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Censorship Government The Courts Entertainment Games News

Jack Thompson Tossed Out Of Court 381

Posted by Zonk from the painful-exit dept.
dmouritsendk writes "According to a story at IGN, Jack Thompson has been removed from the lawsuit filed by the families of two murdered police officers vs. Rockstar, Sony and game retailers. While previously he stated that he had withdrawn, details have now come out that the judge actually pulled his temporary license to practice law in Alabama. The reason for all this? Thompson's behavior." From the article: "The removal of Thompson from the case does not necessarily represent the end of the trial as his long-time associate Ray Reiser will assume the role of lead counsel for the case's plaintiffs. Not one to take such things lying down, Thompson fired back at Judge Moore by claiming the the judge has 'has violated... The Alabama Canons of Judicial Ethics by his unfortunate, improper, and prejudicial acts in this case, at the expense of three bereaved Alabama families.'"
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Jack Thompson Tossed Out Of Court More

Jack Thompson Tossed Out Of Court

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  • Can anyone explain who this guy is?
    • yup [google.com]

    • Re:Who is Jack Thompson? (Score:4, Informative)

      by pat_trick ( 218868 ) on Tuesday November 22, 2005 @03:26PM (#14094078)
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_thompson [wikipedia.org]

    • Re:Who is Jack Thompson? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Jerry Coffin ( 824726 ) on Tuesday November 22, 2005 @03:27PM (#14094096)
      Can anyone explain who this guy is?

      The short version is that he's a guy on a crusade against video games. One longer version can be found Here. [wikipedia.org]

      --
      The universe is a figment of its own imagination.

    • Can anyone explain who this guy is?

      Couldn't Google or Wikipedia for his name, could you???

      The only person who's dumb enough not to do that is...OMG IT'S YOU, JACK THOMPSON!

    • Re:Who is Jack Thompson? (Score:5, Informative)

      by merlin_jim ( 302773 ) <James@McCracken.stratapult@com> on Tuesday November 22, 2005 @03:30PM (#14094127)
      An asshole Christian fundemental lawyer who acts as if he believes that violence in videogames is solely responsible for violence in America. Because he states these facts so loudly, he is commonly interviewed on sunday morning talk shows and the like whenever some violent act occurs.

      The funny part being that the things he claims happens in these games, many times is false; whether lie by ignorance or intent I'll leave an excercise to the reader.

      He also appears to believe that his internal thought process is the one most likely for the US government to follow, and displays genuine surprise (and shock) when this is not the case, as in recently when he tried to get Gabe and Tycho of Penny Arcade locked up. Because they posted a blog indicating what a dick he was being to them and their loyal readers took affront to this mistreatment and wrote to tell him so; some of them not so politely, as I understand it.

      One may also speculate that the massive traffic from Penny Arcade shut down his web server. But you can hardly blame that on PA can you? ;)

      The funny part is, it was all because Jack promised $10,000 to the charity of choice of the first game development team that made a video game with a certain (particularly twisted) plotline, I guess to prove some sort of point (its my understanding that Jack is given to hyperbole)... when someone came through and made a (pretty extensive) mod to GTA putting Jack in the gunman's shoes raiding and shooting the employees of game stores, he refused to pay up.

      So Penny Arcade went ahead and paid up. That, apparently, is what started all of this.

      I recommend going through Penny Arcade's recent news archive for more details...

      Oh and thinkgeek DOES sell an "I hate Jack Thompson" T-shirt if you're interested...
      • Because he states these facts so loudly

        You misspelled "misguided opinions" in your post.
      • he believes that violence in videogames is solely responsible for violence in America

        This is a little offtopic, but not too far.

        Humans are violent animals that are more often than not rewarded for being violent, even if it is against their own species. What evidence (if you believe in evolution to some extent) is there that we lost that hunter drive?

        We get together in by the thousands to over a hundred thousand people to watch modern hunting games like soccer, football, basketball, etc.

