The Bar Trial of Jack Thompson (Part 8): Thompson's Closing Statement

March 27, 2008 -

We're coming to the end of our exclusive series detailing the video game-related testimony in controversial attorney Jack Thompson's professional misconduct trial by the Florida Bar.

In today's episode, GamePolitics will present Thompson's closing argument. There is no cross-examination during a closing. It's an attorney's chance to summarize the case for the Court, recalling evidence presented and touching on points of law. As such, except for a couple of procedural matters, this is Thompson speaking.

In tomorrow's finale, GP will recap the series, including an explanation of how it all came together. If you've missed any of the previous installments, just click the Bar Trial series tag to catch up.

(In today's excerpted transcript, JT is Thompson, TUMA is prosecutor Sheila Tuma and DT is Judge Dava Tunis, who is presiding over the case…)

JT: Okay. By way of closing argument... here's the text of the Florida Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Did I give you that?...

TUMA: Yes.

JT: It says... "Exercise of religion means an act or refusal to act that is substantially motivated by a religious belief, whether or not the religious exercise is compulsory or central to a larger system of religious beliefs... The Government may substantially burden a person's exercise of religion only if it is demonstrated that application of the burden to the person is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest, is the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest... A person whose religious exercise has been burdened in violation of this section may assert that violation as a claim or defense in a judicial proceeding and obtain appropriate relief."

I'm simply making the argument, Judge, that my motivations - which I have tried to make clear, maybe to the point of nausea - 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."

If I am disbarred, which is the wish of these [Florida Bar] people... I will continue to do what I'm doing on these issues whether they disbar me or not because this is what I was called to do, this is what I was enabled to do more effectively as a lawyer...



These [Florida Bar] people, Judge, in 1992, sought and got an order of the Supreme Court of Florida, telling me: "You will either submit to a mental health exam by the Bar's own chosen psychiatrist and psychologist because, A. we think you may have brain damage; and, B, we believe your obsession with photography -" they meant against pornography "- is so severe that you are mentally incapacitated by virtue of that disability and unfit to practice law."

As I recounted in my book... they found that Jack Thompson is perfectly sane... He doesn't have brain damage and, in fact, he's a Christian acting out his faith in this fashion. So they're stuck with a formal document that they generated to the humiliation of me in my community that I'm simply a Christian acting out my faith when I do these things.

When you've got hypocrites... then I have a right - in fact, I have duty, as Jesus did, the confront the Pharisees and say: "You are hypocrites. You are liars. You are whited sepulchers. You're in a den of thieves," and so forth... So these people now in this situation, it's all by stealth. They want to do it in the darkness...

I asked you, Judge, at the outset: Will they please disclose to me what in the world their position is as to my mental health. They wouldn't do that and yet they required the resolution of this matter with a demand that after I'd pled guilty to all these things, I'd then have to submit to a mental health exam. That's what they said, knowing my motivation is religious...

Then I submit to them the psychological forensic evaluation of me by Dr. Oren Wunderman, who's used by the Florida Bar because they considered him an expert... and he said: "Look. This guy's a competent attorney. He's, in effect, under attack by people who don't like what he's doing and his religious faith not only animates what he does, but also enriches his practice of law and enriches his capabilities as a lawyer..."

So, Judge, you have to make a determination, which I'm asking you to make, that the Florida Religious Freedom Restoration Act is being violated by the Florida Bar because of their effort to punish me for the acting out of my religion... Done - on that one.

DT: I'm sorry. You're asking me a question?

JT: No.

DT: Oh, I think that the Bar is going to submit their responses in writing. That's what I understood.

TUMA: We were... We already have a memorandum of law regarding this. Mr. Thompson has raised this in our pleadings before and we do have a memorandum of law and whether the Bar  is violating the Respondent's rights under the Florida Religious Freedom Restoration Act case....

JT: ... Okay, Judge. May I finish?

DT: Yes. Of course.

JT: Okay. Another argument [by Florida law] Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, SLAPP suits, by governmental entities are prohibited... I'll just point out and ask the Court to read Section 4. It says" "No governmental entity in this state shall file or cause to be filed... any lawsuit -" and then the important phrase here "-cause of action-" differentiating it from a lawsuit "-claim, cross-claim or counterclaim against a person... solely because such person... has exercised the right to... petition for redress of grievances before the various governmental entities of this state."

