Texas teen makes violent joke during video game, jailed

[VMI77]

http://dailycaller.com/2013/06/27/texas ... or-months/

A Texas teenager who has been in jail since March faces an eight-year prison sentence because of a threatening joke he made while playing an online video game.

In February, Justin Carter was playing “League of Legends” — an online, multiplayer fantasy game — when another player wrote a comment calling him insane. Carter’s response, which he now deeply regrets, was intended as joke.

“He replied ‘Oh yeah, I’m real messed up in the head, I’m going to go shoot up a school full of kids and eat their still, beating hearts,’ and the next two lines were lol and jk,” said Jack Carter, Justin’s father, in a statement to a local news channel.

[MeMelYup]

Sounds like zero tolerance of the first Amendment.

[Dave2]

As stupid as that kid's comment was, if they arrested everyone who said stuff that in online games half the gaming population would be in jail.

[cb1000rider]

Sounds like zero tolerance of the first Amendment.

I don't see how the kids statements are protected speech. Remember, not all speech is protected.


I agree - complete overreach especially looking at how over the top the kid was in his description... Even ignoring the follow up "lol".

Prosecute that kid with my tax dollars and you'd be on my not-getting-my-vote list for a long time... Unbelievable!
That charge is going to stick with him for the rest of his life now. It'll impact his ability to go to college, get a job, who knows what else.

Lets lock up some real criminals instead of using our tax dollars or petty things like this.

[Cedar Park Dad]

I'd bet someone else's good money there's a whole heck of a lot more involved then just that.

[gthaustex]

He is still in jail, so either no bond, or a bond so high that his family could not post it. I have to wonder if there is more to the story than just the stupid statement he made? If so, it will come out at trial. If not, it never should have gone this far....

[nightmare69]

This is stupid. You get online playing call of duty and you hear much worse in a 5min game. You would not believe the way kids talk to each other online. The younger kids who should not be playing games rated M for mature have the biggest mouth. Parents are the idiots buying these violent games for their 8yr olds.

Yes I play Xbox live. Come at me.

[txglock21]

Investigating is one thing, but charging him and putting him jail for this...crazy! That's Austin for you.

[cb1000rider]

Austin is usually pretty liberal and relaxed about enforcement. It's our Williamson county neighbor to the north that will lock you up and throw away the key.

I read indications that the kid posted this stuff (written) on Facebook. It's likely he's being used as an example... There could be, of course, more to the story than what the media reported.

[K.Mooneyham]

This is stupid. You get online playing call of duty and you hear much worse in a 5min game. You would not believe the way kids talk to each other online. The younger kids who should not be playing games rated M for mature have the biggest mouth. Parents are the idiots buying these violent games for their 8yr olds.

Yes I play Xbox live. Come at me.

I play video games from time to time as well, on my computer. I do NOT play on-line games anymore (and not for years) due to knowing what you said above to be very true. The "chat" function of the games are the worst. And I agree that a LOT of it is little kids. I'd have suffered some corporal punishment as a kid if I talked like these kids do now.

[nightmare69]

This is stupid. You get online playing call of duty and you hear much worse in a 5min game. You would not believe the way kids talk to each other online. The younger kids who should not be playing games rated M for mature have the biggest mouth. Parents are the idiots buying these violent games for their 8yr olds.

Yes I play Xbox live. Come at me.

I play video games from time to time as well, on my computer. I do NOT play on-line games anymore (and not for years) due to knowing what you said above to be very true. The "chat" function of the games are the worst. And I agree that a LOT of it is little kids. I'd have suffered some corporal punishment as a kid if I talked like these kids do now.

Yeah little kids have some nasty mouths. You can set up parental controls on game consoles and disable chat and messages. The biggest problem I see is parents buying kids games rated for people 17yr old and up. If you are not 17 or 18 then you cannot buy those games but the parents are buying them.

[RottenApple]

Yeah little kids have some nasty mouths. You can set up parental controls on game consoles and disable chat and messages. The biggest problem I see is parents buying kids games rated for people 17yr old and up. If you are not 17 or 18 then you cannot buy those games but the parents are buying them.

I don't have such a problem with that if the parents exercise due diligence. My mother, for example, got my kids (14 & 16) World of Warcraft accounts. I set all the filters, parental controls, etc. to lock out the foul language and block their ability to chat with others (unless I approved them). We had no issues at all. My son also plays COD on his Wii. I've locked the controls on it too.

It's the ones who DON'T manage & monitor what their kids are doing that are the issue.

[Fangs]

As stupid as that kid's comment was, if they arrested everyone who said stuff that in online games half the gaming population would be in jail.

This. ^

I really hope they found detailed plans for his meticulously prepared school shooting, otherwise there is absolutely no reason for him to be in jail.

Or I need to start suing every other person I play Halo with for emotional distress, should be able to rack up a couple million $$ every 10 minutes.

[Zen]

I think that some jurisdictions feel the need to take out to this extreme to protect themselves. If they did not act on it and this kid did something the posting/chat would come out and everything would start blaming the police for not intervening.

I agree that an investigation should be enough. However, the DA has knowledge of the incident and has to make a decision.

[C-dub]

Does this mean that actors can now be held responsible for thing they say while role playing in a make believe movie? Sarcasm off.

I, too, can't believe they are still pursuing this. Look at the situation, his sincerity, ability, and likelihood of actually going through with his obviously over the top comment.