Judge Recommends Guilty Verdict for Jack Thompson 235
GamePolitics is reporting that a Florida Judge has recommended that Jack Thompson be found guilty on 27 of 31 counts of misconduct and is awaiting a Florida Supreme Court verdict to back him up. Thompson is striking back with allegations against the Judge and others, complaining that loyalty oaths were never signed. "Tunis made 21 recommendations of guilt in relation to Thompson's participation in Strickland vs. Sony, an Alabama case in which the anti-game attorney represented the families of two police officers and a police dispatcher slain by 18-year-old Grand Theft Auto player Devin Moore. Tunis also recommended that Thompson be found guilty on four out of five counts relating to his 2006 attempt to have Rockstar's Bully declared a public nuisance in a case before Miami Judge Ronald Friedman. An additional two guilty counts stemmed from a non-video game matter."
Ummm... (Score:5, Funny)
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Liar [youtube.com]
Hook in Mouth [youtube.com]
Bits of Hook in Mouth:
"A cockroach in the concrete, courthouse tan and beady eyes
A slouch with fallen arches, purging truths into great lies"
Bits of Liar:
"Make up your stories, truth's so hard to say
Brain is numb and your tongue will surely dig your grave"
"Start trouble, spread pain
Piss and venom, in your veins
Talk nasty, breathe fire
Smell rotten, you're a liar
Sweat liquor, breathe snot
Eat garbage, spit blood
Diseased, health hazard
Scum bag, f
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--Jeremy
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They've been excluded due to their known liberal bias.
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Basically, he hates the 1st Amendment, and isn't afraid to make a ridicules lawsuit to try and censor people.
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Re:Ummm... (Score:5, Insightful)
That's sort of like saying "Al-Quaeda hates freedom" -- I don't think Thompson hates the first amendment, it is just (in his mind) trumped by other values. He has further picked a particularly poor method for promoting his values.
To be more technically correct (and as this is slashdot, that's the best kind of correct), I'd say he believes that video games (and other media) containing sexual or violent content are the root of all evil, and that he'd rather have no video games (or other media) than the possibility that the games could contain sexual or violent content.
This particular story relates to disbarment proceedings against the man for repeated poor (and illegal) conduct.
Re:Ummm... (Score:5, Insightful)
No, seriously.
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I wonder how he'll cope with his deity forsaking him in the courtroom.
Should make for some fun reading should he choose to make a statement afterwards.
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"I lose" means God supports me but is testing me, and I must work harder, and He will eventually help me to win.
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No, seriously.
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"Actually, the people who have cashed in on the deaths is Rockstar. That's why God and I are going to destroy them. Thanks for writing."
"The 'video game community' surely seems exercised about someone who is a 'joke' and who is accomplishing nothing. You all seem rather bothered and worried about a nonentity. God is in this battle, and I am privileged to be a foot soldier. You all should be concerned, not about me, but about Him."
Need I go on?
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Trust me, I wouldn't make such a comment without knowing what I'm talking about.
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That's sort of like saying "Al-Quaeda hates freedom" -- I don't think Thompson hates the first amendment, it is just (in his mind) trumped by other values. He has further picked a particularly poor method for promoting his values.
AQ doesn't really attack freedom directly - the main way they have affected freedom is through giving Bush the '04 election and thus helping him to cut back on freedoms around the world. Jack Thompson, on the other hand, does directly attack things covered under the First Amendment. I agree that the GP's statement is overly stating the case, but your comparison manages to go too far in the other direction.
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Their reasoning is that the 1A is intended to protect expressive conduct (which is why you can burn the US flag even though it's not technically speech -- it's expressive conduct). Pornography, to them, is not speech for the purpose of expressing ideas but rather "titillation of prurient interest". As much as I don't agree with them, I have to respect that their interpretation is not unreasonable or ridiculous and that they are, in fact, intelligent people that love freedom as much as I do despite our serious philosophical difference about the meaning of that freedom.