My book, which you wouldn't allow into evidence, recounts the efforts - past efforts - of the Florida Bar to improperly discipline me, which resulted in the payment of damages and so forth... That's in evidence by the virtue of my testimony. It's been my contention that what has animated the Bar... is the exercise of my First Amendment rights to be critical of the Bar and say no to them in the past and now for their attempt to wrongly discipline me. I think it's vindictive. I think it's a clear attempt to punish me for the exercise of my First Amendment speech... Judge, I was hampered in this defense when I asked for certain discovery from the Bar and I was told I couldn't look at documents the Bar had  without first paying a $4,000 up front fee to look at my own file up there...

So what the Court has to do is address the fact that this is nothing but a SLAPP action by the Florida Bar in pursuit of an attempt to chill my First Amendment speech... I'm done with that one.

TUMA: I have a memorandum on this. The Bar is going to tender to Your Honor a memorandum on whether the Bar is violating Respondent's First Amendment rights to free speech....

DT: Thank you.

JT: Finally, we get to the last thing, the First Amendment. Did I give you all the Fieger ruling? I know the Judge has it...

DT: Is that a Michigan case, Mr. Thompson?

JT: Yes... Judge, do you have yours? If not, I've got another one...

DT: Thank you...

JT: Mr. Fieger [a prominent attorney] had some sort of a dispute... and Mr. Fieger had a radio program and he... was upset about what these judges had done and he called them Nazis. He said that their ruling was worse than if you had put a certain number of monkeys in a room and they had typed at typewriters and come up with the opinion. It suggested that they were in the pockets of commercial interests.

DT: He said this to whom?

JT: He said it... on his radio show to the whole state of Michigan.

DT: OKay. So he was a radio personality, a person on the radio.

JT: He's a lawyer. He's a very successful lawyer who's been on all the talk shows... Greta Van Susteren, and -

DT: Okay.

JT: He also represented Dr. Kevorkian, "Dr. Death." He ran for governor of Michigan...

(Fieger was sanctioned by the Michigan Supreme Court for his criticism of the judiciary; Thompson is referring here to a U.S. District Court decision which overruled the Michigan Supreme Court)

You'll note that that... this federal court says - if you compare the importance of the two - the respect for the judiciary or individual judges is less important than protecting the... judicial process because judges come and go... The opinion here is that unless someone said something that is false... or in reckless disregard of the truth then... you have to let it go and you're allowed to say these things.

Now, there's been no testimony, no evidence - in my opinion - anywhere in this case, Judge, that I have uttered anything that's false about Judge Moore or Judge Friedman or that I have uttered what I have said in reckless disregard of the truth or falsity of what I've said.

I've said that Judge Friedman violated his own order, which he did. He didn't give me a hearing that he said he would give me. He didn't review the game [Bully] which he said he would do. Then I wrote some other things to him which he found annoying... So believe me, having been within the belly of Judge Friedman's courtroom and seen what he did improperly in an ex-parte proceeding where he didn't do what he said he would do, I had a right to tell the truth. I had a right to identify what he had done wrong.

DT: You mean an in camera proceeding?

JT: What did I say?

DT: Ex parte

JT: In camera... I didn't question of either Judge Moore or Judge Friedman their integrity.

(GP: although Thompson alluded that Alabama lawyer Clatus Junkin claimed to be able to fix cases with Judge Moore... and in his cross-examination of Moore, Moore said, "I saw a letter not long ago where you said I was corrupt." to which Thompson replied, " Yes, I think you are, but not in that [case-fixing] sense.")

JT: Clatus Junkin, the self-important king maker, as he views himself as having put this judge [Moore] on the bench - and believe me, there's plenty more about that - was upset that I had defamed him and he came here... to tell the Court what a despicable human being I was and how I had defamed him. I had no option whatsoever but to go to the authorities... and tell him that this guy was running around, according to every lawyer who knew him in Alabama, that he could arrange the result in a case. And having heard that, what did I do? I acted upon it to do what? To preserve the integrity of the bench, not to harm it...

The matter before [Bully case] Judge Friedman was over, and yet I'm charged... with engaging in conduct with the practice of law that is prejudicial to the administration of justice. First of all, I had no client. I brought a pro bono on behalf of the State as a private attorney general. I had no client... Secondly, I didn't attack the integrity of this judge or his qualifications... I didn't question his integrity. I questioned the propriety of a judge violating his own orders...

Further, what we've got here, Judge - and there was some discussion about this earlier - is: This is a libel case that these people brought against me, a criminal libel case.

