Former Teacher Acquitted of Videogame Massacre Threat

[Devil's Due]

Schools these days are so uptight about things, especially policies. I've had many friends getting into trouble for things they DIDN'T do, but the school still suspended them because "it's policy". When the school was questioned for all of this, they still went and said "it's policy."

Someone claims something, another person gets suspended without his voice being heard, and the "victim" gets a pat on the back and never has to stand for lying since it's "re-victimizing".

USA's school system is full of retards. Especially my school. Only two years till I leave this school.

As for the teacher, they should have investigated, but one month in jail? Having a witness along WITH the teacher saying "we're talking about a game" and proving it, yet still all of this? This is just wrong. I feel sorry for the teacher and hope he can recover soon. It's not right his entire life of teaching he worked hard to get is ruined because of some little kid misunderstanding things and running away to blow it up way out of proportions.

Opps, I said "blow it up", lets forget the rest of the sentence. Time to hide now since they're always watching!

:-|

 

[thedeathscythe]

I think it's okay in these times to investigate something like that, but a month of his life gone? His career? Possibly future opportunities ruined? Seriously, it's stuff like that that makes me want to kill 500 people.

 

[incal11]

Jail is a quarantine until you can be tried. You can be bailed from it and wait trial outside if the allegations are not severe. You cannot be imprisoned without trial. Imagine if he had made a legitimate threat, it would have been a pretty bad idea not to hold him until that could be proved.

What a terrible mindset you have.
Basic investigations are used to avoid 99.9% of "false positive" in most civilised countries that are not the States.
You sir need to spend a month in jail under false unverified (yet, easily verifiable)accusations, and loose you job afterward.
Then either you'd revise your opinion on jail being a "quarantine" or you are beyond help.

Do you mean for me to believe that if you overheard someone say they needed to "deal with this stress by killing 500 people", your immediate reaction would be mild inquisition into the nature of the killing, virtual or real? Don't kid yourself, you aren't fooling me, you'd freak out just like whomever reported him.

I'm not American but I lived there for a time, and I have seen with my own eyes unbelievable displays of stupidity mixed with paranoia, so I know blind panic because of an overheard conversation is very sadly probable...

he lost it by being stupid and talking about this in a freaking school. A school, a place more sacred than the airport. The cops did their jobs, the person that reported him did what was asked of them

^from people like this...
I'm inclined to think it was a disgruntled student or coworker who saw a chance for some kind of revenge.
I know that I would have simply asked what they were talking about, and maybe got in the conversation myself, a saner attitude than running to the cops if any.

it is taking precautions until it can be determined. So, as you would support as the best course of action: the cops show up, and politely ask him "Are you planning a massacre?" and he says "Oh no, I was talking about a videogame", and they go "Oh, alright then." and walk off.

You have to be daft on purpose there.
I said: ask not only him, but neighbours AND family AND coworkers AND check his wereabouts.
Only one business day for a competent cop.
His planning of massacre, or unstable personality or absence of thereof would have been made obvious quickly, as proven by his *ten minutes long* trial.

Yes, bad things can happen. Yes, false-positives happen. Paranoia is a factor, but that doesn't make the problem less real.

"false positive" mostly happen because of incompetence, and the paranoid stupidity that forces everyone to act like they have a broom up their arses when less than a mile from a child is an agravating factor.
Of course risks are real, but blind panic is not the answer.

 

[bakonslayer]

Wow, this is similar to a report that came from my high school when I was in attendance. An english teacher threatened a specific class that he was frustrated with by saying, "I'm gonna line you all up on the wall and shoot 'ya". This line (which has gone down in the annals of the high school as a VERY commonly quoted line) was said in a sarcastic way to a girl who wasn't paying attention to class. Unfortunately, the girl "took great offense to the threat"**.

Realistically, the girl told the story to her mother and together the first place that they went was to the local newspaper, because they had an affiliation with our town's local paper. This ended up getting the teacher fired, charged and short-staffed the school's English staff.

The moral of the story is that the American school system is very messed up.

**Fun fact about the girl who 'tattled out of protection' - she (and her tight-knit group of peers) really did not like the teacher because the teacher was going to fail her. And this was common knowledge.

