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Jury rejects 'Grand Theft Auto' defence

OUT-LAW News, 12/08/2005

A US jury on Tuesday found 20-year-old Devin Moore guilty of the murder of two police officers and a dispatcher, despite claims by the defence that Moore had been influenced by the violent video game Grand Theft Auto.

The three men were killed following the arrest of Moore, then aged 18, for allegedly driving a stolen car. According to reports, once at the station, Moore managed to get hold of one of the officer's guns, shot the three men in the head and escaped in a police car.

"Life is a video game. You've got to die sometime," Moore apparently told officers when he was later caught.

According to reports, Moore’s defence team hinted in court that he had been influenced by Grand Theft Auto, which he had played repeatedly as a teenager.

The jury rejected this, together with arguments that Moore had been abused as a child. He could now face the death penalty.

A civil action, filed by relatives of the men killed by Moore against Take Two, publisher of the Grand Theft Auto series, retailers Wal-Mart and Gamestop, and Sony as maker of the PlayStation 2, is ongoing.

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