(GP: this is Thompson's analagous characterization of the case; it is not in fact a criminal case, nor is it a libel case. It is a series of professional misconduct allegations under Florida Bar rules

JT: Criminal libel, by the way, is unconstitutional almost everywhere in this country. You can't punish anybody by anything other than taking money from them, which would be a civil libel action, but these people want to take my career away from me. It's clearly penal in nature as the Supreme Court defines this type of disciplinary proceeding. They want me to forfeit my license. So whether we want to consider it a criminal action... it's clearly violative of the Florida Constitution-

DT: What's violative?

JT: This proceeding against me as to my speech.

DT: Okay. I just wanted to follow that last argument.

JT: If you look -

DT: No, no. You don't have to - Say it again? ...

JT: I understand. - and I just want to build on that, if I may... Article one, section 4 of the Florida Constitution. I don't have it in front of me, but basically it says-

DT: That's okay. I'll look it up.

JT: Basically it says... you can't impinge upon a Florida resident's First Amendment rights... if you look at all of these complaints, Judge, they're almost all violations of my speech rights. I've said some things that bothered Clatus Junkin and I said some things about Judge Friedman that the Third District in another case agreed with me about how he runs his Court, pre-judging cases... So, Judge, this is First Amendment speech. It's been engaged in to protect the integrity of the judicial process...

(GP: Thompson then says that it was his complaint that led to the removal of The Crying Judge in the Anna Nicole Smith case, so...)

JT: So, Judge, where do you draw the line? ...Am I allowed to write the Broward State Attorney about... [Crying Judge] Larry Seidlin, who's now going to have his own reality TV show? Am I allowed to do that?

Am I allowed to talk about Judge Friedman pre-judging cases, acting as if he were a tyrant in his chambers and in his courtroom and taking unsworn testimony from operatives of Take Two? Am I allowed to talk about that?

Am I allowed to talk about the fact that Clatus Junkin indicates to me and others that he's in charge in Fayette, Alabama... If I defame Clatus Junkin, who has said that this is the worst thing any human being had done to him, then he could bring a defamation action.

The restriction upon me as a lawyer, which I understand, is that I have to have within the bounds upon my rights a respect for the judiciary, of the integrity of a judge. Yet the standard that I'm held to in that regard as a lawyer which gives them, the Florida Bar, the right to discipline me if I go over that line is the same line that's delineated in libel law...

Judge, I'll conclude with this, and I appreciate the Court's indulgence. The Court had extended me many courtesies during the last nine days, and I appreciate the ones you extended to me and I'll say again with no disrespect for the Court in this regard. I would have liked a little less courtesy and a little more fairness...

You know, I don't know what's going to happen here. I've got an idea... So my detractors and opponents have the view that they can file Bar complaints against me, threaten to rape my wife, corporately incite the sending of sex products to my wife and me at our home, and I'm supposed to just sit there and be a human pinata for anything that the Florida Bar, which collaborates with these people - and, Judge, you don't know the half of it. You don't know the half of what has gone on here - and that I'm supposed to just sit there and take all this nonsense and not complain...

(GP: it's unclear what the "rape" allegation refers to. As we recall, the "sex products" allegation seems to want to blame Rockstar for somehow inciting unnamed persons to send the items to Thompson by way of harassment... )

Blank Rome, knowing my wife had just had ovarian cancer surgery, sued me with a lawsuit at our house - at our house - knowing she's stretched out on a couch, unable to move. Ray Reiser had asked them not to bother us at our home, and these people, knowing she had this surgery and is recovering from it, knowing I had a lawyer, Ray Reiser, to accept service, having been told that - my wife, she had to get up off the couch and receive this lawsuit at the door from a process server; and they knew it and they did it on purpose.

Judge, I apologize for any unkind comments I've had for you about my wife, and your total lack, in my opinion, of appreciation of the fact that to go through a process like this in which your profession is being threatened with being taken from you at the same time that your wife is fighting for her life and that you don't understand, apparently, Judge, that there are burdens in a situation like that, that it's almost too much for a body and a person to bear.

So, Judge, I appreciate you courtesies in the midst of all this. I think these [Florida Bar] people don't have any - don't have a sense of democracy in their bodies. They don't understand what freedom is about. They don't understand that the great infringer of freedoms in our nation's history and world history is government. These people don't care about that. They care about their view of ethics. They don't care about the little ones that are harmed by these people through their illegal commercial enterprises.

If this Court finds... If this Court wants to act upon their suggestion that you can find me guilty... for things that don't even involve the practice of law, then I will go on with my life... we'll just have to deal with that and we'll move on and we'll get a remedy in another venue [i.e. - the federal court system]

But, Judge, thank you for your kind offices and your courtroom for the last nine days; and I particularly appreciate your bailiff...

