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Judge Recommends Guilty Verdict for Jack Thompson
GamePolitics is reporting that a Florida Judge has recommended that Jack Thompson be found guilty on 27 of 31 counts of misconduct and is awaiting a Florida Supreme Court verdict to back him up. Thompson is striking back with allegations against the Judge and others, complaining that loyalty oaths were never signed. "Tunis made 21 recommendations of guilt in relation to Thompson's participation in Strickland vs. Sony, an Alabama case in which the anti-game attorney represented the families of two police officers and a police dispatcher slain by 18-year-old Grand Theft Auto player Devin Moore. Tunis also recommended that Thompson be found guilty on four out of five counts relating to his 2006 attempt to have Rockstar's Bully declared a public nuisance in a case before Miami Judge Ronald Friedman. An additional two guilty counts stemmed from a non-video game matter."
Here's the wikipedia entry.
Jack Thompson is a lawyer who has made a bunch of lawsuits against several game manufacturers.
Basically, he hates the 1st Amendment, and isn't afraid to make a ridicules lawsuit to try and censor people.
If I have nothing to hide, don't search me
I don't think putting pornography in court documents is normal strategy.
10 seconds of searching in google turned up multiple results for this item. I'd try either Ars Technica or Shacknews
I just get a "Temporarily Closed" page when loading GamePolitics...great timing to move your host.
Ars has a writeup that's a summary of GP's: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080520-judges-report-in-jack-thompson-case-guilty-on-27-charges.html
You can read a good summary at law.com:
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202421556225
From the Ars Technica article, citing GamePolitics:
(http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080520-judges-report-in-jack-thompson-case-guilty-on-27-charges.html)
"GamePolitics was able to get Thompson's closing statement, and the man spoke like a captain straightening his coat as the ship goes down. "I'm simply making the argument, Judge, that my motivationsâ"which I have tried to make clear, maybe to the point of nauseaâ"are religious and that my efforts against the distribution of adult material, pornographic material, violent material, adult rated material to children is violative of the law as well as violative of Scripture. I quoted the biblical passage where Jesus says, reportedly: 'If any one of you should cause one of these little ones to stumble, it would be better that a millstone be tied around your neck and that you be cast in the uttermost depths of the sea.'"
Maybe those religious roots?
Remember: Wikipedia isn't the final authority.
From an article at law.com -
"Thompson also has sued both the Alabama and Florida bar groups in Orange Circuit Court in Orlando, Fla., claiming the complaints violate state religious protections because his advocacy is motivated by his Christian faith.
Thompson "seeks to be left alone to serve God in the fashion that God has chosen, not in the fashion that two liberal bars would choose," his pleadings state. "
DISCLAIMER - I do hate religion in general. Well, maybe hate is a strong word, but "dislike and generally find useless in most cases" is an acceptable alternative.
"But this one goes to 11!"
"God is very powerful, and He's not real pleased with Rockstar right now, nor with those who defend it. Watch out. Fire and brimstone on the way."
"Actually, the people who have cashed in on the deaths is Rockstar. That's why God and I are going to destroy them. Thanks for writing."
"The 'video game community' surely seems exercised about someone who is a 'joke' and who is accomplishing nothing. You all seem rather bothered and worried about a nonentity. God is in this battle, and I am privileged to be a foot soldier. You all should be concerned, not about me, but about Him."
Need I go on?
Check out this site, which has Thompson's own words. ALso note that Thompson's book Out of Harms Way is published by Tyndale House, which is publishing house well known for producing Fundamentalist Christian books such as Tim LaHaye's Left Behind.
Trust me, I wouldn't make such a comment without knowing what I'm talking about.
My blog
"...there's one Cletus Junkin in Alabama..."
That's Clatus Junkin, a former Circuit Court judge...
"I might have made a tactical error in not going to a physician for 20 years." -- Warren Zevon