Jack Thompson Tossed Out Of Court

dmouritsendk writes "According to a story at IGN, Jack Thompson has been removed from the lawsuit filed by the families of two murdered police officers vs. Rockstar, Sony and game retailers. While previously he stated that he had withdrawn, details have now come out that the judge actually pulled his temporary license to practice law in Alabama. The reason for all this? Thompson's behavior." From the article: "The removal of Thompson from the case does not necessarily represent the end of the trial as his long-time associate Ray Reiser will assume the role of lead counsel for the case's plaintiffs. Not one to take such things lying down, Thompson fired back at Judge Moore by claiming the the judge has 'has violated... The Alabama Canons of Judicial Ethics by his unfortunate, improper, and prejudicial acts in this case, at the expense of three bereaved Alabama families.'"

Comments

Judge Moore

[alienmole]

The article mentions Judge Moore, and this is Alabama. Is this the same Judge Moore that was removed from office for refusing to get rid of his statue of the ten commandments? If so, I say his sanction of Jack Thompson is obviously correct. It takes one (wacko) to know one.

Asshattery

[TubeSteak]

Thompson was effectively thrown off the case for actions "before this Court [that] suggest that he is unable to conduct himself in a manner befitting practice in this state." Furthermore, Moore has referred Thompson's conduct to Disciplinary Commission of the Alabama Bar for "appropriate action."

That's from the article, but the rest of the Court's statememnt goes on to blast Jack for being an asshat and making wild claims.

In a prime example of karma, the defense submitted some of Thompson's own press releases to the Court as evidence of why he was unfit.

Jack Thompson is a lawyer

[typical]

Can anyone explain who this guy is?

I don't think that the parent post is necessarily a troll. If you haven't been following the gaming press or reading Slashdot every day, he's not that hard to be unaware of. My mother certainly doesn't know who he is.

Jack Thompson is a lawyer who, for one reason or another, has attempted to attack violent games in the media.

It's actually getting to be very hard to obtain any accurate, netural information on him at all -- so many of the people online play video games and are scared of what they think that he might push through that almost all information is biased -- the Wikipedia article on him is definitely not particularly neutral, and the gaming press dislikes him for obvious reasons.

Combine that with the fact that the man is a political conservative and a Christian (pretty obvious from his website) and given to rather inaccurate rhetoric, and you basically wind up with every article or online writing about him becoming a flamefest.

Re:Who is Jack Thompson?

[ToasterofDOOM]

Even so, it is wrong to ridicule Christianity. Most Christians simply laugh off this guy, myself included, even down here in the 'Bible Belt'. Trust me, he is all politics and this has nothing to do with his Christianity.

Re:Who is Jack Thompson?

[merlin_jim]

You're right and I do want to make clear that when I talk about Jack Thompson, his brand of Christianity has as much to do with what they practice at the church down the street as McDonald's McFish sandwich does with the ocean...

To a man like this, his religion is a tool. It's one he brandies about and waves to get what he wants. Sure he likes to wave his Bible around and pretend that God is personally on his side. But if you were to show him some Biblical passages about freedom of choice and the ability of lawyers to turn darkness into light and so on... well I'm pretty sure he'd just rip those pages out and burn them on the courthouse steps...

Re:I think there needs to be a CSI:Miami Episode..

[arkanes]

And it was probably the most contrived, ridiculous CSI episode I've ever seen, and thats saying a bit. The guy who "makes the game" - CEO of the company and apparently also the game designer - won't tell them the games storyline, because "it's proprietary"? There's no gamefaqs.com in whatever planet CSI is set on? And the "twist" that the game designer is actually the secret "Wizard" that all the "players" turn their "points" into? Please. And the justification is that it somehow drives sales of his game? Right.

GO JUDGE!

[Lord_Dweomer]

You know, while every day we hear more and more reasons why our legal system is broken, its nice to see that this time it is working exactly as it should. I commend this judge for fulfilling his obligation to the State and to the law. Personally, this is just like a friggin soap opera for me.

Seriously, its like a contest between Jack Thompson, Sony, and the RIAA to see who can bury themselves the fastest while at the same time sustaining the most bullet wounds to their feet.

Re:Who is Jack Thompson?

[Anonymous Coward]

I still don't fully comprehend this whole Karma Whore concept.

Posting as AC to avoid Karma Whoring....

The problem with KW is that it takes about 5 seconds to cut & paste an article or provide a really obvious link. This action may be very useful (esp. in /.'d sites), but you don't want to give the poster Karma. The harmless reason is that one shouldn't get the credit for someone else's content. The cynical reason is that it helps trolls rack up enough Karma to get the +1 credit, which in turn makes it much easier for them to add troll comments and/or noise to future threads.

Thus, if you see a non-AC posting posting of an article's text or a useful link, the correct mode is "Funny" so they won't receive any karma.

Re:Who is Jack Thompson?

[Irish_Samurai]

A possible alternate translation (and the one I choose to believe) is that unfulfilled desire is the root of all evil.

Have you even read any buddhist writings? It's called the center path - and is the only path to enlightenment. You say that you prefer a different translation to the Siddhuartha and believe that ignoring desire is the root of all evil. That's called being selfish and self centered. That is not enlightenment, that is a cop out.

Can you actually say you are a better person because you do whatever you want to do? Because that means you know nothing of restraint or sacrifice.

I don't believe that hatred and enlightenment are incompatible.

Let me appeal to your "Zen" more than the "Buddhism" with this quote:

Those who are good at fighting do not become angry.
Those who are good at knighthood do not become overly militaristic.
Those who are accustomed to defeating their enemies do not get involved.
- Sun Tzu.

If hatred and enlightenment are not incompatable to you, that is because you are not enlightened.

Perhaps you meant violence and enlightenment are not incompatable.

Re:He ain't one of us

[Just Some Guy]

Here's what your people seem to think

Who are "my people"? Interestingly, I'd never heard of Agape Press until you mentioned them.

Again, you have the unwarranted presumption that the words of one group speak for another group only tangentially related. Marilyn Manson is a professed atheist. He's said a lot of goofy things over the years, but I don't feel the need to use his song lyrics to "prove" that all atheists are drug-obsessed nihilists.

Re:Who is Jack Thompson?

[Aeiri]

... but that's sportiness rather than anything else. (Slashdot golf?)

GOLF IS NOT A SPORT!!!

Luckily, since my karma has been topped off at Excellent for a good year or two, I think I have enough slack to handle the -1 Trolls and -1 Flamebait moderations that are sure to follow :).