TUMA: ...The only thing the Bar would add is that we will put our closing in writing to Your Honor...

NEXT: GP's recap of the series...


Comments

Best wishes to Mrs. Thompson. I hope you have a complete recovery, but your husband is still nuts.

JDKJ (Re: Mat23:27)
The irony is palpable.

*headdesk* I know many, many christians, some of whom are very concervative, who still manage to behave in a reasonable and polite manner even when confronting things they are quite against.

So I would say his religious freedom argument falls pretty flat.

@Ghost Coins

Somehow I doubt JT is actually all that familiar with bibilical issues. He seem the type to cherry pick quotes that he hears without any real understanding of them.

@Phalanx

Hear Hear!

Let's prove that we aren't satanistic murdering perverts, as Jack claims. Not that it'll make any difference to him.

So yeah, to Mrs Thompson, I wish you a speedy recovery.

@phalanx

I have the same sentiment for the wife.... but calling the husband nuts is like calling a hurricane a light drizzle, and even then the magnitude of insanity is still pretty unreal.

GP: Major agreement on the recovery wishes to Mrs. JT (who is a partner in a major Miami firm herself)... I have studiously avoided mention of this on GP as I don't believe it is appropriate to drag families in. However, since he made it a significant part of his close, I could not justify leaving it out.

I honestly still have this sinking suspicion that Jack Thompson still isn't going to be disbarred. It sucks to say, but I really just have a hard time imagining it happening, especially when he's hiding behind religion.

If he were up in front of a disciplinary board for timekeeping, productivity, or falling asleep at his desk and he used the fact he was caring for his wife as a defence, then that, to me, would be perfectly acceptable defence.

Still not sure I buy the 'I've been sending people 10-20 Emails a day and being even more prolific as a censor and hippocrite, but you should let me off because you pulled me up on it when my wife was ill' really cuts the biscuit. As sorry as I feel for his wifes' illness, and I wish her a speedy and full recovery, I simply cannot see how this defence is supposed to work.

I lost an uncle some months ago to Motor Neuron Disease, and that, I can assure you, is no way to go, in the end, your lungs end up not receiving the message that says 'breath', I was pretty torn up about it, had some problems getting motivated for work, and was generally irritable. Work were very good about it, but had I started behaving as Jack does, making official statements that people around me are 'crooks, murderers and paedophiles', then I would at least have been looking at forced medical suspension and the requirement of bereavement therapy before I returned. My job isn't nearly as responsible or 'visible' as that of a lawyer, but there are standards and requirements at all levels of employment.

Had I kept that behaviour up for over 2 decades, however, far longer than my partner had unfortunately been ill for.....

@Ghost Coins,

Hmm... yes, something about Christ kicking them out and I believe condemning them? It's been a while since I last read that particular part, but I'm pretty sure it had something about people who set themselves up to profit by using the church have a special place down below for them. Claiming a crusade and all, then seeking enormous sums of money that'll mostly goto himself seems even worse than the merchants and moneychangers in the temple, which themselves were bad enough that Christ actually got angry and violent. Were I still Christian, I'd say your salvation is not at all in question JT, it's already clear that you're trying to and have set yourself up to burn for all time based on your supposed beliefs. Heck even as someone no longer in that faith, just by past knowledge of it, I'd still be able to say that with confidence based on your actions.

Also, while your point about "little ones" is very true, it does also mean children at the same time, being one of the parables with multiple meanings to interpret from it. Children require guidance in religion and the ways of the world, at least as much as someone of weak faith, as both have little experience with divine matters and can easily be convinced of many things should an adult who appears to have authority say them. Though I must disclaim that I don't agree with the indoctrination methods of teaching only one religion to a child and telling them it's right before they're even old enough to make decisions like that on their own, the fact still remains that they need moral guidance in their early age and any religion worth calling a religion will provide that.

I've only gotten half-way through, but what I've seen can be summed up in one word...sound...whatever...

BWAAAHH?!?

Where in his trial, of what we've seen did he ever, ever, ever, mention that this was a religious issue?

Blank Rome, knowing my wife had just had ovarian cancer surgery, sued me with a lawsuit at our house - at our house - knowing she’s stretched out on a couch, unable to move. Ray Reiser had asked them not to bother us at our home, and these people, knowing she had this surgery and is recovering from it, knowing I had a lawyer, Ray Reiser, to accept service, having been told that - my wife, she had to get up off the couch and receive this lawsuit at the door from a process server; and they knew it and they did it on purpose.