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I'll Tell You Who He Is (Score:5, Insightful)
A man who stood up on Fox news the day of the Virginia Tech shootings [cnet.com] (when the bodies of slain students were still warm) and told the nation that he was certain we would find video games in the shooter's bedroom. He then later turned one of the funerals into a media circus and photo op.
A man who has overstepped laws designed to give Americans freedom and the right to enjoy entertainment in their homes. He has taken the The Bill of Rights into the restroom and wiped his ass with it.
A man who, after overstepping his bounds an pushing extreme values of the political Right, asked for members of the Bush family (which he erroneously thought would be allies) to remove his disbarment [wikipedia.org] from the Florida courts. Name Jeb & George [slashdot.org]
You have a man who has tried to undo the separation of church and state. This same man has been operating in a court of law and using false correlations while pushing his own moral and religious beliefs. He is completely divorced from the sense of Justice and the American People. This same man will soon suffer under The Justice of The United States of America or my faith in it will soon falter
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Re:I'll Tell You Who He Is (Score:5, Informative)
(http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080520-judges-report-in-jack-thompson-case-guilty-on-27-charges.html)
"GamePolitics was able to get Thompson's closing statement, and the man spoke like a captain straightening his coat as the ship goes down. "I'm simply making the argument, Judge, that my motivationsâ"which I have tried to make clear, maybe to the point of nauseaâ"are religious and that my efforts against the distribution of adult material, pornographic material, violent material, adult rated material to children is violative of the law as well as violative of Scripture. I quoted the biblical passage where Jesus says, reportedly: 'If any one of you should cause one of these little ones to stumble, it would be better that a millstone be tied around your neck and that you be cast in the uttermost depths of the sea.'"
Maybe those religious roots?
Remember: Wikipedia isn't the final authority.
Re:I'll Tell You Who He Is (Score:5, Informative)
"Thompson also has sued both the Alabama and Florida bar groups in Orange Circuit Court in Orlando, Fla., claiming the complaints violate state religious protections because his advocacy is motivated by his Christian faith.
Thompson "seeks to be left alone to serve God in the fashion that God has chosen, not in the fashion that two liberal bars would choose," his pleadings state. "
DISCLAIMER - I do hate religion in general. Well, maybe hate is a strong word, but "dislike and generally find useless in most cases" is an acceptable alternative.
Re:I'll Tell You Who He Is (Score:4, Insightful)
This being Slashdot makes that question somewhat rhetorical.
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Naw... there's no religious roots there...
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Do violent people like to play violent video games.
or do Violent video games make people violent.
I would choose the first. As many people who play these games don't seem to be causeing all the chaos that they seem to protrait. How many people do you see throwing red turtle shells from their cars so they can pa
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A pettifogger [merriam-webster.com]
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No seriously.. I can't figure this out.
Edit: Oh nevermind, I think I've got this now.
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Hey, maybe I ought to thank Mr. Thompson. If I ever get busted for smoking pot, gambling, or soliciting a prostitute I'll just blame GTA!
Did you know that Mr. Thompson's middle name is "Golf"?
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From wikipedia:"Thompson returned to file a lawsuit in Tennessee state court in October 2003 on behalf of the victims of two teenage stepbrothers who had pled guilty to reckless homicide, endangerment, and assault...Thompson sought $246 million in damages from the publisher, Take-Two Interactive, along with PlayStation 2 maker Sony Computer Entertainment America and retailer Wal-Mart"
So two people had the balls to commit a crime that serious and want to get paid for it (I'm sure he'd get a nice cut too)? Sounds to me like he just cares about money. If he really crusaded against video games, he'd know that you attack with legislation, not money. And he'd know that it's hopeless to attack AN ENTIRE MEDIA INDUSTRY PRACTICALLY SINGLE HANDEDLY (I know those three companies don't fit my description, but I'm pretty sure that it's his target).
Just throw away the key already! (Score:2, Funny)
Gotta love Jack (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Gotta love Jack (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Gotta love Jack (Score:5, Insightful)
The reason Jack Thompson has been allowed to get away with so much asshattery is because the justice system defaults to not disenfranchising people.
This is a good thing.
