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Man beats child to death over Xbox 360 photo

Sometimes a facepalm doesn't quite do the trick. A man has been convicted on charges of beating his 17 month old daughter to death because she accidentally knocked his Xbox 360 over during a game. Tyrone Spellman  is said to have cracked his baby's head open "like a walnut" for disrupting his game session.

Due to the fact that it was an act of anger and death wasn't intended, Spellman has been convicted of third degree murder and endangering the welfare of a child (I'd call cracking a skull open more than endangering). He faces up to 47 years of prison and, most likely, more than a few instances of knowing how his daughter felt when the other inmates find out what he did.

Prosecutors had used his obsession with videogames in the case against Spellman, and that could possibly have been a factor. Hopefully though, this doesn't get used to attack the games industry, because anyone who'd use this is a very low individual indeed. Let's just take this for what it is -- a very sick, scummy man who has to live with what he did for the rest of his life and a child that won't have a life to live. All because of an Xbox. Facepalm.


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85 comments | showing # 1 to 50

MaxVest's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 10:52
MaxVest
I sincerely wish him a very brief time of having to live with this for the rest of his life.
pierrerodriguez's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 10:52
pierrerodriguez
i hope this guy gets severely ass raped on a daily basis. may he die in prison.
loki d20's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 10:55
loki d20
Total failure at life takes innocent life in process.
Origim's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 10:56
Origim
The only bastard I could think of low enough to use this as ammo would be JT. That being said this bastard needs to have his cell mate give him a mushroom bruise the size of Nevada daily.
king3vbo's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 10:58
king3vbo
Anyone who beats their child, for any reason, is a fucking scumbag. And the fact that he killed his kid?

His ass deserves to get raped by a giant man named Avacado
glipe's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 10:58
glipe
I remember when he was arrested, waiting for the shitstorm to hit the games industry even though he was a total nutjob. Never did though. They concentrated on blue alien lesbian sex scenes. Oh, the humanity!!

=/
StriderS's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 10:58
StriderS
Wow. Anything more then a slap on the hand for a 1 year old goes far beyond just a video game. Hell, 6 hours on a video game isn't even obsession.

May she rest in peace, away from that shitty father.
Mr Wilson's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 11:01
Mr Wilson
Oh, this guy is dead for sure. Inmates dont fuck around with child killers.
that1dood's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 11:01
that1dood
47 years is not long enough for scum like this. This guy deserves solitary confinement for life. Or the chair...whichever is worse.
Harlo's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 11:03
Harlo
There's some days where telling someone they should die in a fire just doesn't seem like enough.
Your moms new boyfriend's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 11:03
Your moms new boyfriend
One thing about prison life everyone can enjoy: crimes against children will net the perps a severe beating. Its kind of an unwritten hierarchy that would be all the way at the bottom.

Welcome to OZ, bitch.
Bas's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 11:05
Bas
It depends on what game he was playing. If it was NFL, what the hell. If he was getting a highscore in, say, Omega 5 or something, I'd throw the little girl out the window.
amalgamut00's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 11:06
amalgamut00
HAHAHAHAHA...oh
Holyetheline's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 11:08
Holyetheline
That's why the Horizontal set-up of gaming consoles is superior.
bbrigg1's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 11:08
bbrigg1
There is no doubt he will get ass raped.
1. He's in prison. that's reason enough to assume he will
2. He's in for killing a baby, his own, on top of that. That's probably second on the ass rape scale, right under child molesters.