Actually, no they wouldn't have known. They aren't medical folk, they're legal folk. They wouldn't know when her surgery was, how long after it she'd be ambulatory, and so forth. Plus as I recall at the time you complained that your teenaged son had to accept the serving, so which is it him or your wife? Not that it's a particularly taxing thing to do in any case. Rather like signing for delivery of a parcel unless I'm mistaken. Certainly it wouldn't tax most cancer patient that I've known.

Yes, being a Christian allows you to believe in your faith and god,

You are entitled to it, also other people with different religions are also entitled to their own beliefs and religion,

But being a Christian, it DOES NOT allow you to bash homosexuals, rape children, or blame Videogames for Violent actions without having the evidence to back you up.

Also if Jesus was walking on earth today, he will be so embarressed by your comments that he will be entitled to have his say, and that is to say that no one else is Jesus except for the son of God.

So Jack, mate...you are NOT Jesus...

Acting out of religion doesn't absolve you of your inappropriate comments, Jack.

I'm taking a step back to comment on his mention of his wife.

It's not that he's complaining at the timing. He's complaining that they didn't go to their family lawyer with the papers. I could be wrong, but don't the papers need to be brought to the individual who's being sued anyway, even if they have representation?

I do wish her well (I know the transcript is of hearings that took place a couple months ago, so here's hoping she is and continues to be well).

The old.. "Jesus made me do it, defense".. god call, Jackie.

@JackDon'tKnowJack

"The Fieger case doesn’t get him off the hook. If anything, he should get the hook for misrepresenting to the court the holding in Feiger. The Fieger case was an apple. Jack’s case is an orange."

Heh, I might have guessed he wasn't being truthful. I'm not a lawyer though, so could you explain the difference please? I'd be interested to know what the Fieger case was really about. (Don't worry if it'll be a bit of a hassle though.)

Gift.

@Ragnaar

I'd also normally be inclined to avoid mentioning his family, if, however, he chooses to bring them into the proceedings as part of his defence, then I think it is ok to comment on it insofar as the comments are restricted to objective opinion on it with relation to the case, and not subjective opinion of the individuals involved.

consistency- its only a virtue if your not a skrewup. jacko has been way to consistent

@ Ix

In other words everyone is going "WTF is he talking about?" as well. Becuase I have no idea what in the hell he is trying to prove.

While i am no longer a practicing christian (in the sense that i no longer attend mass every week, or pray regularly), i was brought up as such. And what that taught me was that in all things, you need to treat your fellow man with respect, regardless of your own feelings towards them.

Nowhere is this more true than in a court of law, where only the rules set out by your country apply and no other things matter, not even religion or ones own feelings on the matter at hand.

Using religion, christianity in this case, as an argument for what can only be seen as the deepest of disrespect towards those who have differing opinions to your own is possibly one of the gravest deviations from the teachings i can imagine.
With your actions you have tried time and again to ruin the life of those you oppose, which is not what the bible teaches us, no matter how you twist its contents. I hope you will realise this once this is over.

Your attempts to influence the court by playing on its emotions and feelings of decency are also signs of your weakness mr. Thompson, in a court of law, it is facts and facts alone that are relevant, emotions have no purpose there. And i admit you have given preciously few facts that your actions were not breaking the rules of the Florida Bar, rules to which you yourself agreed to be kept when you received your license from them.

I see only one end in this mr. Thompson and that will be with your disbarment.

@Ebonheart,

Yup, you got it in one. No one has so far found anything legitimate to his defense that I know of. I believe even a few lawyers came on in one of the earlier parts (part 6 maybe? not sure which one it was) of this series and agreed that he's done nothing that actually defends his actions.

100% Chewbacca.

Personally I think it's funny that he is now trying to characterize himself as some sort of champion of the First Amendment (where was that argument throughout the rest of this trial? And where was the religious argument? He seems to have concocted those just for the closing statement and nothing else...), and meanwhile his entire career is based around stifling T2 and R*'s First Amendment rights. He's a major hypocrite.

I think I see where he's going in his defense: Yes, he's an ass, and yes, he's said some mean stuff, but in his defense, the actions are a) outside the court or b) retaliatory remarks at grievances against him.

Very nice, indeed. But how would that actually hold against the judge? Seems to me it would be irrelevant.

