Jack Thompson Threatens to "Proceed" Against Utah Attorney General

In the fallout from his latest, apparently unsuccessful attempt to legislate video games in Utah, disbarred Miami attorney Jack Thompson has issued a vague legal threat to Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff. The popular Republican is serving his third term as Utah's top law enforcement officer.

On Friday the Salt Lake Tribune reported that Shurtleff had expressed concerns about the legality of HB 353, the Thompson-conceived video game bill which was vetoed by Gov. Jon Huntsman last week.

Thompson, clearly, was not thrilled with the news. He referred to Shurtleff as "dead meat" in the header of an e-mail forwarded to GamePolitics later on Friday.

A Sunday e-mail from Thompson to Salt Lake Tribune reporter Robert Gehrke (and cc:'d to GP) threatens to "proceed" against Shurtleff if the A.G. doesn't move against major retailers for what Thompson claims is "the distribution of pornography to minors in violation of state law." By way of defining porn, Thompson attached links to strip club and hooker scenes from Grand Theft Auto IV. However, while certainly not intended for younger buyers, GTA IV has not been declared obscene in any U.S. jurisdiction.

Oh, and there's a deadline for Shurtleff to act: 5:00 P.M. today.

As GamePolitics has previously reported, Thompson called for Shurtleff's impeachment in 2007 when the A.G. suggested that a piece of Thompson-authored video game legislation then before the Utah House was unconstitutional.

GamePolitics has requested comment on Thompson's threat from Rep. Mike Morley, the sponsor of HB 353, as well as from Gayle Ruzicka, the politically-powerful Thompson ally who heads the ultra-conservative Utah Eagle Forum. We have also asked Shurtleff's office to comment. We'll post any comments that we receive.

UPDATE: Apparently unable to wait for his own 5:00 P.M. deadline, Thompson has written to Utah's Obscenity and Pornography Complaints Ombudsman... Except that the person he addressed his letter to is a law enforcement director in Utah A.G.'s Office. The "porn czar" position was eliminated in 2003 for budgetary reasons - which may be an indication of how serious Thompson is about all of this.

UPDATE 2: Rep. Morley has commented to GamePolitics on Thompson's threat to "proceed" against Shurtleff: "I know nothing about that."

Hit the jump for Thompson's Sunday letter to Shurtleff, the "dead meat" e-mail and the new letter to the porn ombudsman:

Subject: Fw: Robert, I am proceeding against Shurtleff Monday if he does not act on the below...

 
----- Original Message -----
From: Jack Thompson
To: xxxxx@sltrib.com
Cc: xxxxx@utah.gov
Sent: Sunday, March 29, 2009 7:52 AM
Subject: Robert, I am proceeding against Shurtleff Monday if he does not act on the below...

 

As he is knowingly allowing the distribution of pornography to minors in violation of state law:
 
John B. Thompson, J.D.

March 27, 2009

The Honorable Mark Shurtleff, Attorney General, State of Utah
Utah State Capitol Complex

Salt Lake City, Utah  Via Fax to 801-xxx-xxxx

Re:   Sale of Grand Theft Auto IV to Underage Kids in Utah

Dear Attorney General Shurtleff:

I wrote you a letter on March 6 proving to you, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that major Utah retailers such as Best Buy, Target, and Wal-Mart are selling in their brick and mortar stores and via the Internet the pornographic Grand Theft Auto IV game to minors in your state in criminal violation of Utah’s Sexual Material Harmul to Minors Law.

You did nothing upon learning of this ongoing criminal activity.  Your failure to prosecute these criminal acts constitutes an impeachable offense in your state, as you are in knowing breach of your oath of office to enforce the laws of your state, in this instance laws to protect children.

Let me be clear:  Either you prosecute these retailers for this criminal activity, or I shall take the necessary legal action to secure a court order requiring you to do so.  You have until five o’clock pm this coming Monday to act or tell me that you will act to faithfully discharge your oath of office as Attorney General in these specific regards.  

Here are two links to streaming videos that display just some of the pornographic content in Grand Theft Auto IV, which “game” is being sold to minors throughout Utah in violation of criminal laws that the people of Utah passed and demand that you enforce.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNOdsrI068w
 
http://boinkology.com/2008/04/29/the-ladies-of-liberty-city/

Warm personal regards, Jack Thompson

Copy:  Senator Dayton, Representative Morley, Lt. Gov. Herbert, Gov. Huntsman
            Gayle Ruzicka, Alan Osmond
            Media

-----------BELOW: "Dead Meat" Letter from Friday, March 27th -------------------

From: Jack Thompson
Sent: Friday, March 27, 2009 1:05 PM
To: dennis McCauley
Subject: I love to play hardball, and that is what Shurtleff (Dead Meat) has asked for

John B. Thompson, J.D.

