"Halo Killer" Petric convicted of murdering mother [Update]
by Xav de Matos 
{ Jan 15th 2009 at 11:15AM }
A verdict has been reached in the trial of a teen dubbed the "Halo Killer" and a Judge's anti-games comments, documented by GamePolitics, are now making the rounds across the Internet. Seventeen year-old Daniel Petric of Ohio, has been found guilty of shooting both of his parents, which led to the death of his mother.
As we previously reported, the defense in the case attempted to lay blame for the shooting at the feet of stress and an addiction to the video game series, Halo. According to testimony, Petric committed the horrific crime soon after his parents took away his copy of Halo 3, a Mature rated title, after they had previously refused the then 15-year-old to play the game.
Proceeding Judge James Burge told the courtroom, "It's my firm belief as a human being - and not as a jurist - that Daniel does suffer from a serious defect of the mind." Judge Burge stated that the defense failed to prove Petric was insane during the act, forcing the court to find the teen guilty.
Burge went on to explain that "not enough is known" about video games and that someone, with as fragile a mind as Petric, could not differentiate between a fantasy world presented in a game like Halo 3 and the real world. "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," the Judge stated.
We're not experts but it seems that, throughout history, anyone mentally imbalanced will attempt to lay blame on any type of media or product, if it means they do not have to take blame for their own actions. It's a tragic story and our thoughts go out to the remaining Petric family.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Spyder @ Jan 15th 2009 11:29AM
first!
stop playing halo, there are many other games that are much better.
ShadowMonkey987 @ Jan 15th 2009 11:36AM
dude have some respect for the family
think of what there going through
dont go making crude jokes on which games are better
DjDATZ @ Jan 15th 2009 11:43AM
A) No one cares if you're first.
B) That was a stupid joke, and shows NO sympathy for the family. Have you ever heard of respect?
Danny F. @ Jan 15th 2009 11:46AM
@Spyder
Wow... your an ass...
Halo2Master @ Jan 15th 2009 11:54AM
Dude, yeah right. Halo rules.
Latin Trident @ Jan 15th 2009 12:26PM
What savagery! This could definitely deserves to be punished to the fullest extent. Now he will make it more difficult for us and our children to play video games in the future because lawmakers will use this a crutch to pass a law forbidding video games.
On another note, he should be put in jail with this guy!
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/01/14/BART.shooting.arrest/index.html?iref=newssearch
Mitochondria @ Jan 15th 2009 11:35AM
That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard... I mean seriously, how can someone live 17 years on this planet and "not know" that if you kill someone that they don't come back. Especially with a war going on. How'd that guy get to be a judge anyway.
DjDATZ @ Jan 15th 2009 11:44AM
He was 15 at the time, but that is still no excuse.
joeybeast @ Jan 15th 2009 11:54AM
You know my 5 year old sister knows the difference between game world and reality.
Bmurph @ Jan 15th 2009 11:37AM
What a waist. Life in prison for a teenager. A punishment is necessary and deserving, but Life for someone who was 15 at the time? To think a 15 year old could not change his behavior, therefor should spend the rest of his life behind bars is ridiculous. just my $0.02 I guess.
Danny F. @ Jan 15th 2009 11:44AM
By the age of 15 your more then aware of the consequences. Especially since he was raised in a normal living standard. He was well aware of what he did. Its too late to change behavior when a life is lost, it defeats the purpose. This is not some slap on the wrist crime.
If a child by the age of 9 can know the difference of whether to touch a stove while on or not, then a 15 yr old can know whether to hurt/or more less kill would do to someone. If not life in prison then at least a minimum of 45 yrs.
My condolences to the family :-\
Edog @ Jan 15th 2009 11:57AM
I agree. The U.S. is the only country on this planet that gives life sentences to minors. Every other place on this green earth has a notion that a human soul can better themselves and change. That's what parole hearings are for. The U.S. preaches tolerance but it practices intolerance. I'm from the U.S. and my thinking sadly is in the minority.
jarhead906 @ Jan 15th 2009 12:57PM
@Edog
So there are no people within the United States that don't believe people can change or better themselves?
Yes you're correct. The United States is one of the few places in the world the gives life sentences to minors.
In other countries they call that death by firing squad or execution.
Edog @ Jan 15th 2009 1:22PM
@ jarhead906-
"So there are no people within the United States that don't believe people can change or better themselves?"
Hey it's called reading comprehension, "my thinking sadly is in the minority.", you should try it....you might learn something.
Also, I'm not talking about country that don't have established democracies or human rights. Way to turn things around. Open your eyes.
LegendaryRedass @ Jan 15th 2009 2:38PM
@Bmurph. You think this kid should get out at some point? Tell that to his mother. Oh wait, she's gone forever. Life in the pen is too good for scum like him.