If you enjoy reading the disturbing enlightenments of the average American high school, here is the link to the old article. [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003708748_lkstevens16m.html]

 

[Mr. Grey]

Do you mean for me to believe that if you overheard someone say they needed to "deal with this stress by killing 500 people", your immediate reaction would be mild inquisition into the nature of the killing, virtual or real? Don't kid yourself, you aren't fooling me, you'd freak out just like whomever reported him.

I'm not American but I lived there for a time, and I have seen with my own eyes unbelievable displays of stupidity mixed with paranoia, so I know blind panic because of an overheard conversation is very sadly probable...

he lost it by being stupid and talking about this in a freaking school. A school, a place more sacred than the airport. The cops did their jobs, the person that reported him did what was asked of them

^from people like this...
I'm inclined to think it was a disgruntled student or coworker who saw a chance for some kind of revenge.
I know that I would have simply asked what they were talking about, and maybe got in the conversation myself, a saner attitude than running to the cops if any.

Whoa, no need to call me stupid and/or paranoid.

You took what I said as if I meant it in defense for the person that reported him, no... I hate people like the guy that reported him, but as far as the system is concerned they all did their jobs and I'd rather they did it as such than be lax when it really matters. The guy spoke about killing people in a school, you don't speak about such things in a school. Usually you just need to connect the dots to realise when certain talk will get you fired. People take schools seriously, they don't sit on their asses when someone talks about killing people - be it even in a video game, sometimes especially depending upon the IQ of said person overhearing the conversation - they go and report it to prevent the next Columbine or Virginia Tech.

It was probably because of those things that the person who reported Mr. Davis felt even more uneasy. You never hear often about the guy that thwarted a school shooting, you hear about how it ends up successful. This increases the paranoia of people to take anything said involving killing very seriously. Especially if he was talking about how mad he got when someone took those markers, that makes them think he'll go off for sure eventually and this may just be the final straw.

People are paranoid, even more so in a school. A school where children go to learn and become better people -- in theory. You don't talk about killing people in a place like this and expect to keep your job. That is what is stupid about this man.

That said, both sides are stupid as far as I am concerned, but the cops did what was required of them and if they have reason to believe that this man will flee they have the right to detain him in jail. They had reasonable belief that he would flee, so they detained him. Probably because his lawyer couldn't put up a strong enough argument that he wouldn't.

I don't know enough about the person that reported him - such as who that person was - so I'm not going to make the call that that said person was disgruntled.

 

[w-Jinksy]

so this guys life is ruined by some fucktard panicking and not noticing it was about a game?

Damn the American legal system is crud the police would have laughed their arses off at someone reporting something like this here as they would probably have guessed during the reporting of it that it was about a game.

 

[Treblaine]

Sigh... This makes me glad I'm not a US citizen. Though I guess it's unfair of me to let one case shape my perception of how an entire country works. Still, that particular case is, in the vernacular of today's youth, messed up.

The thing is considering the paranoia in UK schools I'd expect the same thing to happen here (and just wait till the English tabloids get a hold of it).

If it's so likely to happen in America... where is it LEAST likely to happen?

(1)A country that near universally understands and accepts the benign nature of shooter videogames (2) has extremely easy going police and legal system even concerning school safety (3) has a very understanding and non-inflammatory media

I don't think that country exists nor will exist for quite a long time... if EVER!

 

[Taddy]

Bloody hell somebody is paranoid.

 

[Treblaine]

Doesn't he have a constitutional defence to sue the state that he was denied "due process" under the 5th Amendment?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

If it took a judge all of 10 minutes to determine he was innocent in court, why could that not have been done BEFORE he spent a month in jail and so long on parole with no job and no chance of getting work?

I hope he sues. If he needs a legal fees pot I'd gladly donate as the state MUST be punished for their callousness so that they NEVER DO THIS AGAIN plus this guy has been extremely badly hurt financially costing him his job, he deserves to be compensated. If ever there is a case to be made for suing the state THIS IS ONE OF THEM!

 

[Hazzaslagga]

so in america if i say someone said something like this 'I would murder for a sandwidge' they could be put in jail for up to a month due to someone hearing the 'I would murder'...
Intresting.

*grins maliciously*

 

[Mr. Grey]

If it took a judge all of 10 minutes to determine he was innocent in court, why could that not have been done BEFORE he spent a month in jail and so long on parole with no job and no chance of getting work?