I bet Jack Thompson's boner is extra hard after hearing this
FinalFist's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 11:08
FinalFist
This is terrible, this makes me feel absolutely disgusted. If you have a child you should not care about your fucking xbox 360.
Silverback 55's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 11:09
Silverback 55
I can't imagine any reason to hurt a child. There are truly some sick & twisted people in this world. And in no way should games be targeted for this. That man had a serious anger problem that will be solved by a 300lb fellow inmate known as "Big Juice".
FinalFist's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 11:10
FinalFist
So you all think that the fact this man will be tortured in prison makes up for the fact that his unhealthy obsession with killing shit on his 360 led him to kill his daughter, you make me sick.
24GSandCounting's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 11:14
24GSandCounting
If he was that hardcore in to gaming he should have been more careful. I keep all my consoles on a shelf where my kids can't reach them and use wireless controllers. If I don't have wireless, I play them after the kids go to bed. High score is never more important than your kids. She probably kicked it over on purpose so that he would pay some kind of attention to her, good or bad.
PSIq0ut's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 11:15
PSIq0ut
w..was the 360 ok? or did it red ring?...oh this is a tragedy T_T
Brandon Undead's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 11:16
Brandon Undead
FinalFist: It's the simple pleasures that pull us through these difficult times.
Necros's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 11:22
Necros
Beating to death over knocking it over? If there's a kid nearby, he should know enough to play his 360 horizontally. Accidents will happen around kids, and it looks like he was placing his anger in the wrong place.

What a scumbag.
loki d20's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 11:25
loki d20
@FinalFist: It wasn't his unhealthy obsession with games that did it, it was his inability to control his anger. As far as getting even for killing your own child for such a stupid reason, there's nothing that can make up for that in my book.
brad drac's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 11:28
brad drac
Face palm is utterly insufficient for this, unless it also involves some manner of sobbing. Some people just shouldn't be allowed to have children.
CALkulon's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 11:29
CALkulon
FinalFist, I'm fairly sure I speak for a lot of 'toiders when I say I don't think it makes up for it. How could it? There are no things (that I can think of) that could make up for what he did. I would also say that his "obsession with killing shit on his 360" did not lead him to kill his daughter, his being a total jerk off did though. As well as putting his 360 before the kid.
CaffeinePowered's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 11:32
CaffeinePowered
Didnt this happen months ago and they are just getting around now to convicting him?
loki d20's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 11:33
loki d20
You know, reading some of the responses on Kotaku are freaking scary. Example:

[i] BY BALLABOY311 AT 08:03 AM

I hope he gets eaten alive in prison. Stupid mother fucker. I once kicked my cat really hard for doing something similar. But thats a fucking cat. He killed a child over a fucking game. Burn in hell asshole. Sorry if that sounds harsh but I am a parent and this just sickens me.[/i]

Well, shit, glad we've decided that raging against animals is all ok now. Obviously a prime candidate for raising a child, just like Tyrone Spellman...

My youngest cat Loki plays with every cord he can get his hands on, but only because the little brat knows he gets attention and thereby I will play with him. All my cats crawl in and around my consoles. I've spent more money on them for vet visits in a year than the cost of a PS3. I can buy another freaking PS3 or 360.

Sorry, /end rant.
Aurain's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 11:34
Aurain
Nothing to do with him being a gamer. He's just an insane bastard, and soon to be Manbitch.
Bulrog's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 11:36
Bulrog
People can be so stupid.
martinine's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 11:37
martinine
@king3vbo kudos to Avocado


This is terrible news. I hope he sits in solitary for a long time, and then is "allowed" to come out every so often. That way, he will have absolutely no hope, which is living death (unless you are a vampire).
winojesus's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 11:48
winojesus
what a fuckin world.
Corak's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 11:51
Corak
@caffinepowered
The way the justice system works you would get charged with the crime and await trial at a later date. Because of all the trials going on you can't just get one going right away, sucks but that's how it works. Unless he plead guilty and then had to await sentencing.

But this is just terrible, you have to be one angry person to strike and kill your child for knocking over your game system or anything for that matter. At least the kid is in a better place than with this asshole, just sucks the kid isn't alive anymore. He should prepare to hear this phrase a lot when he goes to the pen, "this here next part is gonna feel like someone parking a greyhound bus up yo ass."
zombiekiller13's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 12:26
zombiekiller13
I love video games, but I love my kids more. When my son was a year old, I mistakenly left my PS2 controller on the phone to get him a bottle. When I came back, he had bit a chunk out of one of the analog sticks. I got mad, but not at him. He didn't know any better. I was the dumb one to leave it where he could get it.

