Thompson Says Florida Bar Requested Psych Test

MBCook wrote with a link to a GamePolitics story about another chapter of the Jack Thompson saga. Sheila M. Tuma, a person associated with Thompson's Florida Bar evaluation, has requested that the colorful lawyer 'seek psychological testing and accept a 91-day suspension of his law license.'. Though they attempted to confirm this with the Bar, no one was inclined to give the site a comment. "The e-mail explaining the situation was sent to GamePolitics by Thompson himself. The recommendation comes following issues stemming from Thompson's Bully case last year where there were issues regarding his professional conduct."

Comments

It all depends:

[Cadallin]

I have some knowledge about State Bar Association Ethics Boards, from first hand accounts. It all depends on what they want to know. In the case I know about, the guy being investigated got to pick two doctors, the Board one. His Doctor's testified that he "was not a threat to himself or others" which is doctor-speak for "I couldn't justify to a judge having him involuntarily committed." It doesn't mean any more than that. Fortunately the Ethics board was well aware of that. When asked if they believed he would do the things things that prompted the inquiry again, they admitted it was possible (in the usual non-committal sort of way, but lawyers, unlike juries, understand what that stuff means). The Board's Doctor said the same things in a more formal kind of way. The Board recommended in their report to the State Supreme Court, that he not have his license ever reinstated (he had already been suspended from practicing law due to his actions).

It really depends on the Board. I think its very possible, given his previous history of warnings in the Florida legal system, that Thompson is about to get slapped pretty hard. They aren't happy with him already. As I said, he's received a number of warnings, and has been removed from cases by judges for his behavior.

Re:What a Goof

[provigilman]

I actually think it's benificial that /. talk about his goings ons because when it gets out of line we're prepared to deal with the inevitable aftermath that I'm sure most of us see from friends, family, and co-workers who just happened to see some expert on TV the other day who said that....

Talking about Jack Thompson on GP and /. isn't giving him a "platform" anymore than talking about Hitler in history class gives nazism a "platform". This man is attacking our chosen form of entertainment, to ignore him and not talk about his would be counter-productive. 99% of the people reading these stories on GP and /. oppose Jack Thompson's efforts, so shouldn't we be as informed as possible in regards to what he's doing?

Jack Thompson is not a fool; he might even be unstable; but he fights for something he believes in, and does so pretty well, albeit via use of questionable methods. To belittle him is to belittle the effect he has on free speech issues wrt gaming, and that is a foolish thing to do. If you consider him an enemy, you should analyze his strengths as much as his weakneses.

Exactly. To ignore Jack Thompson is to allow him to go on spreading his lies to everyone who listens to him...and before you discount those who listen to him as fools who don't matter, take a look at how many bills he has helped to draft. The parents listen to him and the politicians listen to him, and those are the two groups behind the recent wave of legislation and the anti-videogames movement.

Jack Thompson depends on media support to make his point. If you've ever actually read one of his letters, you would see that it reads like a freaking resume of programs that have had him on and bills that he's helped to draft. If the Florida Bar finds that he has engaged in professional misconduct and that he is an unstable individual incapable of performing his duties as an attorney, then he could probably be stripped of his ability to practice law. Consequently, he would be stripped of his ability to use the media as a tool to his advantage.

Re:Been done before

[UncleTogie]

Actually, according to this link, he's presently not allowed to practice law in Florida. One state down, 49 to go!

Re:Been done before

[Darth]

You are incorrect. This is his actual entry on the florida bar member search page :

http://www.floridabar.org/names.nsf/All/07D0790038 98F95585256A830051348B?OpenDocument

as you can see, he is still eligible to practice law in florida.

(if he weren't, there would be no need to give him a 90 day suspension)

Re:Been done before

[bigbigbison]

Yes. The "jack e thompson" listed on that page is not eligible to practice law in Florida because he is dead. The Jack Thompson that hates videogames is not only quite alive but is legally named John Bruce Thompson. John Bruce Thompson is still eligible to practice law in Florida.