Keep it that way.
Bogosity resistance (Score:4, Insightful)
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Well, they haven't any cash and they haven't any company assets; they're in bankruptcy right now and are burning their remaining assets fast enough to make sure that there's nothing left before the creditors (including Novell and IBM) get a dime.
As for the lawyers, they have been incredibly sloppy. A number of attorneys have opined that in their whole careers they
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You will often find that in doing so, you manage to take care of some of the smaller problems at the same time, while preventing the large ones from becoming overwhelmingly large. Jack T. was a mouthpiece for a fair sized group of people who would also speak out in his place if he just quietly went away. Puttin
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Judge's Ruling (Score:5, Funny)
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Stop submitting Jack Thompson stories (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Stop submitting Jack Thompson stories (Score:4, Insightful)
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In Soviet Russia... (Score:2, Funny)
Not trying to defend Jack (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Not trying to defend Jack (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Not trying to defend Jack (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't think the bar association had any major issues with the lawsuits themselves. There are all sorts of lawyers out there, but as a lawyer he has to follow the professional code of conduct. The things he accused of doing:
Each of these is a serious charge and the judge has determined that enough evidence exists. I don't know Jack Thompson but his actions suggest a man who doesn't think that any rules apply to him.
Re:Not trying to defend Jack (Score:4, Interesting)
If you read his response, it's typical Jack Thompson. He doesn't argue the merits of the charges (probably because he was guilty of everything that he is being accused). He argues that the judge should be removed because she has a grudge against him.
One of the charges is improperly practicing law outside of Florida. This one was simple to prove. Every lawyer is licensed to practice law in the state where he passes his bar. To practice law in another state, you either have to (1) take the bar in that state or (2) apply for hac pro vice status if the lawyer needs to work a case. Every lawyer should know this. Jack Thompson (licensed in Florida) did not do either before representing families in the Devin Moore case in Alabama. Eventually he applied for status but had it revoked when he violated the gag order in the case.
GTA Lawyers (Score:5, Interesting)
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--AC
To quote the OJ Simpson trial: (Score:4, Funny)
No big deal (Score:2, Funny)
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Re:No big deal (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm all for labelling so that people can make informed choices. I'm way against censorship so that I'm allowed to make those informed choice.
Site down / moving? (Score:5, Informative)
Ars has a writeup that's a summary of GP's: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080520-judges-report-in-jack-thompson-case-guilty-on-27-charges.html [arstechnica.com]
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Re:Site down / moving? (Score:5, Informative)
http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:IftbAe-ZB3gJ:www.gamepolitics.com/2008/05/20/jack-thompson-guilty-27-31-misconduct-charges-says-bar-trial-judge-fl-supreme-court-must-&hl=en&strip=1 [64.233.169.104]
"loyalty oaths were never signed" (Score:4, Interesting)
We as citizens must demand that our government dot it's 'i's and cross its 't's. Without these oaths, the judges are unaccountable. How hard is it to get a signature? How hard is it to take an oath? These oaths are required by the people and in them, the person taking the oath states they will follow whatever constitutions are relevant to the position.
See http://www.jail4judges.org/ [jail4judges.org]
Re:"loyalty oaths were never signed" (Score:5, Interesting)
Accusing judges of malfeasance is just standard behavior for Jack Thompson. And his probable disbarment is just the start of his troubles -- there's one Cletus Junkin in Alabama (yeah I know
Re:"loyalty oaths were never signed" (Score:4, Informative)
That's Clatus Junkin, a former Circuit Court judge...
At least he'll have more time to play GTA4 :D (Score:4, Funny)
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Still framing the issue THEIR way (Score:5, Insightful)
You could have also phrased that as, "..police dispatcher slain by 18-year-old fluoridated-water drinker Devin Moore."
Re:Still framing the issue THEIR way (Score:5, Funny)
"..police dispatcher slain by 18-year-old heterosexual man Devin Moore."
"..police dispatcher slain by 18-year-old non-vegetarian Devin Moore."
"..police dispatcher slain by 18-year-old Darwinist Devin Moore."