Yes, there's an epic level of hypocrisy in his First Amendment defense, since if it applies to everything he's done it certainly more than covers everything he's tried to stop/ban. But since JT decides what parts of the bible he uses when he wants to use them it's fitting that he misunderstands and interprets US law in the same way.

And after finishing the Closing I can still only say BWWAHH?!?

JT,

I don't like you, and the fact of the matter is, I'm a gamer, who doesn't like you, therefore it stands to reason that you don't like me. But I'm still going to give you some unsolicited advice.

Honestly, your wife is/was sick. Cancer is not a fun thing, I've watched many people fall to it. The absolute best thing for to do/have done for her was to be with her during this/that time. She loves you more than anything on this Earth, with the obvious exception your child(ren). Be with her guy. She could be the strongest person in the world, but I bet you it would mean tons to her if you stopped your crusade long enough to help her get well. And though this might floor you, I sincerely hope she gets/has gotten better and I believe many here feel the same way.

I just have to say that yes. JT as a private citizen has the right to say whatever he wants about whoever he wants and they in turn have the right to sue him for libel or slander.

But JT was not acting as a private citizen when he filed his motions, made his statements and sent out press releases. He was acting as an officer of the court which has a standard of behavoir and an expectation of professionalism.

So yes he can say that he feels a judge is corrupt and he can submit as many lawsuits as he wants to that effect but he has to act like a human being while he does it an limit himself to facts and not rhetoric.

JT is a liar. He has repeatedly said things that he knew were not true. Has made promised in open letters, court statements and press releases that he has never had any intention of following through on.

Where is the $10k that he promised for the rock start mod that was made to his specs.

When will he announce his running for the judge's seat?

When will he appear at the rockstar stockholders meeting?

The answer is a simple never. JT is a liar and cannot be trusted.

I love to laugh at how ludicrous this man is. He's so blatantly stupid he fails to even notice it. On a news video about the Virginia Tech shooting, he made several stupid and illogical comments such as "I was at Virginia Tech years ago debating this issue" ok, so you can debate an issue years before IT HAPPENS? Or how about "A surveillance video showed that Cho's heart rate was not above 60" alright, so, how in God's name can a surveillance camera tell you what anyone's heart is?! He also got verbally pwned by Adam Sessler on Attack of the Show, something I found to be very amusing.

I can't wait for this to end in his demise. He may not be actually impacting games, but he gives gamers a bad name and gives the industry, which I plan on going into, a bad name as well.

"I was sent by a MYTHICAL being, to save you all"

Yes, Jack... of course you were...

Zeus and the God's of Olympus sent me to stop people like you too, by using the power of sarcasm against you. I've got more Gods than you!

Whatcha gonna do?

@JackDon'tKnowJack

"I beat him to it. And got a copyright to prove it. But I do mention GP frequently and in glowing terms. :)"

You practically write a chapter each time a new GP article goes up :rolleyes:

i respect religious people, provided they respect me in return, but this whole agenda of his is just downright stupid. dont get me wrong, you can believe in whatever the hell you want to believe in provided it doesnt intrude on the lives of other people, but what he is doing does and i really hope people who have authority over him will in time recognize this. and to say the least, i hope this time is now. the whole "protect the children" element isnt something that is wrong or anything, but its now very obvious its nothing more than a front in this case and this man has no real intentions of "protecting the children". frankly, he doesnt give a rats ass about that. and that is what is going to lead to his downfall.

@ Paul Kerton

Attacking someone for abusing religion and attacking the religion itself are two different things. Bad form.

Bear in mind that, as noted by GP, these transcript excerpts reflect only the Bar Counsel's case-in-chief. All the witnesses we've heard from are her witnesses, cross-examined (and poorly so) by Mr. Thompson. Futhermore and as also note by GP, Mr. Thompson's case-in-chief amounted to little more than his reading documents already entered into evidence. This likely had to do with Mr. Thompson's complete misunderstanding of the rule of completeness and his complete lack of any meaningful evidence to present. He calls not one witness to testify on his behalf. No doubt, he couldn't find one. Mr. Thompson's case-in-chief, consisting mostly as it does of reading previously admitted evidence into the record, can therefore fairly be described as a complete redundancy with no effect whatsoever on Bar Counsel's case-in-chief. If Bar Counsel was ahead on points when she rested, then her point-position should be unchanged when Mr. Thompson rested.

Who thinks Jack did a "good job" defending?

I know I don't think he did a "good job" defending.

@ yowzers

Excuse me? I don't think I attacked religion at all there. God is a mythical being.

I give him a C+ in his closing statement... that's about it.

Jack Thompson!