        We also get off on k
        • I prefer the religious saying, "DEATH TO ALL ZEALOTS!"
        • I'm not disputing anything you say, except that "violent" is a relative term. Humans are no more violent than hawks, or bears, or rhinoceroses, or elephants, or even dolphins.

          What is different about humans, apparently, is our sense of shame about our violence. Humans seem to be alone among all creatures in believing they are out of place in the evolved order. Humans alone seem to regret doing what all other animals do instinctively, without remorse.

      • Re:Who is Jack Thompson? (Score:5, Funny)

        by Geoffreyerffoeg ( 729040 ) on Tuesday November 22, 2005 @03:52PM (#14094459)
        An asshole Christian fundemental lawyer

        Please don't use the term "Christian" to refer to Jack Thompson, for the same reason that you shouldn't use the term "monkey" to refer to George W. Bush.
        • I do apologize to all the Christians out there. Calling Jack Thompson Christian is a lot like calling Osama Bin Ladin Muslim... Many (in fact most) Christians are calm level headed people who would never knowingly lie about a videogame simply to prove a point, would not start a one-man crusade against immorality in the (supposedly) free United States, and would certainly not try to lay responsibility for hundreds of murders at the doorstep of videogame publishers, and not the people who, you know, pulled t

    • Jack Thompson is a lawyer (Score:5, Insightful)

      by typical ( 886006 ) on Tuesday November 22, 2005 @03:35PM (#14094210) Journal
      Can anyone explain who this guy is?

      I don't think that the parent post is necessarily a troll. If you haven't been following the gaming press or reading Slashdot every day, he's not that hard to be unaware of. My mother certainly doesn't know who he is.

      Jack Thompson is a lawyer who, for one reason or another, has attempted to attack violent games in the media.

      It's actually getting to be very hard to obtain any accurate, netural information on him at all -- so many of the people online play video games and are scared of what they think that he might push through that almost all information is biased -- the Wikipedia article [wikipedia.org] on him is definitely not particularly neutral, and the gaming press dislikes him for obvious reasons.

      Combine that with the fact that the man is a political conservative and a Christian (pretty obvious from his website [wikipedia.org]) and given to rather inaccurate rhetoric, and you basically wind up with every article or online writing about him becoming a flamefest.
      • Sorry. I linked to the WP article twice instead of to Thompson's homepage. Here's the proper [stopkill.com] link.

      • He ain't one of us (Score:5, Funny)

        by Just Some Guy ( 3352 ) <kirk+slashdot@strauser.com> on Tuesday November 22, 2005 @04:11PM (#14094687) Homepage Journal
        Combine that with the fact that the man is a political conservative and a Christian

        <baptist class="southern" politics="conservative">
        Just so we're all clear on this, please do not infer that his chosen affiliation with various political or religious groups means those groups want anything to do with him.

        I look forward to the upcoming religious holiday, visiting the church of my youth, and logging some serious GTA:SA time. And while we're at it, the Kansas School Board can kiss my evolved butt.
        </baptist>

    • Re:Who is Jack Thompson? (Score:5, Funny)

      by Junior J. Junior III ( 192702 ) on Tuesday November 22, 2005 @04:36PM (#14095000) Homepage
      A: He's the guy who's going to sue you for not having heard of him, thereby damaging his reputation by implying that he isn't famous.

      A: He's the guy who's going to sue the judge who threw him out of court for damaging his reputation and hurting his chances of winning his case.

      A: He's the guy who's going to sue Slashdot for mentioning his name in a forum that is strongly biasted against stupidity.

  • What can I say but... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Psychor ( 603391 ) on Tuesday November 22, 2005 @03:23PM (#14094019) Homepage
    Hit the road, Jack.
  • Any chance we can, as Red from The Shawshank Redemption so eloquently put "have him do the airdance before the first May flowers push up out the ground?"

  • Maybe the judge saw his book on Amazon (Score:3, Funny)

    by ishmalius ( 153450 ) on Tuesday November 22, 2005 @03:24PM (#14094040)
    That would inspire the typical "Who the hell IS this guy?" response.

