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Video game blamed for double shooting
Source: Agencies |
January 14, 2009, Wednesday
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ALTHOUGH a United States teenager's obsession with a violent video game may have warped his sense of reality, the boy is guilty of murdering his mother and wounding his father after they took "Halo 3" away from him, a judge ruled.
"I firmly believe that Daniel Petric had no idea at the time he hatched this plot that if he killed his parents they would be dead forever," Lorain County Common Pleas Judge James Burge said on Monday.
Nonetheless, Burge rejected the defense attorneys' argument that Petric, 17, was not guilty by reason of insanity.
The defense did not contest that Petric shot his parents in Ohio in October 2007 after they took the game away from him, but insisted that the teen's youth and addiction made him less responsible.
Evidence showed he planned the crime for weeks, said Burge, who found the teenager guilty of aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder.
Tried as an adult, Petric faces a maximum penalty of life in prison without parole. A sentencing date was not set.
The teen's mother, Susan Petric, 43, died of a gunshot wound to the head. Her husband, Mark Petric, a minister at New Life Assembly of God in Wellington, Ohio, was also shot in the head but survived.
After the verdict was announced, Petric turned to look at his father seated behind him in the courtroom. Mark Petric, who previously said he has forgiven his son, gave an encouraging nod.
Prosecutors said Petric planned to kill his parents because he was angry that his father would not allow him to play the video game, in which players shoot alien monsters.
On the night of the shooting, Petric used his father's key to open a lockbox and remove a handgun and the game.
Mark Petric testified that his son came into the room and asked: "Would you guys close your eyes? I have a surprise for you." He testified that he expected a pleasant surprise. Then his head went numb from the gunshot.
Deputy prosecuting attorney Anthony Cillo argued the teenager had planned to make it appear to be a murder-suicide by putting the gun in his father's hand.
"I firmly believe that Daniel Petric had no idea at the time he hatched this plot that if he killed his parents they would be dead forever," Lorain County Common Pleas Judge James Burge said on Monday.
Nonetheless, Burge rejected the defense attorneys' argument that Petric, 17, was not guilty by reason of insanity.
The defense did not contest that Petric shot his parents in Ohio in October 2007 after they took the game away from him, but insisted that the teen's youth and addiction made him less responsible.
Evidence showed he planned the crime for weeks, said Burge, who found the teenager guilty of aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder.
Tried as an adult, Petric faces a maximum penalty of life in prison without parole. A sentencing date was not set.
The teen's mother, Susan Petric, 43, died of a gunshot wound to the head. Her husband, Mark Petric, a minister at New Life Assembly of God in Wellington, Ohio, was also shot in the head but survived.
After the verdict was announced, Petric turned to look at his father seated behind him in the courtroom. Mark Petric, who previously said he has forgiven his son, gave an encouraging nod.
Prosecutors said Petric planned to kill his parents because he was angry that his father would not allow him to play the video game, in which players shoot alien monsters.
On the night of the shooting, Petric used his father's key to open a lockbox and remove a handgun and the game.
Mark Petric testified that his son came into the room and asked: "Would you guys close your eyes? I have a surprise for you." He testified that he expected a pleasant surprise. Then his head went numb from the gunshot.
Deputy prosecuting attorney Anthony Cillo argued the teenager had planned to make it appear to be a murder-suicide by putting the gun in his father's hand.
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