I read about this story a few days ago, but I'm only now finding time to blog about it. Okay, here goes: The young man in the picture above is Daniel Petric. Daniel had a staph infection so he was home for a year laid up. Like most kids, and some brain-damaged adults, all Daniel did while he was sick was play violent video games. The defense is arguing poor Daniel became addicted to video games.
What does video game addiction look like?
Here's a starter. Friends of Daniel say he'd play Halo 7 or 8 hours straight everyday and just a week before the shootings, Daniel and a friend went on a "Halo Marathon Spree". The Halo spree meant Daniel and his friend would play the game for 16 to 18 hours a day, stopping only to eat, sleep and use the bathroom. I'd say Daniel was at least pre-occupied with the video-game, but just because a kid plays a lot of video-games does that mean he should get away with murder?
Read on.
It turns out Daniel's father was tired of his son playing so much Halo, but Daniel wasn't. One day Daniel climbs out his window, sneaks to the store and purchases a fresh copy of the new Halo, "Halo 3". (For those of you who have no idea what a Halo 3 is, it's the third installment of an incredibly popular role-playing, shoot everything, mayhem and violence game). Daniel really, really wanted that game, but his father didn't budge. No Halo 3. Dad takes the game from Daniel and locks it away in his safe. The same safe where he kept his 9mm handgun.
You can imagine where this is going...
Yep. Daniel sneaks his fathers key, takes the gun and the game, kills his mom and then shoots his father in the head. It gets worse. Daniel stages a murder-suicide scene, placing the gun in his father's hands as he lay bleeding from a gunshot wound to the head. Family members found the father, phoned police who later caught Daniel fleeing the scene in the family van.
This is sick stuff people.
Daniel Petric is charged with aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder and related offenses in the shooting death of his mother, Susan, 43, and the shooting of his 45-year-old father.
If convicted, the defendant could be sentenced to up to life in prison with a parole eligibility date that would be determined based on the offenses. He is not eligible for the death penalty because of his age.
Here's a picture of Mark Petric as he testified at the trial.
A ruling in the case could be decided as early as Wednesday or Christmas Eve.