  • Grinning from ear to ear. (Score:5, Funny)

    by sc0ttyb ( 833038 ) * on Tuesday November 22, 2005 @03:24PM (#14094046)
    This isn't the same as him being barred from practicing law PERIOD, but I just couldn't help myself...

    *plays Final Fantasy IV victory fanfare and dances*

    • Re:Grinning from ear to ear. (Score:5, Interesting)

      by ptomblin ( 1378 ) <ptomblin@xcski.com> on Tuesday November 22, 2005 @03:44PM (#14094357) Homepage Journal
      Just wait. A lawyer friend of mine says that this order will be submitted to the Florida Bar, which is currently investigating his behaviour, and it WILL be used as evidence against him. Especially the bits about him violating the judge's order, and his spamming the judge and the opposing counsel with press releases and long paranoid diatribes.

      I've read some of the emails that he's sent out. Did you know that his wife got some sample packet of vaginal lubricant in the mail, and he uses that as evidence that Blank Rome (the opposing law firm), the judge, and the Republican Party are all out to get him? Fascinating stuff.
      • Wait, he thinks the Republican Party is out to get him? I thought he pandered to the neo-con Republicans with his Marguerite Perrin-style nonsensical raving.
        • Don't look for consistency in the ravings of Jack. He also blames a lot of stuff on Clinton.

          • Re:Grinning from ear to ear. (Score:5, Funny)

            by sc0ttyb ( 833038 ) * on Tuesday November 22, 2005 @03:58PM (#14094531)
            In a sick way, I'll miss Jack when he's gone. I mean, reading all those E-mails of him just flying off the deep end, his verbal diarrhea on TV, and getting one-up'd by 14-year-olds filled my days with a great deal of amusement.

            If Jack Thompson has done one thing for gamers it's made them laugh. He truly is the Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf of the videogame world.
      • And even if nothing happens to hiim, at least we now know where another litigious lunatic [scofacts.org] gets his inspiration from.

  • Jack needs to... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Chickenofbristol55 ( 884806 ) on Tuesday November 22, 2005 @03:25PM (#14094058) Homepage
    ...chill out- dude try playing some violent video games, gets all that anger out of you. I like the part in San Andreas were you screw your girlfriend, ever hear about that?

    Oh, crap...

  • Judge Moore FTW (Score:5, Funny)

    by jlavarj ( 541976 ) on Tuesday November 22, 2005 @03:26PM (#14094077)
    GM Judge Moore banned Jack Thompson from the Alabama realm of the controversial MMORPG "Reality" today. The game "Reality" allows players to engage in such controversial activities as genocide, murder, theft, and mis-representation.
  • Fighting day after day to defend impressionable children from inappropriate, uh, role models.

  • Don'cha come back no more... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Hobbes897 ( 782722 ) on Tuesday November 22, 2005 @03:26PM (#14094083)
    Leave it to Jack Thompson to get kicked out of Alabama for improper behavior.

  • about the south suffering from something other than the prevalance of fried food, here.

    ugh, lawyers and their ways...

  • Advertisement. (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I love how while reading about this on the main page, there was a giant GTA banner beside this story.

  • Judge Moore (Score:4, Insightful)

    by alienmole ( 15522 ) on Tuesday November 22, 2005 @03:27PM (#14094089)
    The article mentions Judge Moore, and this is Alabama. Is this the same Judge Moore that was removed from office [cnn.com] for refusing to get rid of his statue of the ten commandments? If so, I say his sanction of Jack Thompson is obviously correct. It takes one (wacko) to know one.
    • That’s what I was trying to find out, too. Unfortunately, IGN has not yet upgraded their content management system to include that little feature where random web surfers can read articles posted on their site. But if Thompson just got bounced by Roy Moore for being an over-the-top nutjob, well, I don’t know quite what to feel. But it certainly would put an interesting spin on things.

      However, I honestly don’t remember... was Judge Moore ever reinstated? And if so, why?

