had put his hand on DeMeo's knee and made him push the accelerator down hard, then grabbed the emergency brake and sent the car into a skid. DeMeo said that Alexander was trying to perform a maneuver that both had done in a video game, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, that they played regularly."
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Acquittal in Drunken Homicide via GTA More

Acquittal in Drunken Homicide via GTA

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  • Similar thing happened to me. (Score:5, Funny)

    by -kertrats- ( 718219 ) on Saturday April 30, 2005 @04:55PM (#12394107) Journal
    I once killed an endangered squid-left it in a freezer overnight. I got out of a fine by saying it reminded me too much of a metroid.

  • They bought it? (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Okay, so we just have his word for it? That the passenger, who conveniently can't speak from the grave, forced him to do a handbrake turn?

    That's the real news. Who gives a damn about GTA? Handbrake turns have been present in Hollywood films for decades.

    • Re:They bought it? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Mortlath ( 780961 ) on Saturday April 30, 2005 @05:05PM (#12394179)
      I thought the following was really interesting:
      Humphrey said Alexander couldn't have interfered with DeMeo's driving because he was found moments after the crash still wearing a seat belt, his hands jammed into his pockets. He had suffered fatal head and heart injuries, Humphrey said, making it impossible for him to put his hands into his pockets after the crash.

      Meeker disagreed, saying in his closing argument that the car had been split open by the crash and Alexander could have put his hands in his pockets to keep warm.

      The article also mentions that the skid-marks didn't seem to indicate the use of the hand-brake either.

      Otherwise, I wonder that as games become more physically realistic, will more accidents result as more people try to pull crazy stunts they've done in video games?

      • Re:They bought it? (Score:5, Interesting)

        by NanoGator ( 522640 ) on Saturday April 30, 2005 @05:46PM (#12394420) Homepage Journal
        "Otherwise, I wonder that as games become more physically realistic, will more accidents result as more people try to pull crazy stunts they've done in video games?"

        There's a flip-side to think about. In GTA, dumb-ass pedestrians sometimes walk right out in front of you. Hit them, and the cops chase you. After some time with that game, I became more aware of pedestrians at crosswalks. I now watch what they're doing more intently before going around a corner, for example.

        No, it's not like I was running around mowing down peds before. I just mean that I drive more cautiously.
        • I honestly hope that before you played GTA you didn't yank the Jesus Handle when you took tight turns on crowded streets.
          • "I honestly hope that before you played GTA you didn't yank the Jesus Handle when you took tight turns on crowded streets."

            No. I did, however, drive under the assumption that peds were smart enough to not walk out in front of me.
      • See here [kotaku.com]. Some people...
        (And before anyone starts getting ideas.... go take judo lessons and learn to do it *safely*)
        -ReK
      • Who the fuck rides around in a car with their hands in their pockets?
    • I knew a girl that died in a car accident. someone in the backseat put their hands over the eyes of the driver and he went off the road. the daughter of my dad's misstriss died because of it. The late Erin Dunham and I used to play Dr, Mario together.

      May she rest in peace, whiule my family rests in pieces. fuck life. fuck ou ficu me hur the paid of it all I wwant to die.
    • It's called a "bootleg maneuver." Didn't any of you guys play Car Wars? I wonder if someone tried the same defense back in the early 80's "Well judge, there's this pen and paper game where you put guns, flamethrowers and even missles on cars and uh...nevermind your honor.

  • yep (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    its the games fault, not the morons

  • Further questioning... (Score:4, Funny)

    by jZnat ( 793348 ) on Saturday April 30, 2005 @05:04PM (#12394169) Homepage Journal
    When the defendent was further questioned about why he would even attempt a stunt from a videogame, he responded, "I was so sure that sv_cheats was enabled."
    • When the prosecutor reminded him that sv_cheats was a Half-Life feature not in GTA, the defendant sat silent.

      The prosecutor then added, "I rest my case," as she went to continue from where she left off at Route Kanal.
  • Wow.. another pointless defense. Or, alternatively, this person needs to know that real life isn't actually like a videogame. Where did the common sense go?
    • did you read the summary? a PASSENGER caused the accident
      • Who's to say? The only other person to corroborate or disprove the defendant's story is dead. Fact is that there was a fatal accident while this guy was driving drunk.

        I'm sure that in his drunken stupor, he did all he could to stop his friend from goofing around. Cough.
  • Two guys are driving in a car. The passenger thinks it'd be cool to pull the parking brake and push down and the driver's foot (emulating the quick turn in GTA). This causes the car to skid out of control and crash into a tree, killing the passenger.