March 27, 2009

The Honorable Mark Shurtleff, Attorney General, State of Utah
Utah State Capitol Complex
Salt Lake City, Utah  Via Fax to

Re:   Sale of Grand Theft Auto IV to Underage Kids in Utah

Dear Attorney General Shurtleff:

I wrote you a letter on March 6 proving to you, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that major Utah retailers such as Best Buy, Target, and Wal-Mart are selling in their brick and mortar stores and via the Internet the pornographic Grand Theft Auto IV game to minors in your state in criminal violation of Utah’s Sexual Material Harmul to Minors Law.

You did nothing upon learning of this ongoing criminal activity.  Your failure to prosecute these criminal acts constitutes an impeachable offense in your state, as you are in knowing breach of your oath of office to enforce the laws of your state, in this instance laws to protect children.

Let me be clear:  Either you prosecute these retailers for this criminal activity, or I shall take the necessary legal action to secure a court order requiring you to do so.  You have until five o’clock pm this coming Monday to act or tell me that you will act to faithfully discharge your oath of office as Attorney General in these specific regards.  

Here are two links to streaming videos that display just some of the pornographic content in Grand Theft Auto IV, which “game” is being sold to minors throughout Utah in violation of criminal laws that the people of Utah passed and demand that you enforce.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNOdsrI068w
 
http://boinkology.com/2008/04/29/the-ladies-of-liberty-city/

Warm personal regards, Jack Thompson

Copy:  Senator Dayton, Representative Morley, Lt. Gov. Herbert, Gov. Huntsman
            Gayle Ruzicka, Alan Osmond
            Media

--------------------------LETTER TO UTAH's PORN OMBUDSMAN: Mar. 30----------------------

Ken Wallentine
Obscenity and Pornography Complaints Ombudsman
Utah State Capitol Complex

Salt Lake City, Utah  Via Fax to 801-xxx-xxxx

Re:   Sale of Sexual Material Harmful to Minors—Grand Theft Auto IV—in Utah
 
Dear Mr. Wallentine:

It was a great pleasure meeting you outside Gary Herbert’s office about two months ago.  I was with Gayle Ruzicka, Karen Clark, and Alan and Suzanne Osmond to discuss HB 353 with Lt. Gov. Herbert.  I particularly enjoyed learning that we both have a dear friend in Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, who heartily endorsed HB 353, in light of the movie and video game retailers’ fraudulent activities.

As you know, the bill was overwhelmingly passed by both houses, only to see Gov. Huntsman veto it.  Mr. Huntsman either has no understanding whatsoever of the bill or he doesn’t care to know.  His explanation that the movie and video game industries would take their age ratings off the movies and games was an utterly absurd statement, as that cannot be done by virtue of binding contractual obligations they have.  The Governor was sold a bill of goods which he bought, for whatever reason.  As a result, we can look forward to more false advertising by major retail concerns such as Best Buy.

Be that as it may, Utah’s obscenity/pornography/sexual material harmful to minors statutes are still on the books.  Gov. Huntsman hasn’t managed to void them—yet.

Thus, I write you regarding those constitutional laws, as I am told you are Utah’s Obscenity and Pornography Complaints Ombudsman.  If you are not, please get this letter to him/her quickly.

Nearly a month ago, I informed A.G. Shurtleff in writing that all video game retailers are openly selling Grand Theft Auto IV to 17-year-olds in Utah.  They are doing this both on-line and in their brick and mortar stores.  Why the video game industry thinks it can sell indecent material to 17-year-olds just because they have a “Mature” rating system that  uses 17 years as the demarcation line when the law makes it 18 is beyond me, but the ways of the video game industry are inexplicable to most normal folks.  A 17-year-old is a minor, as you know, and yet someone of that age can walk into Wal-Mart, show a driver’s license indicating he is 17, and walk out with this indecent, pornographic game.

This particular game clearly constitutes sexual material harmful to minors, and its sale to anyone under 18 is a criminal act.  If you doubt that, please click on the below two links and see for yourself.  I believe most juries in Utah would find this material to be obscene under Miller v. California for sale to adults, let alone children.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNOdsrI068w
 
http://boinkology.com/2008/04/29/the-ladies-of-liberty-city/

I don’t know if Mr. Shurtleff is looking the other way from this ongoing criminal activity because of his cozy relationship with the video game industry, which has included not only the payment of campaign contributions from the Entertainment Software Association to him as well as his doing PSA’s with the ESRB, which were really unreported in-kind campaign contributions by the industry to him during his re-election cycle.  Regardless of the reason, his failure to enforce these criminal laws has to stop.  This failure is a violation of his oath of office and constitutes an impeachable offense.

Please advise at your earliest convenience that the Attorney General has either begun a prosecution of those individuals selling GTA IV to minors or that he has sent out a letter statewide, through all major media, that this practice must stop immediately.  If he does not do either of those things, then I shall proceed in the fashion I must to see to it that Mr. Shurtleff starts doing his job in this regard.

Children are more important than keeping a scofflaw industry happy in Utah.

Warm personal regards, Jack Thompson

Copy:  Senator Dayton, Representative Morley, Lt. Gov. Herbert, Gov. Huntsman
            Gayle Ruzicka, Alan Osmond
            Media