STOP KILLING PEOPLE'S FAX MACHINES AND E-MAILS!!!

JT: "They don’t understand that the great infringer of freedoms in our nation’s history and world history is government."

Jack understands this very well. That is why he keeps trying to push anti-game legislation despite already knowing that it completely violates the Constitutional protections of Free Speech.

JT: "...Christian..."
Inigo Montoya: "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

I won't say JT did a good job defending, because if he did then he would have brought up and attempted to defend every one of the points he made in he closing. He didn't though. What he did do with his closing was make some arguments that to a complete layperson, sounds almost legit. He cited a case that on it's surface looked applicable, you and other have already explained why it's not. That's a big deal, and a huge surprise because before this moment it was in my mind that JT was using the 'they're biased against me, it's a conspiracy' defense.

This time he looked at least kind of like a lawyer.

I am genuinely surprised. All this time, I thought his rambling, offensive, meandering and pointless cross-examinations were building up to something a little more coherent, or at least based in law.

But nope, it turns out that JT's entire defence can be summarized as 'Jesus told me to'.

It is at the same time depressingly anticlimactic, but also rather revealing.

Alternate summary of his closing statement:
"I'm not crazy! I'm a Christian!"

Yeaaah. Sure you are, buddy.

I can't wait to hear the judges full ruling on him. I have a feeling it'll be more than a little amusing.

Awww, isn't that sweet - JT whining about his 'free speech' - when he's trying to shut down everyone else's.

Hope you get a nice dose of your own medicine Mr. Thompson.

***The opinion here is that unless someone said something that is false… or in reckless disregard of the truth then… you have to let it go and you’re allowed to say these things.***

Way to go hand yourself out there.

- Games are not murder simulators

- Games have rankings and the gaming companies do not try to sell them or advertise them to teens. The game rankings are even put into their commercials, Web sites use age gating. It is up to the parents to insure that their children are not getting to these media avenues through proper parental controls, available on the PC, 360, and PS3.

- Games do not insight violence. There is no proof to say otherwise.

- No shootings have been tied to playing video games other than through rampant speculation through types such as Thompson.

- You have attacked and spread lies about the people who are paid to represent, in legal matters, the companies that make these games and not just the companies. Your allegations of them condoning the actions of their clients is false and is as much saying that a defender of a murderer condones the acts made by the murderer.

@Delin:

I'm surprised Bar Counsel gave him so much rein. I suspect, because his case-in-chief is essentially non-existent, that Mr. Thompson's closing arguments are chock-full of issues which he's raising for the very first time. That's a no-no.

"whatcha gonna do when Zeus mania runs wild on you!"...srry couldn't resist kerton :p.

As for this sub debate about him using religion as a weapon well...its quite literally the oldest weapon in the book and about as mature as "my dad can beat up your dad"in terms of effectiveness.

Freedom of speech has limitations sadly and one is if you continue to cause disturbances,de-fame others,threaten and lie under oath you are just asking to get stonewalled by the justice system or beaten till you see 3d colors in a back alley somewhere(im in favor of the latter as jackie doesn't seem to understand words only actions,at least thats what i would do if he started half the crap with me that he does with everyone else).

as for the "mythical being"comment ,lets just say that in the world where in order to make intelligent folks believe what you say you must provide the burden of proof(just like a trial ironically enough)or others will think you are just crazy like jackie.

@paul

"Personally, i find the man morally repugnant, and i can only hope that Judge Tunis can see the man as he really is, a vicious, twisted creature, who cannot abide anyone or anything that does not meet his criteria of ‘good’"

The issue is not what Jackhole is, will be or how he will behave in the future, but how he has acted towards other law professionals in his capacity as an attorney.

Even if he's the douchest douchebag of them all, if he remains calm and collected at court, that'd be just fine.

But of course the narcissistic egomania can't, so here we are.

Me desperate hope is that if Mr. Thomson is disbarred then another lawyer will take up his cause..wait, hear me out!

I want a real opponent to the video game industry, not some jump-on-the-bandwagon, self centered, talking head loony. I want someone who can actually see when there are real problems and draw our attention to them. Some one who doesn't just scream "Video games are the evil!" but rather has constructive and reasonable thing to say.

Can you imagine it? A lawyer who actually works in a constructive way to keep the ESRB on their toes and make people aware of the rating systems. Someone who would know the difference between the "hot coffee" in game content and the "Oblivion" user created mod and how each should be dealt with.

Wow, what an amazing thing that would be. Let us all hope that Mr. Thomson's replacement is a good and righteous person rather than a self aggrandizing monomaniacal fool.

