This Wednesday the Ohio Supreme Court overturned the death sentence of Clifton White, a man convicted of killing three people. The reason the court overturned the death sentence? During White’s trial he claimed to be mentally retarded, a claim which according to a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling makes a death sentence cruel and unusual punishment.
“But how is this at all games related?” you might ask. During White’s original trial his claim of mental retardation (which may or may not be true) was deemed invalid because A) he did not meet the U.S. Supreme Courts three pronged test for mental retardation and B) he was “adept at video games”. Say what now? All my life people have been calling me a retard specifically because I’m “adept at video games” and now all of a sudden the rules have changed?
Thankfully the Ohio Supreme Court seems to know better than my friends and family, drawing on a vast repository of evidence that indicates a mental disability doesn’t preclude you from being a whiz with a thumbstick. Now if White erroneously claimed mental retardation to escape the executioner’s chair and the counterpoint to his claim had simply been that he didn’t pass the U.S. Supreme Court’s test I’d say it was fair. But as soon as you start taking away the ability to call gamers retarded you start treading on my territory, and that is simply something I can not abide. Justice, my dim-witted friends, has been served.
[Via Ohio.com — Thanks Jonathan]