I really can't fathom killing your own flesh and blood over a video game. Hell, the kid knocked over the 360. So? If it's broke, send it in for repairs or buy a new one. Don't take it out on your kid.

Now, when they are teenagers and sell off your sealed Symphony of the Night to buy tickets to a concert...well, that's a different story.
mix's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 12:29
mix
What a major freaking idiot, I hope his entire family denies him visits while in jail and he becomes the pretty boy for everyone and on his last day in before he is released he gets raped to death.

Beating your own daughter to death for something so fucking stupid, I hate to imgagine what would have happened had she did something SERIOUS....
hardwareguy's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 12:34
hardwareguy
I might kill a baby for a PS3, but definitely not a 360.
BS3 Owner's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 12:53
BS3 Owner
^

O_o
Samit Sarkar's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 12:57
Samit Sarkar
I’m speechless. Silverback 55 said it best — I couldn’t fathom ever hurting a child, especially a baby that wasn’t even a year and a half old, and I can’t see how anyone could let their emotions get the best of them in this manner. I mean, she knocked the damn thing over. Like Necros said, if you have kids around, you should know better than to keep your console vertical. But even if she knocked it off a table onto the floor and it smashed into a million pieces, how could he beat his daughter to death? It’s a ~$400 piece of machinery, and he killed his kid for that? Are you kidding me?!?! (No pun intended)

You’re 100% right, Jim...some people are just unfit to have children.
DrNutt's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 13:19
DrNutt
Achievement Unlocked? How much GS for this?
David Quinn Carder's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 13:21
David Quinn Carder
Obviously, guys. No need to even mention the console, the bottom-line is that beating a 17-month old to death is horrific . . . period.

@ loki d20

I'm with you—that's horrible about the cat. I really think that's no different than this case, except on a different scale/extreme. It's getting so angry with someone (or somecat) who can't possibly know they're even doing something wrong that you'd hurt them to temper your rage.
Aurikill's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 13:23
Aurikill
This is pure evil, in the a filthy form.
How, in the name of God, can someone do something like that?
My 6 months girl recently tossed my DS Lite on the floor.
What I did? Wiped the tears, kissed her forehead and rescued the console.
It was my fault she had access to the console. Adults, parents the most, must be careful.
Monsters like this evil, horrid person, must be destroyed. I just fell very sorry for the monster's family.
Stupid idiot, rot in hell.
Marlboro Man's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 13:37
Marlboro Man
It really seems like the 360, just ..can't get outta the spotlight. If anything comes from this, the vampires over at M$ could spin this to sell a few more of their systems to future rrod on more helpless childern.
rob91883's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 13:50
rob91883
this guy deserves to be sodomized every day for the rest os his life.
Teta's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 13:56
Teta
Even hitting his kid for knocking the console is complete mounstrocity.
Hopefully he gets more years in the hell hole.
Einhander's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 14:12
Einhander
In less civilized times, towns would rise up to apprehend said individual, tie him up, try his case before a jury of his peers, and then execute justice on the spot.
wonky360's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 14:21
wonky360
I say burn him. On a side note:

http://www.howmanyfiveyearoldscouldyoutakeinafight.com/
Kalmah's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 14:26
Kalmah
Good thing he didn't beat her with the original X-Box controller. That thing is bigger than the 17 month old kid herself.
Spartacus's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 15:19
Spartacus
WHY WAS THIS MAN ALLOWED TO PROCREATE???
BluFire's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 15:58
BluFire
He is a waste of oxygen.
negate's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/30/2008 16:27
negate
Although he can never make up for this I think at least he should not be allowed any form of electronic entertainment while in prison period. He has some serious anger issues that need working out, even if he ever gets out of prison and his anger issues are cured he will, if he's at all human never forgive himself for doing something so stupid. For someone like him death is the easy way out; trying to somehow make up for what he did, which will be impossible btw, might at least help someone else have a better life then previously. It's just sad how something as simple as turning the console on its side could have saved a life. Thats just my 2 cents.
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