HyperBrandon @ Jan 15th 2009 11:38AM
I didn't no halo had a M rating could have passed with a T rating. This is bull the kid is not right in the head. He is obviously mentally unstable to do something so crazy. Kids have there video games taking all the time by there parents. If it was the games fault other family would be dealing with the same situation. Like the post said
"We're not experts but it seems that, throughout history, anyone mentally imbalanced will attempt to lay blame on any type of media or product, if it means they do not have to take blame for their own actions."
chris @ Jan 15th 2009 1:40PM
maybe if he played gears his parents would have been killed with a chainsaw instead.
i hate when people blame video games for brutal violence. the game is M rated this kid should have never been able to get it in the first place.
Eric @ Jan 15th 2009 11:42AM
Is he wearing Jedi robes?
Eric
GRT @ Jan 15th 2009 11:38AM
What sucks is that our tax dollars are going to go towards feeding and sheltering this psycho for the next 60 years.
Lethal injection FTW
somguy @ Jan 15th 2009 3:06PM
Well.. Then our tax dollars will also go to those expensive drugs used to make it "Quick, painless and humane"
I think our tax dollars should go to one bullet in the back of the head. It is painless, and quick. If it is humane enough for a dog, it is humane enough for a murderer (or rapist).
Or the murderers should be killed the same way as their victims.
This kid deserves death penalty.
Gemini Ace @ Jan 15th 2009 11:40AM
I predict a lot of teabagging in his future.
DjDATZ @ Jan 15th 2009 11:45AM
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL
yoda87960 @ Jan 15th 2009 11:40AM
So let me get this straight. This kid is going to jail for the rest of his life for something he did when he was fifteen. Whatever happened to trying children as children? I'm not justifying this, but the prisons are full enough as it is, without throwing all the Michael Myers' of the world in there with them. This kid needs mental help, not anal rape and beatings, only to be let out in the world again when the prison gets too full. The American justice system can be disgusting sometimes.
Knight Marquise @ Jan 15th 2009 12:54PM
Yoda,
"This kid needs mental help, not anal rape and beatings"
Bullshit. Go tell that to his mother...oh that's right, you can't becuase he KILLED her. Quite frankly, anal rape and beatings is a helluva lot easier on him then it should be...at least he gets to keep his life.
People today, my God, sympathy for the killer, and screw the dead victim.
Your probally one of those people that think rape ictims somehow brought it on themselves, and the rapist wasn't to blame.
Bmurph @ Jan 15th 2009 1:46PM
Yoda, thank God I'm not the only one here to think the same as you. I was frightened by a lot of the views of the comments.
jsa3mm @ Jan 15th 2009 11:43AM
What a crock! Criminals are always trying to blame someone or something else rather than take the blame for their actions. I shouldn't be surprised as role models in sports, government, and the media do the same.
ANTHOLOGY @ Jan 15th 2009 11:51AM
Im not sure how Halo 3 got a Mature rating anyway. Blood and Gore is listed on the ESRB site, but i dont remember that. There is more blood in T rated MK vs DC. If this game was rated T for Teen maybe this wouldnt have happened. Shame on your inconsistency ESRB.
offday @ Jan 15th 2009 11:51AM
Good. He deserves it.
I think his family would have rather seen Bungie in jail while this little brat walked the streets, though.
ZEBRA NINER @ Jan 15th 2009 11:55AM
Really though, it's not his fault. Video games and guns are the cause of this. Didn't you know that guns kill people? It's not the people that are using the guns, it's the actual gun.
Video games rot your mind, it's a proven fact.
You mix video games and guns, and you've got an armed, mentally unstable individual with no concept of right and wrong.
Now that we have Obama in charge, he'll get rid of all these pesky things and no one will ever do anything bad... ever again. EVER.
dabilee01 @ Jan 15th 2009 11:58AM
haha, you're a funny guy.
jm @ Jan 15th 2009 1:39PM
Zebra thats a crock...you can't blame guns for killing someone when there is someone pulling the trigger... technically from your warped thinking, the bullet kills people, NOT THE GUN (unless of course you are hitting them with the gun.. "melee")
Im not a gun supporter by any means but this stupid arguement is just a way to defer blame. If I push someone off a roof and they die, I guess I didn't kill them, the ground did.
Thoughts and condolences to the remaining family but if you have a gun lock it up. and if you have a child who at 15 doesn't seem to know the difference fantasy and reality get him to a doctor.
and stop saying the u.s. is quick to incriminate minors..this kid deserves to be watched for the remainder of his natural life for this. either by drs or by officers.
ZEBRA NINER @ Jan 15th 2009 1:52PM
@jm
I was joking. Read it again. There is NO WAY anyone would seriously make comments like that... well, unless you are a Democrat! ZING!
To comment on your roof/ground scenario... it's not the ground that is at fault for the killing, I think it's gravity's fault.
As a society, we've put up with gravity caused deaths for far too long! I say we get gravity out of our homes and make this world a safer place!
Finally, on a serious note... like to urge you all to join the NRA. Freedom first!
Knight Marquise @ Jan 15th 2009 2:08PM
Zebra,
Life member right here.
