August 5
ALABAMA:
Judge restricts testimony on video games in murder trial
In Fayette, a judge ruled Friday that expert testimony on video games
can't be presented in the trial of Devin Moore, who's accused of killing 3
members of the Fayette Police Department.
While the jury in Moore's capital murder trial was outside the courtroom,
Circuit Judge James Moore questioned psychologist Marianne Rosenzweig, who
was on the witness stand for a second day. The judge asked her about any
research relating specifically to video games causing violent behavior in
people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
The Tuscaloosa News reported that Rosenzweig indicated there were no
studies she knew of that had been developed using those specific
parameters.
Devin Moore's attorneys have argued that he suffered from post-traumatic
stress disorder, brought on by abuse and neglect as a child, and that it
was linked with extensive watching of "Grand Theft Auto" videos that
mirrored the crime.
Defense attorney Jim Standridge objected to the narrow restrictions
required by the judge. Standridge argued that there were studies
indicating that people in a fearful state revert to repetitive behavior.
Devin Moore, 20, is charged with capital murder in the June 7, 2003 deaths
of Fayette officers Arnold Strickland, 55, and James Crump, 40, and
dispatcher Leslie "Ace" Mealer, 38. He allegedly grabbed Strickland's gun
while being booked on a stolen auto charge and used it to shoot the
victims before fleeing the police station.
Rosenzweig testified Friday that Devin Moore was in a dream state when the
shootings occurred.
"He thought he was in a bad dream," the psychologist said. "He thought it
was a nightmare he couldn't wake up from."
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Court upholds death sentence for Dothan woman in toddler death
A state appeals court upheld the death sentence of a Dothan woman who beat
and stomped her adopted daughter to death, rejecting her claim that she
didn't deserve death because she may have knocked the child unconscious
first.
In a 5-0 decision Friday, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals said the
death sentence was appropriate for Patricia Blackmon, who was convicted in
the May 1999 capital murder of 2-year-old Dominiqua Bryant.
The child's body sustained numerous injuries, including a fractured skull,
and was stomped with such force that an imprint from a shoe was left on
her chest.
In her appeal, Blackmon argued that the medical examiner who testified at
her trial could not say to a medical certainty that Bryant was conscious
during the beating, meaning the child may not have experienced enough pain
to merit the "heinous, atrocious or cruel" guidelines for the death
penalty to be imposed.
The appeals court dismissed that argument.
"Blackmon brutally bludgeoned to death a helpless 2-year-old child using a
pool cue and sometime during the beating stomped on her chest," the court
said. "By anyone's standards the murder in this case was especially
heinous, atrocious, or cruel."
During the trial, prosecutors said the evidence showed that Bryant
suffered greatly before she died. Bryant had injuries on both her front
and back, proving that she struggled to get away while she was being
beaten, prosecutors said.
The appeals court also rejected Blackmon's motion for a new trial, in
which she claimed pretrial publicity had tainted the jury.
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Lee County jury convicts man of capital murder
It took a Lee County jury about 3 hours to find 27-year-old James Edward
Gary Junior guilty of capital murder. The Phenix City man was convicted
yesterday of killing a Lee County couple, 68-year-old Thurman Ray Ratliff,
and his wife, 62-year-old Katherine Combs Ratliff, of Beauregard.
Prosecutors said the Ratliffs were shot to death during a January 2002
robbery in their home on Alabama Highway 51.
Jurors return today for the sentencing phase -- they can either recommend
that Gary be given the death penalty or spend the rest of his life in
prison without parole.
(source for all: Associated Press)