      • Roy Moore was not reinstated, but has remained on the media circuit, and has announced his intentions to run for governor in 2006 against incumbent Gov. Bob Riley. Because both are Republicans, they'll be facing off in the summer primary.

        • Roy Moore was not reinstated, but has remained on the media circuit, and has announced his intentions to run for governor in 2006 against incumbent Gov. Bob Riley.

          I like the story here [pluralism.org]:

          "As Republican strategists weigh the party's prospects for 2006 and 2008, they are increasingly worried about a political confrontation with Roy S. Moore, the former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court who became a hero to religious conservatives when he refused to follow a federal court order to remove a Ten

    • Re:Judge Moore (Score:5, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 22, 2005 @03:36PM (#14094223)
      I'm afraid not - This one is James Moore, and the other wacko is Roy Moore.

    • Re:Judge Moore (Score:5, Informative)

      by Otter ( 3800 ) on Tuesday November 22, 2005 @03:36PM (#14094230) Journal
      That was my first thought, but, no -- this is Fayette County Circuit Judge James Moore, not Supreme Court Chief justice Roy Moore.

    • Re:Judge Moore (Score:5, Informative)

      by lelitsch ( 31136 ) on Tuesday November 22, 2005 @03:38PM (#14094254)
      No, Jack got tossed by Fayette County Circuit Judge James Moore. The Ten Commandment case centered around Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore. Roy got removed from office in November 2003 Alabama's judicial ethics panel for his conduct in that case, by the way.

  • Asshattery (Score:5, Insightful)

    by TubeSteak ( 669689 ) on Tuesday November 22, 2005 @03:28PM (#14094100) Journal
    Thompson was effectively thrown off the case for actions "before this Court [that] suggest that he is unable to conduct himself in a manner befitting practice in this state." Furthermore, Moore has referred Thompson's conduct to Disciplinary Commission of the Alabama Bar for "appropriate action."
    That's from the article, but the rest of the Court's statememnt goes on to blast Jack for being an asshat and making wild claims.

    In a prime example of karma, the defense submitted some of Thompson's own press releases to the Court as evidence of why he was unfit.

    • Re:Asshattery (Score:4, Interesting)

      by southpolesammy ( 150094 ) on Tuesday November 22, 2005 @04:12PM (#14094705) Journal
      I'm actually worried about Jack Thompson's mental fitness. As I mentioned in a previous posting [slashdot.org] a few weeks ago, I think he may very well be a psychopath (not joking here...this is a very big problem). Look at the DSM-IV-TR criteria [wikipedia.org]:

      1. Failure to conform to social norms
      2. Deceitfulness
      3. Impulsivity
      4. Irritability or aggressiveness
      5. Reckless disregard for safety of self or others
      6. Consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain steady work or honor financial obligations
      7. Lack of remorse

      Satisfying three or more of these criteria warrants a diagnosis of psychopathy or sociopathy. Jack's in trouble, but until he's looked at, so are we.

      • Re:Asshattery (Score:3, Informative)

        by ldspartan ( 14035 )
        Aww, why you gotta go and do that? Look how many people you've confused with your DSM quoting.

        Look folks, there's a reason psychologists go to school for many, many years and get to prescribe drugs and such. Reading the DSM-IV-TR (or the IV, or the III-R, or the III, etc.) doesn't equip you to make meaningful decisions about anyone's mental health, much less your own.

        Remember kids, undergraduate psych exists for one reason: to give the undergrads something to talk about after class.

        And yes, I have an underg

        • DSM is not for kids (Score:3, Informative)

          by Fex303 ( 557896 )
          Look folks, there's a reason psychologists go to school for many, many years and get to prescribe drugs and such. Reading the DSM-IV-TR (or the IV, or the III-R, or the III, etc.) doesn't equip you to make meaningful decisions about anyone's mental health, much less your own.

          As another undergraduate psych major, I'd like to agree with the above post. Cut and pasting bits and pieces from DSM is a bad idea unless people understand what DSM is and how it works.

