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Kingdom of Loathing Gamer Sentenced to Death (gamepolitics.com)

Gamer Sentenced to Death :(

Avalith | March 13, 2008 | News | Misc

Today's a sad day for video gamers across the world. A Kingdom of Loathing player has been sentenced to death in Oklahoma City after the jury deliberated for eight hours. Kevin Underwood, 28, was found guilty of first-degree murder after the 2006 death of Jamie Rose Bolin by the same jury last week, and now they're sentencing him to death. The defense has claimed that he is mentally ill in an (unsuccessful) attempt to convince the jury to sentence him to life in prison because he "could be helped with medication." The jury apparently didn't buy it.

It looks like Jack Thompson and other video game critics have finally claimed a victim in this "video game jihad" they think we're involved with.

The seven-man, five-woman jury deliberated for more than eight hours about Underwood's fate and reached a verdict by 11:20 p.m. The jury's recommendation of death will carry with it an automatic appeal on Underwood's behalf.

About 90 minutes into their deliberations, jurors asked Judge Candace Blalock if a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole meant Underwood would spend at least 45 years in jail or would die in prison. She instructed the jury that he would never be up for parole.

News Story attached to:

The Kingdom of Loathing [PC]

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Comments

Comments with -10 or lower "thumbs" are removed from display.

7 thumbs!
Xenctuary | March 13, 2008

A sad day? He killed a defenceless young girl in cold blood. What else do you expect other than life imprisonment?
4 thumbs!
Shin Ra | March 13, 2008

Doesn't sound so sad to me. Life sentence is fair punishment in my book but I'm no politician.
0 thumbs!
devil link | March 13, 2008

They should just let him rott in prison without giving him food and then chop is genitals off.
- 0 thumbs!
  Xenctuary | March 13, 2008
  
  Well, they're fulfilling the first of your three wishes...
5 thumbs!
kik36 | March 13, 2008

WTF are we supposed to be sad about? What he did was sick, and he deserves punishment. Gamer or not.
8 thumbs!
Seeker X | March 13, 2008

"Gamer" to "Convict" and you'd be more accurate. Even if he plays games, I don't believe he gets automatic sympathy from other gamers when he brutally killed someone.
0 thumbs!
Xenctuary | March 13, 2008

You may wish to read this Joystiq article, which also discusses Underwood. It's a couple of years old but is still very relevant.
- 0 thumbs!
  Xenctuary | March 13, 2008
  
  And, for those interested, here is the game referenced to in the case: Kingdom Of Loathing. Notice the stick figure graphics.
0 thumbs!
huntyr | March 13, 2008

those are high-quality stick figures tho =)
-2 thumbs!
Avalith | March 13, 2008

Whoops, I forgot my sarcasm tags when calling it a sad day. Sorry about that.
4 thumbs!
Razentsu | March 14, 2008

Just because he plays games doesn't mean we have to feel bad for him.
2 thumbs!
tallteen86 | March 14, 2008

Well, sarcastic or not, there really isn't much of a point to this....People get sentenced to life in prison, and other similarly heavy sentences relatively often...

Maybe if it was some high profile gamer (I dunno, wins tournaments, or creates games or something), I could understand an article about it.

Sarcastic, or more serious (as in, more serious coverage, not 'seriously feeling sorry for')....

But meh, plenty of people do bad things, gamer or not >_>
0 thumbs!
jmac353 | March 14, 2008

This isn't GameGrep news!

Also, sarcasm tags don't work on smilies.... idiot.
8 thumbs!
Gothic Girl | March 14, 2008

It's sad that he is known as a "gamer" rather than a "murderer". That just dumps all of us into the same category as him! ... which isn't good!
- 5 thumbs!
  iLLmatic | March 14, 2008
  
  EXACTLY. Some of you "gamers" make us all look like degenerate hypocrites with your death threats towards Jack Thompson. This is not a sad day for gamers at all. Its sad that someone who is mentally ill took a life, but you're actually supporting the critics by linking this to gamers.
2 thumbs!
Kinganubis2 | March 14, 2008

Wonderful... More fuel for Jack Thompson's war on fun.
4 thumbs!
Aussie Legend | March 14, 2008

I must say, this should happen more often (with other murderers), in my thinking, if you kill someone you pretty much deserve it yourself (sorry for any offense if any believes differently).
1 thumbs!
Capn Droid | March 15, 2008

So... why exactly is this a sad day? He murdered an innocent human being. That should strip this man of any good label he has left. Presuming he was falsely accused, it would be a sad day. But what he did was wrong. He certainly doesn't deserve any pity.
- -3 thumbs!
  tallteen86 | March 15, 2008
  
  If you read all the comments, you'd see the writer intended it to be a joke.
  
  But meh, joke or not, not much point to this...Like I said, it would only be worth mentioning a muderer who was a gamer if he was some developer or tournament winner...
  
  Or if the people are blaming video games for their murdering of someone >_>
0 thumbs!
TheBradman1andOnly | March 25, 2008

Eh? So because he's a gamer, we're meant to support a murderer?

Logic plz.