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The estates of murdered police officers Arnold Strickland and Leslie Mealer of Fayette County, Al are allowed to continue their civil suit against Sony, Take-Two Interactive, Gamestop and Wal-Mart after the state’s top court denied an appeal that would have seen the $600 million lawsuit dropped.
Officer’s Mealer and Strickland were murdered by Devin Moore in 2003, when he was booked on suspicion of carjacking. Moore was able to gain possession of a gun and proceeded to kill two police officers and a dispatch employee. After he was arrested Moore told investigators “Life is like a video game.; everybody has to die sometime.” It later was revealed Moore had spent a lot of his time playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City on the PS2. The contraversial game was developed by Rockstar and published by Take-Two Interactive for Sony’s PS2 game console. The game is sold in popular retail outlets Wal-Mart and Gamestop. The civil suit blames these companies for contributing to the deaths of the two officers.
Jack Thompson, the Miami lawyer who was originally representing the families involved in the civil suit, removed himself from the case in November 2005 amidst accusations of legal ethics violations. Thompson suggested the ongoing litigation would “destroy Rockstar [Games]” and “change the face of the entertainment industry.” Thompson expects to be in the court room when the decision is handed down.
This is going to be a long drawn out battle. Stay tuned for more info as it becomes available in this case.