We're all going to have to learn to spell "Albuquerque."
That's because we're going to be hearing a lot about the New Mexico city, since Jack Thompson's promised video game violence lawsuit is going to land there today. As reported by the Albuquerque Journal Thompson and a local attorney, Steven Sanders, will file a wrongful death suit based on the July, 2004 murders committed by Cody Posey on a ranch owned by ABC newsman Sam Donaldson.
Posey, 15 at the time of the killings, was found guilty early this year of murdering his father, stepmother and stepsister. Sentenced as a juvenile, he will be held until he turns 21. The defense maintained that Posey was severely abused by his father.
The video game connection is not yet clear. However, according to Cody Posey's Wikipedia entry, "prior to the murder, Cody was burnt with a welding rod and instructed by his father to have sex with (his stepmother)." His father had previously beaten the boy with a board, and had been reported to child protection authorities by Cody's biological mother.
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Jack Thompson Lawsuit to be Filed in Albuquerque
September 25, 2006 -
Shout box
Monte: trolls are just at their absolute worst when it comes to women and feminist. You could bet good money that if the developer were male the trolls would be silent and the conversation would actually focus on the journalism.10/18/2014 - 9:18pm
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Monte: Papa: Not the first time we've had a journalism scandals before, but the harassment never got close to this level; the difference with this scandal is that feminists are involved. Without the feminist angle, their would be A LOT less harrassment10/18/2014 - 9:15pm
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Papa Midnight: Monte: That's honestly rather short-sighted. As has been proven with other persons who have been targeted, if it wasn't Quinn, it would be someone else.10/18/2014 - 6:26pm
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Avalongod: I think that's part of what gives an esoteric news story like this real life...it taps into a larger narrative about misogyny in society outside of games.10/18/2014 - 3:29pm
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Avalongod: @Monte, well the trolls made death threats that came to police (and media attention). I think this is tapping into a larger issue outside of games about how women are treated in society (like all the "real rape" stuff during the last election)10/18/2014 - 3:28pm
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Wonderkarp: Zippy : Havent tried the PS4 controller. might later.10/18/2014 - 2:37pm
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Monte: Seirously, If Quinn was not involved and GG was instead about something like the Mordor Marketing contracts, the trolling would have never grown so vile and disgusting. There have been plenty of movements in the past that never sufferred from behavior..10/18/2014 - 1:57pm
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Monte: We have seen scandel's before but the trolling has never been as vile as what we see with GG. Trolls usually have such a tiny voice you can barely notice them, but its like moths to a flame whenever femistist are involved.10/18/2014 - 1:53pm
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ZippyDSMlee: Wonderkarp: You might be able to if you had a PS4 controller.10/18/2014 - 1:00pm
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MaskedPixelante: http://store.steampowered.com/app/327940/ Night Dive starts charging for freeware.10/18/2014 - 12:21pm
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Matthew Wilson: the sad thing is there are trolls on both sides of this. people need to stop acting like their side is so pure.10/18/2014 - 12:19pm
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MechaTama31: So, only speak out on a scandal that hasn't attracted trolls? I wouldn't hold my breath...10/18/2014 - 10:49am
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Monte: I feel like GG just needs to die. The movement is FAR to tainted by hatred and BS for it to be useful for any conversation. Let GG die, and then rally behind the NEXT gaming journalism scandal, and start the conversation fresh.10/18/2014 - 10:33am
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quiknkold: and we dont have a Dovakin to call a cease fire10/17/2014 - 7:37pm
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quiknkold: The whole thing is Futile. Both sides are so buried deep in their trenchs that there isnt a conversation. Its just Finger Pointing, Name Calling, Doxxing, Threats. there needs to be a serious conversation, and GG isnt it.10/17/2014 - 7:37pm
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quiknkold: I thought it was a good article. Jeff is right. I feel like GamerGate did destroy its message. I am for Ethics in game journalism, but man. so much hate. and its on both sides. I've seen some awful stuff spewed on twitter. Its a big reason why I exited..10/17/2014 - 7:34pm
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Matthew Wilson: while he focused on gg, he did call out both sides crap.10/17/2014 - 7:18pm
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Papa Midnight: That was a damn good read offered by Jeff Gertsmann.10/17/2014 - 7:17pm
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Matthew Wilson: http://www.giantbomb.com/articles/letter-from-the-editor-10-17-2014/1100-5049/ deferentially a nice write up.10/17/2014 - 6:44pm
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james_fudge: I think Evan killed it. He's a great guy and super smart.10/17/2014 - 6:38pm
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Comments
I'm really wondering what the "video game angle" on this is going to be.