    At least, that's the defense's story.

    This has nothing to do with GTA. It's about two drunk guys doing stupid things while drunk and one getting killed.

    • Re:Quick Summary (Score:3, Insightful)

      by FidelCatsro ( 861135 )
      The charge should be based on the fact that he decided to pilot the vehical whilst intoxicated and in so doing so caused the death .
      The defense to me really sounds rather implausable, I mean the passenger must of been half way laying across the middle of the car to do that , and this could have been checked with forensics .
      Well i guess he is lucky i was not on the jury.
      • I concur that the defense case sounds like a crock via the article, but that could just be the article. It's hard for me to believe that the entire jury could be that dumb.

        The charge should be based on the fact that he decided to pilot the vehical whilst intoxicated and in so doing so caused the death.

        I disagree with your first argument. Unlike most cases involving drunk driving where the victim had no choice in the matter, the victim willingly chose to ride with his obviously drunk friend. I think h
        • Driving whilst under the influence is a crime and thus cannot be used as a defense ,but there is nothing wrong with being a passenger of a private vehical whilst intoxicated ,
          This is why the driver cant use the "Because i was drunk " Excuse in his defense unless he was made intoxicated against his wishes.
    • You are the one who should be modded insightful for actually RTFA. You're right; this barely has anything to do with GTA, and the summary makes it seem as though "Video Games Made Me Do It" is now a viable legal defense.

  • It's true. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Koiu Lpoi ( 632570 ) <koiulpoi&gmail,com> on Saturday April 30, 2005 @05:09PM (#12394213)
    Whenever I get drunk, I get the urge to pick up a hooker, use her services' and the proceed to run her over and take my cash back.

    I also occasionally hide in the shadows and blackjack people who walk by. I think I may have a problem.

  • Ive lost a little more faith (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 30, 2005 @05:09PM (#12394216)
    I really hate to be cruel , but this is what natural selection is all about..

  • WTF? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jericho4.0 ( 565125 ) on Saturday April 30, 2005 @05:12PM (#12394226)
    The prosecution said, and I assume no evidence was introduced to show otherwise, that there was no evidence that the EB had been pulled. Most strange, the passenger was found "moments later" with fatal head and heart injuries, with his hands in his pockets. The defence argues that he put them in his pockets to keep warm. Not likely. With a blood alcohol level of .16, if your passenger dies, your guilty of something.
    • I grew up in Wisconsin. I wouldn't be surprised if members of the jury were intoxicated (I heard about it happening during a small time county court case in the 80's).

      I guess whatever worked for him. If they had taken out innocent bystanders I might have cared more, but 2 idiots taking each other out is natural selection to me. One guy lived this time, but he's got his buddies death on his conscience and only he knows what really happened.

      If his story is BS, he has to live w/ it. I know people that hav

      • Re:WTF? (Score:3, Insightful)

        by cptgrudge ( 177113 )
        The problem I have with it is that it sets a precedent. It continues the push of not taking responsibility for one's own actions.

        Is the "victim's" family going to be able to sue Rockstar for wrongful death? Assuming the company loses, it directly translates into a cost to society. Either the company lays off employees because they have to restructure, or the price of their games goes up, or their stock price falls. The destruction of personal responsibility is not good.

  • better than southpark :) (Score:4, Insightful)

    by arcanumas ( 646807 ) on Saturday April 30, 2005 @05:19PM (#12394263) Homepage
    I think this puts the Chewbacca defense to shame.
    Well done, reality!
  • Or (do) sit on the passenger seat.

  • One small detail (Score:5, Informative)

    by fm6 ( 162816 ) on Saturday April 30, 2005 @05:54PM (#12394468) Homepage Journal
    Before everybody sneers at contorted lawyers logic, note that "GTA confusion" was not the defense of the guy on trial. His defense was that his passenger interfered with his driving. Supposedly he did so while drunkenly imitating a GTA move, but his reasons for doing what he did was not relevent, since his guilt or innocence was not at issue.

  • It's a fair cop, but society is to blame. (Score:3, Funny)

    by NZheretic ( 23872 ) on Saturday April 30, 2005 @06:27PM (#12394678) Homepage Journal
    From Monty Python, Live at the Hollywood bowl:

    Husband:

    It's a fair cop, but society is to blame.

    Detective-Parson:

    Right, we'll arrest them instead!

    Church Policeman (John Cleese):

    Come on, you! Are you in society? Are you in society?

    Are you in society?