Re:Still framing the issue THEIR way (Score:5, Funny)
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Just two counts? (Score:2)
But hey, someone who disagrees with "the viewpoint" is being punished. That the malfeasance and reprimand has nothing to do with that viewpoint is irrelevant, so long as everyone gets their blood.
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Re:Just two counts? (Score:5, Interesting)
The issue isn't just that some guy doesn't like video games, it's that he's not only embarked on some sort of loony campaign against them, but he's also abused the legal system to harass video game developers and publishers. And he's also made sweeping, negative, and sometimes offensive generalizations about an entire branch of media and the millions of people who consume said media.
Whether this guy is unethical enough to purposely crap all over the legal system over something like video games, or whether he's just plain insane, either way he should not be practicing law. And he certainly shouldn't be wasting tax dollars on his bizarre personal crusade against a bunch of gamers. The legal system is better off without him, regardless of his views on video games or anything else. He's pretty much proven that he has no respect for the proper functioning of the courts/etc.
And third, this guy has managed to convince various media outlets that he is a credible expert on video games. Having an opinion on something does not make you a credible voice. We can only hope that whatever the end result of all this is, news programs will stop asking him to share his thoughts on video games or anything else.
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The fact that he's a Christofascist with a grudge against free speech as expressed through video games is just a bonus.
I've had a really bad day today (Score:5, Funny)
Oh yea, and I want to thank Jack Thompson [uncyclopedia.org] too, since if he wasn't such a stupid, obnoxious, self-serving buffoon this story would have never made it to slashdot!
My life is SO filled with coincidences. Last night at Felber's one of the ladies there called me a "fuckmonkey" (in regards to my bringing Amy there half an hour before taking Tami there), I just got back fro Top Cat's, where today's drink special is the "Drunk Monkey", and now the Jack Thompson story brought to us by Scuttlemonkey!
Weird. But not as weird as Jack Thompson.
Watch out violent video games! (Score:3, Interesting)
Beware!
Re:Watch out violent video games! (Score:5, Insightful)
What's most likely going to happen is that a smattering of state laws will get passed and quickly be overturned because they're unconstitutional. Ten more years or so down the line, there will be enough people in positions of authority who grew up as gamers that the issue will mostly go away. There will still be the occasional whining and controversy, just like we've got with movies/tv/music today when a game really decides to push the envelope, but most people won't give it a second thought anymore.
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Loyalty Oath (Score:3, Insightful)
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Re:Loyalty Oath (Score:5, Insightful)
What's wrong with a loyalty oath you ask? Take a look at what's happened to our government over the past few years, could you honestly swear loyalty to *this* government? What if it got worse?
If you think about it, anyone who really meant their oath to "defend the Constitution of the United States... against all enemies, foreign and domestic" would have taken up arms against this government a long time ago. Ever since Wickard v. Filburn [wikipedia.org] it's been clear that even the SCOTUS is a domestic enemy of the Constitution.
Dissent is an essential part of a democratic society. People who disagree with current policy should not be discriminated against, even if they are communists.
He's going to need.... (Score:2, Funny)
...at Law.com (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202421556225 [law.com]
Which game? (Score:5, Funny)
The real victims (Score:4, Insightful)
The lawyers and judges that had to deal with him endured harassment, patently false accusations, completely incoherent arguments, abuse of law and process, and threats at every turn. It made me glad to be on the receiving end of only the news stories about him.
(1) Both because Thompson's rants are difficult to parse and because GamePolitics.com's servers were awful.
He already has a backup plan (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Slashdotted already? (Score:5, Informative)
Wow. Just... wow. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:As a Lawyer Friend Of Mine Once Said... (Score:5, Insightful)
If facts aren't on your side, pound on the law. If the law isn't on your side, pound on the facts. If neither the law nor the facts are on your side, pound on the table.
That describes JT more accurately. Procedurally, he's a moron -- he's actually gotten himself barred from filing directly to the Florida Supreme Court. Then again he's not exactly that sharp when it comes to facts or law either.