ZEBRA NINER @ Jan 15th 2009 3:34PM
Knight Marquise,
Good on you! That's one hell of a commitment! :)
If anyone is interested, you can join the NRA for as little as $10 a year.
https://membership.nrahq.org/forms/signup.asp?CampaignID=nranews
Deegan @ Jan 15th 2009 11:59AM
Here's the thing, incidents like this have been around for thousands of years, and video games have been around for few decades. Where's the corollary?
yianni @ Jan 15th 2009 12:14PM
personally I think the death penalty should be used more often. I am firm believer that for the most part like 96% of the time people that go to prison do not get rehabilitated and will commit crime again. In my opinion if there is no reasonable doubt that the murder or murders were done by the person accused, inject, fry, drown, guillotine, firing squad, whatever kill the fuckers. Save us some of our tax money or put it towards something better than keeping a piece of shit murderer alive.
Nieker @ Jan 15th 2009 12:18PM
Holy sh*t, that's the dumbest thing I ever read. You Americans are the 21st century nazi's.
Joseph Sharkey @ Jan 15th 2009 12:40PM
Fully agree with you man.
Gamertag: GOPAL892005 @ Jan 15th 2009 12:47PM
@yianni
+1
if that was the case, i can guarantee that all crime would go considerably down.
if a criminal was to know that if he commits murder, then he would have to pay with his life, i'm sure he'd think twice.
Bmurph @ Jan 15th 2009 1:50PM
"if that was the case, i can guarantee that all crime would go considerably down." - This idea has been proven wrong by countless studies. Deterrent is the only reason the US still uses the death penalty and it doesn't work. Get rid of it.
JeffyWeffyBeffy @ Jan 15th 2009 1:53PM
"Holy sh*t, that's the dumbest thing I ever read. You Americans are the 21st century nazi's."
^
And that's the most ignorant thing I've ever read. I'm an American and i don't feel the same as yianni.
Ucial @ Jan 15th 2009 12:34PM
He fled with his copy of Halo 3 lol!. He was then caught in a Hotel room trying to pleh it on a DVD pleher!
Delirium @ Jan 15th 2009 12:32PM
Nieker: Shut the fuck up, you're an idiot.
Personally, the death penalty should only be enforced in more extreme circumstances but that's irrelevant as he's facing life in prison.
Life might be a bit much but murder is murder and 15 is definitely an age where you're aware of the consequences.
If anything, it should teach kids not to fucking do stupid shit over a video game.
Nieker @ Jan 15th 2009 1:36PM
An idiot that lives in a country with higher taxes but free health care, free education, no homeless people and almost no criminal facts (especially not like this).
I don't think we are the idiots. Everybody needs to get a new chance and nobody has the right to take a life, especially not a government.
Huey2k2 @ Jan 15th 2009 1:57PM
@Nieker
Whatever country you just described doesn't exist and never will, so clearly you live in a dream world.
Jobot @ Jan 15th 2009 12:42PM
Halo did it. Someone go knock on Bungie's door and arrest them all. There's justice.
But really...
Each person is responsible for his or her own actions. One interesting tidbit that no one has mentioned yet... Where did a 15 year old kid acquire a firearm from? It's called a gun cabinet with a lock. You're not protecting your guns from just burglars, you know...
If you don't have the mental maturity to handle a video game, then don't play the damn game. My question also is: Where were the parents? Your kid was playing this game, your kid had to acquire it somehow, most places I know of card per M-rated game, and are fined and employee fired if they fail to. Sadly, probably not the case 100% of the time...
monkeymonkeymonkey @ Jan 15th 2009 12:43PM
LOL. Seriously, the kid is getting what he deserves. To many people get off nowadays because they are not "right in the mind" and blame what they do on childhood, TV, movies, or video games.
jm @ Jan 15th 2009 1:47PM
For you idiots who think the Death Penatly is cheaper than life in prison you are sadly mistaken. they are both costly however due to the enormous number of appeals and other legal issues to make sure the person is guilty it ends up being more expensive to put someone to death.
plus, some people do change.
Knight Marquise @ Jan 15th 2009 2:07PM
Jim...
Doesn't matter if "some people change". The dead victim will never live again.
If you murder someone, and there is conclusive dna evidence, you should be put to death. It positively guarentees that criminal will never reoffend.
Again, what's up with the spare the murderer, forget about the victim mentality?
jm @ Jan 15th 2009 2:17PM
What if on your way home you hit someone with your car?
I don't disagree in some cases, but a general statement like that is not fair nor correct. And personally, I would rather be put to death if I was the criminal...so as far as punishment goes, living the remainder of your life in a 6 x 8 cell with a 12 inch window is worse than dying.
who said spare the murderer? Maybe you feel the murderer is being spared, I feel that by not killing him you are proving you are better than him, and there are more humane ways of dealing with the situation at hand.
do you really think the father wants his son to die via death penalty? think about that, I know I love my son regardless of any mistakes he makes, its called UNCONDITIONAL LOVE. I wouldn't defend him, but I wouldnt kill him either.