With a dad like that, did Posey really need video games to teach him to be violent? If a young man has been taught nothing but violence his whole life, is it surprising that he solved his problems in a violent manner?
Hopefully, Thompson knows enough not to blame San Andreas as it wasn't out at the time.
Andrew Eisen
call me crazy, but I fail to see how he could make a case for this. even the alabama case had more of a leg to stand on this this one does, and thats a million to 1 shot at best.
This why the industry should try and use it's significant resources to BURY thompson beneath a Pr mountain. Get him out of the debate for good.
Other than that, we all know now that Cody was abused by his father. Video games had nothing to do with it. Anyone who disagrees with the article obviously needs to reconsider a new job.
And really this case has absolutely nothing to do with games. When you have such a life, it is no surprise that you can resort to violence. Games didn't make him do it.
Matt, A PR blitz would be counterproductive, I say wait for a (more) outrageous quote with innacuracies and sue for defamation.
If jack tries to play the "video games made him do it" card...
jack is already a TERRIBLE human being. It actually depresses me to think about him pulling this kind of thing
Also, was checking some articles, and so far I've found zero mention that the guy owned or played the games in question, so hopefully the Game industry will do some digging and find out Jacks Full of S@#$ again.
Lets hope this dies fast, I'm getting tired of Jacks BS.
I'm serious about this:
Please accept my heartfelt sympathies to Albuquerque and the surrounding community, the families involved on both sides of the issue, and the NM legal system.
As it has already been pointed out, this kid was abused in a multitude of ways. Whether his response in the end was right or wrong in the eyes of some, NO ONE should ever use such tragedies to further their personal/religious/political agendas. It is, in all bluntness, a deep obscenity and abuse of the legal system, as well as an abuse of the community and those individuals involved (the families on both sides of the case as well as Cody himself) that is being commited.
Even the defense lawyer stated that the killings took place because of long term abuse. But John Bruce is actually encouraging individuals to ignore the effects of all the abuse this kid suffered, just to push an agenda laden lawsuit forward for his own benefit. It's almost as if John Bruce feels the abuse was of no importance or wasn't even abuse. It is a sick individual to do such a thing.
Again, my sympathies to everyone there in NM for the abuse yet to come in this case. I realize you may not have links to this case beyond being a new attorney in NM. Rest assured, I don't hold you, as an attorney responsible for John Bruce's dishonorable, unethical actions. The stereotypes of any group are kept alive by the negative individuals in the group. But the intelligent folks here know that John Bruce is responsible for his own actions and, in Truth, reflect in no way on any other attorney.
Good luck to the honorable folks down there in NM, of which John Bruce is NOT one.
nightwng2000
NW2K Software
The lawsuit is a wrongfull death suit against Cody himself as well as Take 2. Therefore, it seems certain that Cody's mother's side of the family will be pushing the abuse angle heavilly. Therefore, I can't imagine that this suit will actually even get to talking about videogames. I imagine that it will be mainly about excrusiating detail about the abuse.
Moreover, Sanders, the lawyer in New Mexico who is actually trying the lawsuit does not seem to be associated with a large law firm, so a) if it does actually focus on videogames, it will be Sander and Thompson against an army of corporate lawyers and b) the research I found about Sanders indicates that he is mainly a contract lawyer which doesn't seem so great of a choice for such a lawsuit.
