MA Teen John Odgren Sentenced to Life

May 3, 2010 -

19 year old John Odgren has been convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The teen, who suffered from Asperger's Syndrome (a form of Autism) was convicted for the Jan. 19, 2007 stabbing death of 15 year old Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School schoolmate James Alenson in a school bathroom.

Middlesex Superior Court Judge S. Jane Haggerty imposed the mandatory life sentence without taking into consideration a request from defense attorneys to declare the punishment unconstitutional because Odgren was a 16-year-old juvenile at the time of the killing. Massachusetts has been pretty strict on violent under age defendants in recent years because of a prior incident; the state used to hold violent offenders at a juvenile facility until they were 21; but several high profile incidents with repeat offenses has changed the formula the state uses dramatically.

Odgren was transferred to the maximum security MCI-Cedar Junction prison facility in Walpole, Massachusetts late last week. He will spend the rest of his days there, barring a successful appeal by his attorneys.

The reason that this case is relevant to gamers is that Odgren's attorney Jonathan Shapiro and Middlesex District Attorney Gerard made plenty of references to books and videogames that allegedly influenced Ogden's behavior including Stephen King's Dark Tower series and Grand Theft Auto IV.

Source: Boston Herald

Posted in

School shootings

Comments

Re: MA Teen John Odgren Sentenced to Life

Submitted by ROCKY on Thu, 12/09/2010 - 20:34.

He got life in prison and thats where he needs to die..

John killed someone and he thought he would get to go free to do it again to someone else..

John failed as a serial killer .. now he dies in prison .. by by killer ashole

Re: MA Teen John Odgren Sentenced to Life

Submitted by hellfire7885 on Mon, 05/03/2010 - 13:25.

If I remember right, didn't our favorite ex-and-never-again-to-be-lawyer try to get himself involved?

Re: MA Teen John Odgren Sentenced to Life

Submitted by Andrew Eisen on Mon, 05/03/2010 - 10:36.

"The reason that this case is relevant to gamers is that Odgren's attorney Jonathan Shapiro and Middlesex District Attorney Gerard made plenty of references to books and videogames that allegedly influenced Ogden's behavior including Stephen King's Dark Tower series and Grand Theft Auto IV."

"The teen, who suffered from Asperger's Syndrome (a form of Autism) was convicted for the Jan. 19, 2007 stabbing death of 15 year old Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School schoolmate James Alenson in a school bathroom."

Grand Theft Auto IV's NA release date: April 29th, 2008.

Would have been a bit difficult for GTA IV to influence his behavior seeing as it came out more than a year after he stabbed his schoolmate.

Andrew Eisen

Re: MA Teen John Odgren Sentenced to Life

Submitted by Lorben on Mon, 05/03/2010 - 11:21.

It's possible that they mistook GTA: Vice City to be GTA 4 since it was the next game released after GTA 3.

Re: MA Teen John Odgren Sentenced to Life

Submitted by Cerabret100 on Mon, 05/03/2010 - 11:24.

What about San Andreas? wouldn't that have been the most current GTA released at that point?

Re: MA Teen John Odgren Sentenced to Life

Submitted by Father Time on Mon, 05/03/2010 - 15:24.

It would've been Vice City Stories actually but hey let's not let facts get in the way.

----------------------------------------------------

Debates are like merry go rounds. Two people take their positions then they go through the same points over and over and over again. Then when it's over they have the same positions they started in.

---------------------------------------------------- Debates are like merry go rounds. Two people take their positions then they go through the same points over and over and over again. Then when it's over they have the same positions they started in.

Re: MA Teen John Odgren Sentenced to Life

Submitted by E. Zachary Knight on Mon, 05/03/2010 - 11:28.

To be honest, the anti-game movement is more concerned with advancing their agenda through fear, uncertainty, and doubt rather than accuracy.

E. Zachary Knight
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
http://www.theeca.com/chapters_oklahoma

E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
OK Game Devs
Random Tower

Re: MA Teen John Odgren Sentenced to Life

Submitted by E. Zachary Knight on Mon, 05/03/2010 - 11:08.

Don't you see, even the anticipation of a new GTA game is so powerful as to influence kids to do evil things.

E. Zachary Knight
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
http://www.theeca.com/chapters_oklahoma

E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
OK Game Devs
Random Tower

Re: MA Teen John Odgren Sentenced to Life

Submitted by ZippyDSMlee on Mon, 05/03/2010 - 09:24.

I love how bi polar the law is on age....... if its sex they are too young if its murder they are never to young....how about minors stop being minor around 15 then from there to 30 you get alot of slack when you mess up. After 30 you get no slack.

Until lobbying is a hanging offense I choose anarchy! CP/IP laws should not effect the daily life of common people! http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/

---

http://zippydsm.deviantart.com/

Re: MA Teen John Odgren Sentenced to Life

Submitted by Hreinzi on Mon, 05/03/2010 - 08:39.

Is this gonna be the classical case of "GAMES DID IT " where people are gonna be shouting "if games were banned this would never had happen"

Re: MA Teen John Odgren Sentenced to Life

Submitted by killatia on Mon, 05/03/2010 - 09:23.

The judge for this case already ruled that videogames had nothing to do with John Odgren's crime.

http://www.magicinkgaming.com/

http://www.killatia.com/

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