Daniel Petric, a 17-year-old who was on trial for killing his mum and shooting his dad after being banned from playing Halo 3, has been convicted of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder and other charges. Since writing the original article documenting how Petric broke into his father’s safe to retrieve his copy of Halo 3 while equipping himself with his father’s 9mm handgun, Petric’s attempted last words to his parents have revisited me now and again—”Would you guys close your eyes? I have a surprise for you.”—my mind accompanying the chilling lines with a vivid if not necessarily accurate rendition of the evening. [AP via Kotaku]
Force Kin
Tuesday, January 13, 2009 at 2:28 PMWas I the only one who found the cursor on this page ironic?
JMarra
Wednesday, January 14, 2009 at 12:46 AMMultiple possibilities–but if the defense didn’t press them, the prosecution’s case must prevail.
The staph infection, which apparently involved the kid’s spine, could have caused some minimal, even subclinical, brain damage, especially in the forebrain, where judgment and impulse control come in. Staph infections ain’t what they used to be, nor are
Antibiotics, which can have neurological effects.
If Daniel was sluggish, irritable, and more comfortable with the constant passive visual stimulation that video games provided while he was bedridden, he may have been seen as “clinically depressed” instead of neurologically damaged by the infection, the drug treatment, or even the original injury. At that point, they’d have fed him the standard doses of the latest modish
antidepressant medication, which is well documented as causing nausea, irritability, sleeplessness, restlessness, hostility, impulsive behavior, suicidal behavior.
Daniel not responding? Up the dose. Add a sleep drug. Add lithium. Then there’s the environment:
Mama dotes on her baby, Dad thinks this is getting a little out of hand, boy needs to be a man, she needs to be a wife, leading to
Power struggles between Dad and Son over Manliness and MommyBoy, helped along by Biblical Head of Household rules that Dad can’t contravene even if he wanted to, leading to
Stand-ins like video games which Dad is also Bible-bound to disapprove of and which sons are therefore reflexively inclined to embrace, leading to
“I’ll show you who’s boss.”