Jack is in way over his head and is caught in between this battle between the father's family and the mother and her family. I'm really tempted to think that Jack chose this case specifically so that he could get a bunch of publicity and then when the case starts and focuses on the abuse, he can pull a New Orleans move and back away blaming family for not telling him about the abuse and accusing the horrible big law firm of ganging up on little old him.
Winner right there, good man. You could frighten these people with a laser point pen alone.
JT is blaming Vice City, for the reasons and quotes we all know by now.
Except that it didn't.
Like others here have said, there is very little to no evidence that games played any significant role in these murders. How JT plans to link this to games I just have to see to believe. And even though this is a civil case where the burden of proof is lower than it is in a criminal case, Jack is REALLY stretching here. His odds were better in the Devin Moore case IMO. I have a feeling that this really will be the case that breaks him. That and once Bully is released and people find out it's nowhere near as bad as he's said.
Incidentally, just WHO is the prosectution representing in this case? Something tells me it's the victims' families. If so, JT takes advantage of grieving families yet again.
Oh, and so much for all the massive media coverage. I checked CNN, Headline News and MSNBC (Fox doesn't count in my book). I didn't expect it to be major headline news, but the way JT was talking, you'd think it would at least be a lead story under "Entertainment," "Business" or "Technology." I also checked the respective websites too. Nothing, nada, zip. So much for the news media being "all atwitter." It's really true what Beardogg's said previously: JT's a pork rind - he's what the news eats when there's nothing else. Fortunately we have much heartier fare this news cycle, like the latest developments with Iraq, Terrorism and Tiffany Hall for instance.
Sorry Jack. You lose. Again.
"Reading between the lines, basically, the father’s side of the family denies all the abuse charges and wanted Cody Posey sentenced as an adult"
Given that they are essentially suing one biological family member over the death of another biological family member, I would question the denials of abuse. What sort of family acts in that spiteful of a manner? It certainly doesn't seem to be supportive of a caring environment.
Secondly--I don't know Steve Sanders personally; I only know him by reputation--and he has a reputation for being a VERY good attorney and a good man to boot. What's been said about Thompson isn't going to change, at least not around here, Joystiq, etc. Let's not let it spill over to persons who don't deserve to be attacked; we may disagree with his conclusions but we shouldn't attack his convictions.
In both reportings of this story, neither paper mentions this.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/4213643.html
Other wise both papers are reporting this suit fairly straight fowards. Expect the industry to either Hit back at thompson hard by citing his various ethics violations or to go after Sanders for backing a lunatic.
either way, should be fun
"grabs popcorn"
Anyway, on-topic, yet another frivolous lawsuit from the Metropolitian Moron of Miami.
Apparently, there's no connection to GTA, other than in Jacky Boy's delusional fantasy world.
Off-topic, Geaux Saints!
Damn,jack is trying REALLY hard to take us down. from LA to possibly Utah to New mexico. he might be setting himself up though..
Ad hominem, verbal abuse, circumstantial, "tu quoque", and "poisoning the well". He certainly knows how NOT to debate an issue, and instead turn the arguement into verbal mudslinging.
As for my personal opinion on the Albuquerque suit, I think Jack's getting pretty desperate to try and say that video games can teach somebody how to shoot a gun. I think I'd learn more about shooting a gun from movies like "Pulp Fiction" and "Saving Private Ryan" than anything I've seen in "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City". Somebody's definately reaching here.
Copyright infringement is nothing more than civil disobedience to a bad set of laws. Let's renegotiate them.
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http://zippydsm.deviantart.com/
But somehow, he always finds a way.
This time though, jack may have bitten off more then he can chew, since it appears that ~unlike in previous cases~ he'll be the lawyer with the most expierience in the lawsuit department, and as such won't really be able to shift the blame to someone else on his legal team when the case goes south (and rest assured it will certainly do so).
There's somthing else I've been wondering about (and maybe the legal folks here can clear this up for me): What the hell is the point of sueing somebody who's in prison and can't possibly pay the lawsuit's amount? It's a question that's been bugging me since the devin moore case.