  • Not only that but... (Score:3, Funny)

    by neo ( 4625 ) on Saturday April 30, 2005 @06:49PM (#12394789)
    The defendant in this case represented himself after watching an episode of Law and Order. The defendant refused to comment on his future plans, but there are reports that he's been watching episodes of the Six Million Dollar Man.
  • I have an asshole friend who pulls the e-brake in order to do that GTA thing. He doesnt do it anymore, but, yeah, been there.

  • hand on knee (Score:2, Funny)

    by cahiha ( 873942 )
    Thursday, DeMeo said that Alexander had put his hand on DeMeo's knee

    You know, when one drunk guy puts his hand on the knee of another drunk guy, it usually means that there is something else going on than GTA phantasies...

  • Sick (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Mooga ( 789849 )
    It's really sick that someone can use a video game in a defence and get off the hook. And this is coming for a gamer BTW.

    What's next? A man open fires and claims that he does it in videogames all the time? If you don't know the difference between real life and a video game then you shouldn't by playing!

    • Re:Sick (Score:2, Insightful)

      by rockspider ( 823539 )
      I'll just refer you to FM6's previous comment. "Before everybody sneers at contorted lawyers logic, note that "GTA confusion" was not the defense of the guy on trial. His defense was that his passenger interfered with his driving. Supposedly he did so while drunkenly imitating a GTA move, but his reasons for doing what he did was not relevent, since his guilt or innocence was not at issue." Try to cool it with the paranoia. This case isn't threatening the videogame / reality distinction.

    • Re:Sick (Score:3, Interesting)

      by 88NoSoup4U88 ( 721233 )
      "If you don't know the difference between real life and a video game then you shouldn't by playing!"

      The guy at the gamestore is no psychiatrist...
      And if you have trouble distinguishing the real world from a game world, I guess you aren't the best person to judge yourself.

  • He should've alt-tabbed outta there (Score:3, Funny)

    by UltimaL337Star ( 641853 ) on Saturday April 30, 2005 @09:52PM (#12395824)
    must've forgot to turn on the +7 Trainer.
  • Gee thats funny, I'm a fricking pro at making those handbrake turns in GTA. Of course this is after crashing into cars, buildings, trees, light posts and people a few hundred times before I got good at it. Turns out GTA is realistic after all?
  • We need a "russian roulette" game distributed to the idiots who like to emulate video games in the real world. Hmm ..., maybe a "russian roulette" music video too.

    The movie "The Deer Hunter" helped a little in the 70s but it was a little too slow/long to reach all the right people, apparently some of them bred.
  • So getting really drunk and doing stupid things gets you acquitted of things like this by blaming it on a video game? Expect drunken idiots everywhere to start doing some staggering things with little or no consequences.

    By the sounds of it the guy who died deserves a Darwin award.

  • Black Box (Score:3, Insightful)

    by purduephotog ( 218304 ) <hirsch@inorb[ ]com ['it.' in gap]> on Sunday May 01, 2005 @04:58PM (#12401271) Homepage Journal
    Pity there wasn't a black box installed in the vehicle that could tell
    1) Speed
    2) Pedal position
    3) Brake position
    4) Parking break
    5) Steering wheel manuvers for 5 seconds.

    Think how much easier this would be.

  • If any of you guys get the urge to do this... (Score:3, Informative)

    by cluke ( 30394 ) on Monday May 02, 2005 @04:07AM (#12405289)
    Give yourself a sporting chance at least.. instructions for handbrake turns [modernracer.com].

    You might also be wise to try it on a disused airfield or something. And without a drunk passenger. And without being drunk.
  • The key word in the article is "Under the Influence," because they were drunk. And that is the only time you would be dumb enough to perform such behavior.
  • Although I must admit I've held to "the line" while taking corners for real after playing extended amounts of GT3. I also almost took out some orange cones after playing a bit too much carmageddon back in the day, and then I realized in real life orange cones denote danger lies beyond, and swerved outta the way. Games do have the ability to kind of blur the reality line a bit, but this one is just stupid.
  • The real story: There'll always be idiots who think they can do dangerous things without injury to themselves. And to others, it seems here. Did the guy say he'd put his friend's hands in his pockets for him, along with the rest?
  • I don't think this has anything to do with Grand Theft Auto, other than explaining why his drunk friend was making him do something so utterly stupid. It's not like the guy had a choice as the article denotes that there was a struggle; you can't really hold someone responsible for a shooting if the victim pulls the trigger.

    Suicide by Alcohol.
  • If his parents had understood the ESRB rating this game was given, they probably wouldn't have bought it for him. It's clearly their fault!
  • They're around for a reason.

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