I hope he sues. If he needs a legal fees pot I'd gladly donate as the state MUST be punished for their callousness so that they NEVER DO THIS AGAIN plus this guy has been extremely badly hurt financially costing him his job, he deserves to be compensated. If ever there is a case to be made for suing the state THIS IS ONE OF THEM!

It took a jury to find him innocent. This was the actual trial, they usually have a hearing beforehand and that may be the due process your thinking of. So he got his due process then the judge said that he will be held in prison until the trial date was settled. He either couldn't post bail or they wouldn't let him go due to that inane Patriot Act and this falling under "terrorism". So, he honestly has no right to sue the state.

But if it is the fault of the Patriot Act, he could petition the Supreme Court to strike down said Act. He can't sue the country or the state because of it, however. Well he could, but he won't have anything to gain out of it save for the Act being removed. The chance is slim.

And suing the state to be punished for doing something to protect people... yeah, that'll never backfire later on. Like when it's actually going to happen and they do nothing as they fear another lawsuit. Even then he'd probably only lose and have to pay their attorney's fees.

What he should do is sue the person that reported him in Civil Court, but that won't work because he probably doesn't have proof of intent or motivation let alone anything actually useful. He could sue the school for discrimination, but of what kind? They have the right to fire anyone they want so long as they don't suffer from a disability, they are old or they happen to be a darker skin tone.

He's screwed, plain and simple. The best he can do is move to another county or state and see if there is a school that will hire him.

EDIT:

Unless that state allows people to not be discriminant of criminals, but he isn't exactly a criminal since he had an acquittal.

 

[DTWolfwood]

It is time...

And I just said that America has surprised me with the FBI stupidity.

found my new fav pic of the day! XD awesome!

 

[captain underpants]

Do you mean for me to believe that if you overheard someone say they needed to "deal with this stress by killing 500 people", your immediate reaction would be mild inquisition into the nature of the killing, virtual or real? Don't kid yourself, you aren't fooling me, you'd freak out just like whomever reported him.

Oh please. Not everyone is that paranoid. I'd figure he was just shooting his mouth off, or if uncertain, I'd say 'I'm sorry, what?'. Simple.

No doubt the comment was ill-advised in that context, but is the resulting farce really in proportion to that? No-one's perfect. We all say things at times that perhaps we shouldn't, but seriously, it's no reason for jail time, and possibly never working as a teacher again, not without VERY strong evidence. How many more innocent lives need to be destroyed before the blind application of 'Zero Tolerance' is replaced with some common fucking sense?

 

[Jumplion]

What the hell? Did the police just arrest him on the spot? No searches, no questions, no friggin' background checks? I mean, seriously, is it even legal here to hold someone in jail without any evidence? You know, it's, what, the 6th amendment or something (I'm horrible with history, so please forgive me if I'm wrong)? Right to a speedy trial? No search and seziure without a warrant? Innocent 'till proven guilty? Your one phone call?

God damnit, to quote a random YouTube ranter; "We can't be the land of the free and home of the brave if we've got our heads shoved so far up our asses that we can see the dinner we ate last night."

Okay, okay, I'm obviously exagerating here, but this really is pretty sad. The poor guy better get some damn compensation, I hope he sues somebody for something legitimate, hell if I know lawyer speak.

 

[Jamous]

Oh hooray. Another fuck up.

 

[Mr. Grey]

What the hell? Did the police just arrest him on the spot? No searches, no questions, no friggin' background checks? I mean, seriously, is it even legal here to hold someone in jail without any evidence? You know, it's, what, the 6th amendment or something (I'm horrible with history, so please forgive me if I'm wrong)? Right to a speedy trial? No search and seziure without a warrant? Innocent 'till proven guilty? Your one phone call?

God damnit, to quote a random YouTube ranter; "We can't be the land of the free and home of the brave if we've got our heads shoved so far up our asses that we can see the dinner we ate last night."

Okay, okay, I'm obviously exagerating here, but this really is pretty sad. The poor guy better get some damn compensation, I hope he sues somebody for something legitimate, hell if I know lawyer speak.

Patriot Act + "I think this is terrorism..." = No rights for you!

