Judge recomends that Jack Thompson gets permantly disbarred

[bilateralrope]

Link

We Have the Judge's Report Recommending PERMANENT DISBARMENT for Jack Thompson
July 9, 2008

Hot off the press... Be warned - it's a 169-page pdf file.

Get it here.

UPDATE: In addition to her recommendation that Jack Thompson be permanently disbarred with no opportunity for reinstatement, Judge Tunis recommends an assessment of $43,675 for the costs incurred by the Florida Bar in prosecuting his case.

The report by Judge Tunis is quite lengthy. We will break it down and comment on it beginning tomorrow. For now, we will note the Judge's conclusion regarding the evidence presented at Thompson's Bar trial, as she definitely knows Jack:

The Florida Bar has recommended disbarment for a period of ten (10) years. This Court respectfully declines to follow the Bar’s recommendation... This case involves factual findings of cumulative misconduct, a repeated pattern of behavior relentlessly forced upon numerous unconnected individuals, a total lack of remorse or even slight acknowledgement of inappropriate conduct...



Additionally, the Court is taking into consideration a review of the Respondent’s conduct not only as proven by the evidence, but by what this Court has witnessed of the Respondent’s behavior throughout the eighteen (18) months of litigation. The undersigned finds no evidence whatsoever to indicate that the Respondent is amenable to rehabilitation, or even remotely appreciates the basis upon which a need or purpose for such rehabilitation is warranted...



Over a very extended period of time involving a number of totally unrelated cases and individuals, the Respondent has demonstrated a pattern of conduct to strike out harshly, extensively, repeatedly and willfully to simply try to bring as much difficulty, distraction and anguish to those he considers in opposition to his causes. He does not proceed within the guidelines of appropriate professional behavior, but rather uses other means available to intimidate, harass, or bring public disrepute to those whom he perceives oppose him.



Thus, after careful consideration of the underlying facts in the instant cases, together with the Florida Standards for Imposing Lawyer Sanctions, the applicable aggravating and mitigating factors and the precedent case law, this Court makes the following recommendations for John Bruce Thompson:


A. Permanent disbarment, with no leave to reapply for admission.
B. Disciplinary costs currently totaling $43,675.35.

Hopefully this goes through.

[dragon]

Who is this person?

[Executor32]

Simply put, he's a (hopefully now ex-) lawyer from Florida that seems to have an intense and irrational hatred of video games. He originally came into the spotlight a few years ago during the GTA: San Andreas "Hot Coffee" scandal.

[dragon]

Simply put, he's a (hopefully now ex-) lawyer from Florida that seems to have an intense and irrational hatred of video games. He originally came into the spotlight a few years ago during the GTA: San Andreas "Hot Coffee" scandal.

Ahh I remner him now. God what a douche bag.

[The Vortex Empire]

Simply put, he's a (hopefully now ex-) lawyer from Florida that seems to have an intense and irrational hatred of video games. He originally came into the spotlight a few years ago during the GTA: San Andreas "Hot Coffee" scandal.

And more recently with the Mass Effect Sex Scene fiasco, I think.

He's just another "AAAGGGHHH Teh eviiilllll video games be corruptin the children!" lunatic.

[Losonti Tokash]

Simply put, he's a (hopefully now ex-) lawyer from Florida that seems to have an intense and irrational hatred of video games. He originally came into the spotlight a few years ago during the GTA: San Andreas "Hot Coffee" scandal.

And more recently with the Mass Effect Sex Scene fiasco, I think.

Actually that was Fox. When Thompson was asked for his opinion he said he didn't actually give a shit about Mass Effect.

[Davis 51]

The man once offered $10,000 to charity in exchange for the video game industry making a game where someone goes on a rampage and kills a ton of real world game developers, and claimed no one would make it because they would be putting themselves in danger because everyone imitates video games. Instead, no one made it because $10,000 to charity is not an incentive enough to jump because some nut says so. I remember being so disgusted at him withholding $10,000 from charity to make a point, I bought one of those "I hate Jack Thompson" t-shirts.

When several people made mods based on Thompson's idea, and one startup group made this game and placed it online for free, he claimed it didn't count because those were not retail, and just part of the fan community, despite previous claims that mods and free games are part of the industry. So when the awesome people at Penny Arcade donated $10,000 to charity in Thompson's name, he threatened to sue them for harassment, and have them jailed. Both the FBI and Seattle PD laughed at him.

In fact, there was hardly ever a time he wasn't laughed out of court.

This news is sweet, sweet music.

[chitoryu12]

Not to mention when he told the court that they obviously "didn't understand him", and sent them a message composed entirely of pictures representing his views on being repeatedly told to fuck off.

[Rogue 9]

Not to mention when he told the court that they obviously "didn't understand him", and sent them a message composed entirely of pictures representing his views on being repeatedly told to fuck off.

Yeah, that was great. I have the document saved on my hard drive; it's always good for a laugh.

[CaptainZoidberg]

Simply put, he's a (hopefully now ex-) lawyer from Florida that seems to have an intense and irrational hatred of video games.

His argument is that video games train kids to funnel their anger into killing. That said, the fact that video games are now ubiquitous but violent killings have not dramatically increased shows that the effect of video games on violence, if it even exists, is small and pales in comparison to the other factors that cause violence.

The only way the anti-video game crowd can counter that is to shout "Correlation is not the same thing as causality", even though correlation is necessary for causality.

[Jade Falcon]

I'm honestly surprised Thompson and that Retired Lt Col, David Grossman haven't teamed up to take on the video game industry.

[bilateralrope]

Not to mention when he told the court that they obviously "didn't understand him", and sent them a message composed entirely of pictures representing his views on being repeatedly told to fuck off.

Didn't he also put drawings of Gay porn in his court filings ?

[Napoleon the Clown]

Jack Thompson also had a little tiff at Scott Ramsoomair, artist/writer of VGCats. As in filed a cease and desist on him.