Total... Looney...

First it's a religion made me do it defense and I won't stop, followed by a tear jerker emotion tug about his wife's condition.

I REALLY hope this judge sees this for EXACTLY what it is...

...Every reason to disbar him.

If JT is right, then that means we can treat anyone anyway we want. All you need is a belief that your religious doctrine allows you that "right". I guess that discriminating against homosexuals is perfectly acceptible- after all, you are merely practicing your religion!

I need to find god right now- I always wanted to be able to treat people like crap (even while at work) without consequence...

@helpless kitten

wont happen in our lifetime and at least not in the us where the only ones that seem to take up that kind of fight are politicians with all the pandering and evangelical nut cases.

@JDKJ -- The only difference between JT's defense and the Chewbacca Defense is that the Chewbacca Defense actually worked.
 
Forgot your password?
Username :
Password :

Shout box

You're not permitted to post shouts.
MechaTama31I mean, of the groups being bullied here, which of the two would you refer to collectively as "nerds"?10/19/2014 - 11:30pm
MechaTama31But that's the thing, it doesn't sound to me like he is advocating bullying, it sounds like he is accusing the SJWs of bullying the "nerds", who I can only assume refers to the GGers.10/19/2014 - 11:21pm
Andrew EisenInteresting read. Unfortunately, too vague to form an opinion on but at least now I know what faefrost was talking about in James' editorial.10/19/2014 - 10:39pm
Neo_DrKefkaBreaking GameJournoPros organized a blacklist of former Destructoid writer Allistar Pinsof for investigating fraud in IndieGoGo campaign http://blogjob.com/oneangrygamer/2014/10/gamergate-destructoid-corruption-and-ruined-careers/10/19/2014 - 8:57pm
Neo_DrKefkaOnly good thing I seen come out of the Biddle incident was the fact a professional fighter offered to give 10k to an anti bullying charity for a round in the ring with Biddle.10/19/2014 - 7:49pm
Neo_DrKefkaEven after all the interviews she is still on twitter making fun of people with disabilities (Autism) yet she is a part of the crowd that is on the so called right side of history...10/19/2014 - 7:48pm
Neo_DrKefkaWhich #GameGate supports are constantly being harassed and bullied. Brianna Wu who I told everyone she was trolling GamerGate weeks ago with her passive aggressive threats was looking for that crazy person in the crowd.10/19/2014 - 7:47pm
Neo_DrKefkaI believe the problem #GamerGate has with Sam Biddle is he is apart of this blogging group that in a way hates or detests its readers. Also being apart of the crowd that claims its on the right side of history isn't helping when he is advocating bullying10/19/2014 - 7:45pm
MechaTama31Of course, I'm looking at these tweets in isolation, I don't know a thing about the guy.10/19/2014 - 7:06pm
MechaTama31If anything, the sarcastic implication seems to be that the SJW crowd is bringing back the bullying of nerds. But it's the GGers who are out for his blood? I'm lost...10/19/2014 - 7:01pm
MechaTama31I don't really get this Sam Biddle thing. The reaction to his tweets seems to be taking them at face value, but... they're tongue in cheek. Right?10/19/2014 - 7:00pm
Andrew EisenI have it. The problem, so far as I can tell, is neither of them allow me to overlay my webcam feed or text links to my Extra-Life fundraising page.10/19/2014 - 4:08pm
quiknkoldand yes, its free10/19/2014 - 4:05pm
quiknkoldshould grab Hauppauge capture. has mic support and can upload directly to youtube10/19/2014 - 4:05pm
Andrew EisenThe former.10/19/2014 - 4:00pm
quiknkoldwas it StreamEez, or the StreamEez feature in Hauppauge Capture? cause I know Capture has alot more support from the devs.10/19/2014 - 3:54pm
Andrew EisenI actually tried StreamEez last week. Flat out didn't work.10/19/2014 - 3:53pm
quiknkoldI use the Hauppauge Capture software's StreamEez. Arcsoft showbiz for recording. I just streamed a few hours of Persona 4 Golden with zero problem using the program. Xsplit is finniky when it comes to Hauppauge10/19/2014 - 3:40pm
Andrew EisenTrying to capture console games and broadcast with Open Broadcaster System because I've had technical difficulties using XSplit 3 weeks in a row.10/19/2014 - 3:37pm
quiknkoldand what are you trying to capture?10/19/2014 - 3:31pm
 

Be Heard - Contact Your Politician