The more I think about it, the more I think that's what happened here.

 

[Natdaprat]

I smell lawsuit. He was wrongfully imprisoned, especially with a month before being quickly proven innocent. Schools are afraid of shootings, sure, but context is important in what he said. It was simply a reference. Wow, the justice system fails again.

 

[Mr. Grey]

I smell lawsuit. He was wrongfully imprisoned, especially with a month before being quickly proven innocent. Schools are afraid of shootings, sure, but context is important in what he said. It was simply a reference. Wow, the justice system fails again.

No, the justice system succeeded. He's out of prison and isn't being traded as currency. If it failed, he would have been transferred to a federal prison with a twenty year sentence on the grounds of "just because" or "potential aftermath".

He wasn't wrongfully imprisoned as he wasn't imprisoned. He was being held which is something the courts tend to do after a hearing before they schedule the actual trial. He just couldn't post bail or they wouldn't let him go until his trial because of the crime of which he was accused involved terrorism -- of which I call bullshit on, myself. Either way, the accusation leads me to believe the Patriot Act played a large part in this.

 

[Treblaine]

It took a jury to find him innocent. This was the actual trial, they usually have a hearing beforehand and that may be the due process your thinking of. So he got his due process then the judge said that he will be held in prison until the trial date was settled. He either couldn't post bail or they wouldn't let him go due to that inane Patriot Act and this falling under "terrorism". So, he honestly has no right to sue the state.

But if it is the fault of the Patriot Act, he could petition the Supreme Court to strike down said Act. He can't sue the country or the state because of it, however. Well he could, but he won't have anything to gain out of it save for the Act being removed. The chance is slim.

And suing the state to be punished for doing something to protect people... yeah, that'll never backfire later on. Like when it's actually going to happen and they do nothing as they fear another lawsuit. Even then he'd probably only lose and have to pay their attorney's fees.

What he should do is sue the person that reported him in Civil Court, but that won't work because he probably doesn't have proof of intent or motivation let alone anything actually useful. He could sue the school for discrimination, but of what kind? They have the right to fire anyone they want so long as they don't suffer from a disability, they are old or they happen to be a darker skin tone.

He's screwed, plain and simple. The best he can do is move to another county or state and see if there is a school that will hire him.

EDIT:

Unless that state allows people to not be discriminant of criminals, but he isn't exactly a criminal since he had an acquittal.

"And suing the state to be punished for doing something to protect people... yeah, that'll never backfire later on."

He's a video game geek. No one was in any danger.

OK, considering all you have said, he should sue the police for incompetent investigation, they didn't seem able to determine the deeper meaning of the words that were allegedly said... I don't know, like looking at his video game collection and online activity? Interviewing his associates?

The police did NOT do their job as they charged an innocent man with trumped up charges. This was not just a failure to prove a crime, this was patently obviously innocent.

I suppose you are right that the courts had no choice, they had to go through the motions, it is not their job to investigate details surrounding the allegations at the hearing stage, they can only go on what the police present to them... right?

So the police are negligent for jumping the gun, he should Never have been charged! You know, all it would have taken was a little bit of actual POLICE WORK(!) rather than just leaving it up for the courts to clear up Their Mess. I really do despair at the way police investigations are conducted on the 100% assumption of guilt and they have NO INCENTIVE AT ALL for trying to determine innocence.

Well if they were sued for their incompetence then they'd shape up. I wouldn't count on local government to do more than anywhere else, play it safe to get re-elected.

Ah, but they'd probably pull the ever so effective "we protect you people" card. Fuck that. The sense of entitlement from coppers from all over the world who act as if it's acceptable to victimise a couple innocent people (due to their own ignorance, incompetence and laziness) as long as they catch the bad guys the rest of the time. It's not like this was a Sherlock Holmes mystery, seriously, 5 minutes out of the mindset of "this guy is definitely guilty" would have found the truth.

By that logic Medics should be entitled to a few negligent homicides and firemen immune to arson laws.

 

[zidine100]

... and there his life is ruined (best he can hope for now is a dead end job, unless some miricale happens and another school hires him (not happening)), government time and money is wasted, valuable prision space is wasted, police time is wasted, and court time is wasted (judging by the fact it took them a month im assuming its in short supply as it is).

well done.