March 9, 2008 -
GamePolitics readers will likely recall the intense media coverage which attended the December slaying of 7-year-old Zoe Garcia.The young Colorado girl's death at the hands of her stepsister, 16-year-old Heather Trujillo (left) and Trujillo's boyfriend, 17-year-old Lamar Roberts quickly gained notoriety as the "Mortal Kombat Murder" due to early reports that the accused killers executed video game-like martial arts moves on Zoe following a session of playing the well-known fighting game.
But a news report in yesterday's Greeley Tribune calls the Mortal Kombat aspect into question. Defendant Heather Trujillo's aunt and former stepmother both spoke to the newspaper:
Both Henry and Southern said Trujillo was never violent toward their children, and they never saw her use any Mortal Kombat moves. Southern said she thinks Roberts made up the Mortal Kombat story to look tough.
"Lamar changed her. He was a thief and not a very good person," Southern said.
While the Mortal Kombat angle appears to have come from comments made by Lamar Roberts to a police officer early on in the investigation, it subsequently became apparent that the victim and her accused stepsister were part of an extremely dysfunctional family.
Following Zoe's death, her mother, Dana Trujillo, was arrested on an old child abuse warrant from New Mexico. Social service records reveal 20 complaints of abuse directed toward Zoe, in both Colorado and New Mexico. A report based on one of those incidents expressed concern that Lamar Roberts was abusive to the child when intoxicated.
However, prosecutor Robert Miller stuck to the video game angle at a preliminary hearing on Friday:
Zoe Garcia was the object of abuse by both Heather Trujillo and Lamar Roberts caused these injuries with Mortal Kombat.
Comments
I agree with you on that, truly pathetic :/.
Clever
They never bring this up, because if they did it would destroy their case. The only disturbing thing is in this graph (http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/cv2.htm). The purple line is the number of violent crime arrests, notice how it too has been decresting with the other lines. That should be going up.
If they are going to manipulate facts to say that games cause damage then I can too. The playstation was released Christmas of 1994, as was Doom 2. Therefore there is a direct correlation between violent video games increase in popularity and a decrease in violent crime.
I know that the real reasons are much more complicated, but if they want to simplify the facts and skew them to help themselves, then I will too.
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Really? To look tough? You just killed a defensless child, nothing can make that right or even worth bragging about..
Jesus..
Shouldn't there be a "who" or "they" or something in there? Theory? could you help me out here?
why hasnt this person been fired!!!!
this is actually worse than jack thomspon!!!
However, prosecutor Robert Miller stuck to the video game angle at a preliminary hearing on Friday:
Zoe Garcia was the object of abuse by both Heather Trujillo and Lamar Roberts caused these injuries with Mortal Kombat.
Not too long ago, someone who was in the same school region as me died due to someone preforming a wresting like move. There were no law suits, no charges, anything. The parents didn't want anybody else's life ruin due to an accident. Why can't everyone live that way. If it was an accident, it was an accident. What justice do you get from charging them.
As for blaming Mortal Kombat, why? The combat in the game is barely marshal arts, and you can't really pick up anything from that game. I bet they is a marshal arts school within walking distance from where you live.
Maybe anti-video game activist were right about kids not telling the difference between fictional and reality. If these so called 'professional' adults can't, why would kids?
I remember something similar where a kid truly accidentally killed another kid with a wrestling move. The lawyers tried to blame it on the WWE. It didn’t work then, it won’t work now.
Now if he's holding that they shot spears from their hands or made an arcade machine fall form the sky, then the lawyer deserves to have his license yanked on the spot.
That would be because the autopsy showed the 6-year-old girl who was killed had far too many broken bones and contusions to have been caused by "one errant wrestling move" as was claimed by the killer. The killer, who was 12 or 13 when it happened, was tried as an adult and sent to prison for life. The Florida Supreme Court vacated the decision and set him free. He's since been in trouble with the law multiple times since then.
Basically, if it was the same incident we're thinking of, it was not an "accident."
I think it is. It's been a long time since I actually read anything about it, and didn't refresh my memory about it before posting. And in hind-sight, quotes around the 'accidentally' would have been more appropriate. Thanks for clearing me up though.
...should i even HAVE to say it?
Also: They're clearly dangerous fuckheads who should stay in prison for the rest of time, preferrably subject to random electrical shocks or at least put in a place that smells like rotten oranges
One came out on the wii, can't remember the name.
Well I suppose if it uses the wii controller, thats perfect education for beating someone up...
This poor girl, already abused, was beaten to death by people she couldn't even fight back against. That's not "Mortal Kombat", that's cold blooded murder.
For the prosecutor to open the door for some sort of diminished culpability is criminal.
A needle is too good for these people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNtveyhZMnU
It would have been as Mortla Kombat borrows moves and stances from real world Martial arts.
"I blame videogames because the media blames videogames."
Which would mean JT is promoting VG-linked violence in a strange sort of way. At least, in court claims.
Holy crap. That's it. Blaming video games gives people an excuse for murder.
People think that murders can't do what they do without a third party.
No, they caused those injuries with their own hands and wills. Plus given that Mortal Kombat, like many fighting games tends to borrow moves (particularly the ones that it's physically possible to duplicate) from real martial arts, you're basically saying that they caused injury with karate, kung fu, *insert one of a dozen martials arts and variants here*.
If a trained martial artist killed someone with their skilled, you'd be blaming them, not the martial art. So why is someone doing paltry imitations of a martial art not getting blamed?
Not to mention how difficult it would be to cause any injuries with Mortal Kombat. Cartridge versions, maybe, but CDs don't do much damage.
Nope, making me guess he borrowed another lawyer's play book.
Caused the injuries with Mortal Kombat? What, did they hit her with the game box???
So what do you think is more "imitateable"? The faux martial arts in a stupid video game? Or the real life abuse against the same girl who died that was apparently perpetrated by their mother over the corse of at least a few years? The family apparently lived in three different states, had 20 reports of child abuse against the victum, and a WARRENT out for her arrest. You don't get one of those for a spanking.
But instead of a story about a young girl growing up seeing her mother abuse her little sister and doing so herself, they descide to blame a video game...
It is infinitely sad that Zoe Garcia died at the hands of her stepsister and her boyfriend. It is equally, if not more sad, however, is that the two girls were left with an abusive mother even after 20 previous reported issues (and that just on Zoe; who knows how many on Heather) and thus taught them that physical abuse was okay.
CPS should be ashamed of themselves.
"Wait, why is the PROSECUTOR saying that Mortal Kombat made them do it? Miles Edgeworth this guy ain’t. "
NOBODY is the awesomeness that is Miles Edgeworth.
Don't think about comparing the two.
What about tipping a whole arcade cabinet over? Ouch!
If i roundhouse kick someone in the face and kill them, I can blame Chuck Norris?