          From the Wikipedia article [wikipedia.org]: The DSM provides

  • .......where the CSI team has to find the killer of a outspoken anti violent video game crusader who angered a group of geeks with his irational activities.
  • Do you:

    a) Accept their judgement with good grace
    b) Grudgingly accept the judgement but state that you believe it to be in error
    c) Accuse the judge of breaking the law, of being biased against your clients and of generally being incompetant

    If you're Jack Thompson you probably also do d) File a lawsuit against the judge for dismissing you.

  • He really needs..... (Score:5, Funny)

    by 8127972 ( 73495 ) on Tuesday November 22, 2005 @03:31PM (#14094160)
    ..... a cup of hot coffee to help him calm down.

  • Karma? Stupidity? (Score:3)

    by WhiteWolf666 ( 145211 ) <[sherwin] [at] [amiran.us]> on Tuesday November 22, 2005 @03:41PM (#14094310) Homepage Journal
    Either way: Just desserts.

  • As much as we hate Jack-o, I'm surprised... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Cl1mh4224rd ( 265427 ) on Tuesday November 22, 2005 @03:43PM (#14094338)
    ...that Slashdot didn't jump on this when GameSpot covered it [gamespot.com]... 4 days ago.

  • ...any bad thing I may have ever said about Alabama.

    And now Jack can go home, sulk, and concentrate on suing Amazon [slashdot.org] for all the mean things people said about him.

    .
  • Jack Thompsons incorrigible behavior, his mumbling incoherence, his fishing hats, aviator frames and cigarette holders have cause him to be tossed out of court only to be replaced by Hunter S. Thompson
  • Jack Thompson Sues Alabama
  • remember CSI episode with the GTA-like videogame? I don't live in the US, so I wanted to know if any of you guys watched it. Was it good, bad?

  • Next up... (Score:5, Funny)

    by SlashAmpersand ( 918025 ) on Tuesday November 22, 2005 @03:50PM (#14094429)
    Jack Thompson will soon issue a "prize" of $10,000 for somebody to code a game in which Judge Moore is flogged then killed violently. Then he'll tell Judge Moore it was meant as satire.

  • Can we... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by fallen1 ( 230220 ) on Tuesday November 22, 2005 @03:56PM (#14094496) Homepage
    get a link that DOESN'T include frigging flash ads as part of the deal? My system as set up will not continue on to the article itself and, yeah, some of us actually RTFA ;-)
  • So they say they're replacing Thompson with Reiser. I thought they were trying to bring in someone who'd act like a professional...

  • Anybody have a link to the actual decision? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Kelmenson ( 592104 ) <kelmenson@@@yahoo...com> on Tuesday November 22, 2005 @04:17PM (#14094768)
    Been searching all around and all I can find are the one-line summaries. I'd much prefer to hear the judge slapping Thompson around. Anybody have a link?

  • GO JUDGE! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Lord_Dweomer ( 648696 ) on Tuesday November 22, 2005 @04:24PM (#14094861) Homepage
    You know, while every day we hear more and more reasons why our legal system is broken, its nice to see that this time it is working exactly as it should. I commend this judge for fulfilling his obligation to the State and to the law. Personally, this is just like a friggin soap opera for me.

    Seriously, its like a contest between Jack Thompson, Sony, and the RIAA to see who can bury themselves the fastest while at the same time sustaining the most bullet wounds to their feet.

  • Damn... (Score:5, Funny)

    by david.given ( 6740 ) <dg@cowlark.com> on Tuesday November 22, 2005 @04:43PM (#14095089) Homepage Journal
    ...given the story title I was hoping for something a little bit more, well, ballistic.

  • I can't help but jump in on this one (Score:3, Funny)

    by AutopsyReport ( 856852 ) on Tuesday November 22, 2005 @05:08PM (#14095373)
    What's the difference between a Catfish and a Jack Thompson?
    One is a scum-sucking bottom-dweller, and the other is a fish.

  • Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Tuesday November 22, 2005 @05:37PM (#14095677)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

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